Something that we have decided to keep quite private this year but can no longer hold back is the fact that we have been expecting our first child together. For the past 9 months we have been documenting Helen’s body as it changes and grows. We didn’t start the project until she was about 3 months pregnant by which time there was a little bloat evident, but in comparison to the latter stages looks completely normal!

It’s funny because in those early stages we noticed there was a hard bump there, but 6 months on it’s like a watermelon just sat waiting to drop.The first 4 images were taken when we were living with Helen’s parents in Widnes, we were there for a few months before moving into our new home where the remaining images were taken. All except one which was taken when we were in the Lake District for Dave’s 30th Birthday. Not only is it a visual pregnancy journal it also represents a time of big changes in our lives; moving from Leicester to the North-West, Dave starting a new job, the news of a little one joining us before finally buying our first home together on the edge of the Peak District.

We took the same position for each photograph every Sunday morning from this moment on and decided to wait to share this on our blog until our new arrival came into our lives. When writing this Helen was 39 weeks pregnant (see pic below) and looking likely to go into labour any time soon.

This is a very personal project but we felt that it deserved a space in our very personal blog which has always documented the things we’ve done away from our work-related lives. As you can guess the next few installments of the blog are likely to be baby-fueled.

Helen is looking forward to taking some time out of her professional practice, will she become all homely now? She has been attempting curtain making and other sewing machine projects so who knows. Meanwhile Dave is looking forward to paternity leave, 2 weeks isn’t long enough but its going to be a very special time for us.

Frank Leo Rutter was born on Christmas Day morning at 9.41am weighing 6lbs8oz. More to follow.

We wanted to do something a little different this Christmas. This is our first Christmas in the UK with our families for 2 years and this we are excited about! We wanted to share something with you this Christmas that we hope each day will make you smile, be intrigued or take you to that time and place! We’ve designed an Advent Calendar but it’s a little different from the norm…No chocolate behind each door, just a little slice of escapism from the chills, sharp shopping elbows and endless Christmas songs. Starting from the 1st of December and leading up to Christmas Day we will be unveiling a new print every day as part of our Advent Calendar. The images selected for the advent are little snippets from our Notworkrelated travels.

To get in the spirit of it all we are offering 25% discount off all prints throughout the month of December! Just to get you in the spirit we’re offering a special discount this festive season…25% off all prints featured in our shop until the 31st December 2012 this includes those featured in the advent as well as Collection #1! We’re also donating 5% of all profits to charity. Currently we are donating towards building a school in Ghana, Africa. This project is being led by good friend Neville Maggs who has done an amazing job so far! the children are in and classes are being taught but still there is so much to be done and all of his fund-raising is done through initiatives of his own. Sign up to our email newsletter to receive the advent calendar direct to your inbox. Don’t forget that 5% of each and every sale goes to charity.

Check out the calendar and find out more details here.

We started the day with a run along the Clutha River bank before getting ready to drive to Queenstown. We took the scenic route along The Crown Range Road, which is a quicker alternative to the recommended driving route, we think this is more for bigger vehicles and in the winter. This time though it was perfect for us and we enjoyed fantastic views throughout whilst catching up on some UK gossip via the Richard Bacon podcast.

We stopped a few times along the way to document the scenery around us, looking down through the valleys toward Queenstown, it was a really clear day. We then took a little detour to Arrowtown…the home of golden nuggets, and some very quaint shops. It all looked a little staged for us but we did find some good in a discount outdoor store selling Ice-breaker gear.

When we arrived in Queenstown we paid for parking and decided to have a walk around the town taking in the busyness that is Queenstown. To us it felt very much like Banff in Canada, an alpine resort, overpriced and pretty commercial, but set on the lakeside and with all of the activities on offer its not a place to be missed. We didn’t fancy any bungy jumping or canyoning so we were happy to sit and have an ice-cream in the sun on the  pebble beach.

Instead of staying in Queenstown for the night we drove 14km along the Glenorchy road and turned off for Moke Lake along another gravel track. Set amidst mountains Moke Lake is host to a big DOC camping ground costing $7 per person and there is a warden that comes around to avoid people not paying their fees. It was a very hot day so we opted for a swim in the lake to cool down and were pleasantly surprised by the temperature of the water which was unusually warm. We decided that we would drive to Te Anau the next morning as we weren’t really up for spending too much money in Queenstown.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

The first of January 2012! Happy New Year to all who read our blog, we really appreciate you! We didn’t start our new year with hangovers, nor did we go out the night before and party in busy Kaikoura. Instead we opted for a quiet start to 2012, we did enjoy a few drinks in the town including some generous free wine sampling, but decided to head back to our van to cosy up ready to see in the New Year together.

The main reason for us not going out and getting a little tipsy was that we had a 5.30am appointment with the Dusky Dolphins in the Pacific Ocean. Something we had pre-booked as we couldn’t get any other dates to do the swim and we wanted to fit it into our agenda before heading back to Christchurch. So up at 4.55am we were ready and willing by 5.20am at the Dolphin Encounter center located 5 minutes down the road. Checked in and grouped up we grabbed our wetsuits, flippers, hoods and snorkelling gear ready for a 20 minute video presentation of what to expect and a little bit of history on the area.

Kaikoura is on a rocky peninsula where the sea opens out to a deep canyon providing a rich  habitat for marine mammals and seabirds. The main reason for tourists to visit the area is to whale watch, and enjoy encountering albatross and dolphins amongst many other species. The town itself has lost any charm of being a quaint seaside village and has opened up to commercialisation in a big way with large pubs, a subway, supermarkets and eateries. Further down the main street towards the peninsula though it does still hold onto a more local feel and isn’t so condensed.

The Dolphin Encounter company have been operating tours in Kaikoura since 1989 and is ran by locals, they’re a friendly team, but it must be tough having to get up at 5am every day to run these tours. After our introduction we got a bus to the jetty located on the South Bay where 2 boats were ready to take us out to sea. There was quite a swell on the ocean waves and we had a bit of a bumpy journey heading out. After around 15-20 minutes we spotted our first group of dolphins but this was a small group so we continued further until there was a larger group for us to swim with. At the sound of the horn we all got into the chilly waters and swam out to the dolphins, it didn’t take long for us to have a few around us and so the silly noises began. We were encouraged to communicate and interact with the dolphins to keep them interested in us. They are really sociable creatures and so the more you play the longer they stay!

After the first swim we got back on the boat and found the main pod of dolphins, from this point on we enjoyed 2 further swims, with around 10-15 minutes in the water each time. It was a truly magical experience, they really are playful mammals and it’s really good fun being in the water with them. You can’t touch them or try to interfere but you can swim in circles with them and make eye contact. Unfortunately for Dave he suffered from some sea sickness which seemed to have a knock on effect on board.

When the swimming was over we were back on the boat and enjoyed watching the dolphins from the side of the boat. Here we could see them doing flips, jumps and a few were mating. We both loved the experience, even with Dave’s sick bucket accompanying him. Fortunately for Jess (our guide) she was used to coping with other people’s sea-sickness and was fully prepared.

We were out on the water for about an hour and a half with around 30-40 minutes in the water with the dolphins. Helen has had this experience before when she was here in 2009 and although the weather was better then, it was still a wonderful experience. She loved doing the encounter again. On the boat journey out and coming back we saw a lot of Albatross on the sea chilling out, taking off and flying. Some with a wing span of over 3.5m! We do feel that we have become a little geeky on the whole bird-watching front, but you don’t see this amount of marine life and seabirds every day so it was pretty exciting for us!

So this was the start to 2012 for us, swimming in the sea with the Dusky Dolphins…not bad! This is our last activity in New Zealand, and all of the adventurous, exhilarating things that we have done have been really worth while. (The Dolphin Encounter cost us each $170 NZD and there were roughly 12 people per boat)

After hot showers and some much needed food we were back in the van for her final long journey back to Christchurch. We were tired back at the South Brighton Holiday Park so we chilled out after an energetic spell on the trampoline and finished our evening with a walk along the beach to the New Brighton Pier, it was a beautiful evening.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Video and photos taken on a Sony DSC-TX5 underwater camera & an Olympus Pen with a 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens

When we woke up the sky was clear and we could see across to the glaciers and mountains. We knew it!! Today would be our skydive day at last! So with this in our minds we were up early and went straight to Lake Matheson where there were less sand-flies trying to attack us. We enjoyed a walk around the lake and then contacted Franz Josef Skydive to see if they had a slot for us that morning. We were booked in for 11am.

We got to the skydive office before 11am, filled out some forms and signed our lives away! Note they do not take responsibility for any personal accidents/death! Eek! We opted for a photographer each with DVD footage of our dive, this would be a one in a lifetime experience and we wanted to keep a record. We felt pretty relieved when a 50+ year old couple booked on to the 15,000ft and a 60+ year old lady who booked onto a 12,000ft dive. If they could do it…Well so could we!?

After nervous chat we piled into their van and were transported to the airfield which is in between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier accompanied by a hip hop beat! When we got to the airfield we met our tandem dive instructors, it all got a little confusing at first as Helen’s instructor thought we were on the first dive and started prepping only to then find out we were on the second dive. It seemed to distress him more than us, we would be very prepared by the time we got on the flight. This did mean though that being in the second group we weren’t due to take off for another 45 minutes or so… More waiting!

After the first group went up we sat and watched the little plane going upwards and eventually we picked out a few of the parachutes opening coming down for the last part of their dive. It wasn’t long before they were all back at airfield and we could tell from their expressions that they loved it – these were the oldies aswell!

So now it was our turn, we got prepped once again; Helen was with Mark a 6ft8 giant who was like a cool uncle, whilst Dave was teamed up with Crusher, a 30-something adrenaline junky. We were paired well!

We had a brief chat with the camera-men and felt like we were being interviews for a reality TV show. All geared up we loaded onto the plane, with 7 of us boarding including the pilot. It was pretty cramped inside the small body of the plane but Mark was very calming and helpful, he did a good job at explaining everything to Helen and as they were strapped on pretty close she felt secure, along with the knowledge that he’d already done over 10,000 jumps in the last 15 years. Dave and Crusher were calm and having a good chat as the plane started to ascend. We enjoyed a fantastic flight over the Franz Josef Glacier and mountain range which took around 15-20 minutes, all the while cameras in our faces and nerves gathering more and more.

At 12,000ft a German girl was ready to go, she had a female instructor with her and they were sat in the doorway waiting for the door to open. As it did she looked terrified and uttered ‘Oh God…Oh God!’ over and over, Dave and I looked at each other and started laughing. It was a nervous laugh but her face and tone was hilarious! We were just thinking…Oh Shit! It’s us next! And then we got the 2 minute countdown, Helen was to jump first, the adrenaline was racing and we were both instructed to wear the oxygen masks. Again Helen felt calmed by the big man right behind her.

It was time to jump and the door opened, Helen and Mark were on the doors edge with the cameraman in her face sat on the wing, it was one last shot before dropping out of the plane and then they went. Dave just watched as Helen flew out of the plane below. Meanwhile Helen was already into her free-fall, looking up to find the photographer right there in front of her face. It felt really weird to start with, nothing like a roller coaster, just the fear of dropping out at 15,000ft. But when free falling it felt like we were still in time, except for the noise rattling around our heads which was the sheer force of air.

Not long after Helen was out and free falling Dave was in the air too, spinning with Crusher and trying to take it all in and enjoy the moment. We both did this to the max, and we think from our DVD footage this is pretty clear. What the hell all those hand gestures were about we don’t know, we were just trying to interact with the cameramen and enjoy it as much as we could.

After around 60 seconds of free-fall it was time for the parachutes to go up, this wasn’t quite as jerky was we thought it was going to be. Waving goodbye to the cameramen we were hoisted upwards and then we were gliding. This part of the dive was much calmer and equally as exhilarating, we had a parachute guide to the sights around us and neither of us could quite believe it was happening. We both had the chance to steer the parachute and feel the force of changing direction. And we could both see each other as we were making our way down.

Landing the dive was fun, legs up in the air and then we were on the ground. When you’re attached to the tandem instructor it all becomes so easy. After a few giddy moments we were chatting away to the camera-men once again and then having a few more photos taken. It was all over pretty fast but we absolutely loved the experience and watching the DVD over and over makes us laugh every time. We think this is something everyone should do in their lifetime! The Franz Josef Skydive team were excellent to work with, really informative and made the whole experience fun and very worth while. It was a sting to the wallets at $599 each but it was well worth it for the experience, the sights, the DVD and the dodgy facial expressions captured on the photographs.

We hope you enjoy the movies! Merry Christmas from us both!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3) Photographs and DVD footage of the free-fall were produced by Skydive Franz.

We struggled to find a place to camp the night before on our way over to the Nelson region from Blenheim, so we opted for a roadside freedom spot where another van was parked up. It’s tricky knowing what is possible on the freedom camping side of things but we definitely felt reassured by the fact that another van was already parked for the night.

The reason we were heading over this way was because we were due to skydive at 11am on the 3rd in Motueka with Skydive Abel Tasman. Unfortunately it was a thick, cloudy start to the day so we went straight to the Motueka airfield to have a chat with the skydive company. They wanted to push us back to 1.30pm, we were okay with this but the outlook wasn’t so good. We opted to work on the blog and editing at an internet/sushi cafe on the main street in Motueka and by noon we figured the weather wasn’t going to change and decided to postpone the skydive until Monday and go back to Nelson to take advantage of being in a town and some finer weather for Helen’s birthday night out!

We backtracked and drove to Nelson whilst stopping en-route for lunch at the Ruby coastal scenic drive where we found a handy little campsite that would become useful to us over the next few days. We were in Nelson by the afternoon and checked into the Nelson Holiday Park which at $36 would be our most expensive night camping in NZ yet. However on the plus side we could walk into town, there were free showers and a decent kitchen too.

On our way into central Nelson we passed by an eclectic vintage and antiques shop supplying everything from bone china teapots to retro posters, old picnic sets to mannequins, and clothes to furniture. We love these kind of places as they give us ideas for our future home! The owner was more than happy for us to take some photos as we explored her vast collection.

When we got into central Nelson we stopped by the Art Deco Cathedral before taking the steep path up to the centre of New Zealand. There is a monument marking the spot and great views across Nelson and the mountain ranges beyond. Back in Nelson we had some good pub grub and cider at Mac’s home brewing pub ‘The Vic’, there was a good atmosphere and we liked the way Mac’s is branded. It’s also really good to see so many local brews leading the way. We ended our evening at The Free House a converted church where some live Blues was taking place. We had intended to enjoy the live music but instead we opted for a bottle of a local Sauvignon Blanc whilst enjoying the ambience.

The following day was Helen’s birthday and first thing Dave baked a lemon drizzle poppyseed cake! Woooop! Happy birthday to me happy birthday to me….

For the rest of the day it rained and rained so we didn’t take many photos. We opted for the Nelson Museum, the Sutra Gallery and popped into Mountain Designs to have a quick catch up with Brian aka Two Backpackers who we know from twitter. Small world.

Later on we drove back to Motueka to watch a film at their local artsy cinema Gecko. We opted for Submarine which we both enjoyed immensely and vowed to own it in our DVD collection soon! We ended the day with fish and chips from the Happy Chippy on the main street, although we had bought food for dinner it was raining so heavily we couldn’t cook anywhere and nothing else was open!

That night we camped at the $6 a night campground that we’d stopped at the day before on the Ruby Coast. It was pretty flooded but we found a decent spot and the rain eventually calmed down.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We left fairly early and started on our drive to to top of North Island. We had to make a few stops along the way, it’s always recommended; fuel, food and water! At Katai we found all 3 and there was even a Pak’n'Save! It’s not exactly Aldi but it is cheaper than any other super-markets around and they stock pretty much everything you need for your home – or in our instance the van!

It was a further 3 hours drive north to Cape Reinga but we didn’t go to the top, instead we went to the DOC campsite at Tapotupoto Bay. It’s off the main road and pretty much gravel all 8km’s to the bottom, always take it slow with Po! When we got to the campground it was very windy and a little wet, but it wouldn’t be Cape Reinga without blustery winds, it is after all at the top of New Zealand and there isn’t much up there to shelter you! We found a spot on the campground that was a little baron but we did have some shelter from a  tree at least. As the evening came more and more people turned up to camp. We hiked from the campground heading towards Spirits Bay, but only managed a 2 hour return hike, mainly as it was getting late and the hills were so steep!

Back down at the campsite we sat in our van and listened to the wind around us, it was a pretty quiet evening. We’re grateful to have the van to shelter in on nights like that.

The following morning we prepared for our hike to the Cape Reinga lighthouse which is predicted to be a 2.5 hour journey from Tapotupoto Bay. With pack lunches and after a cold shower (not as bad as it sounds!) we ventured up the steep hills again. It actually took us 1.45 to get there with 2 very steep sections and further steep downhill paths that we would be returning along. It’s a pleasant walk though with a dip down to Stony Bay before heading back up again. We did think about Nicky and Cooky quite a bit when we were hiking as this would have been the last part of their 5 month hike from South to North and wow was it a tough one to end on. Amazing to read their blog and to now be hiking the same paths.

The Cape Reinga lighthouse is in an area called Te Rerega-Wairua a Maouri spiritual area; a place where souls jump off for their journey to their spiritual homeland, no-one is allowed to go to that point but we looked out across to the pohukutawa tree and where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans meet. It’s a wild place with high sand-dunes behind us and arrows above pointing to distances across the world. With half an hour or so at the top followed by the gruelling hike back to the van we ended up taking just over 3 hours in total, so we were please with that and it also meant we had time to get back down the coast again.

Later on after the drive back down Northland we ended up at Raetea Forest DOC campground via a quick non-inspiring stop at the 90 mile beach! This particular campsite is one of their free basic grounds heading towards the Kauri coast. It’s actually a really nice spot in a forest area and we had a few neighbours to keep us company too. Food was a real camping affair; Dave had sausages, tinned spaghetti and mushrooms.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Getting into the routine of getting ourselves up and ready in a good time would take a while but we were both surprised at how well we slept in the van. It wasn’t bad at all! So we enjoyed our first breakfast on the road in NZ and before long we were packed and ready to be on the move. This was a breeze compared to camping with the little tent in America! We decided to pass by The Bay of Islands, mainly as we didn’t want to be where everyone goes, and from what we’ve read we’re going to be seeing a lot of this kind of landscape and ocean as we travel, plus we can always pass by on our way back down!

We ventured went a little further up the coast, passed more beautiful beaches and eventually landed at Matauri Bay. This bay is stunning, hardly anyone was there, the sand is white, the sea is crystal clear and all in all it was pretty idyllic. We walked along the beach and up to the Rainbow Monument on the top of the hill overlooking the bottom end of the bay. The monument is a tribute to Rainbow Warrior lying beneath the sea surface a few kilometres out of the bay. It was moved there after the ship was bombed whilst on an anti-nuclear weapons protest years ago, something worth reading about. We got chatting to a guy who was camping at the Matauri Bay campground resort, he said it was $14/person so we thought we’d enquire. It just felt right to stay there, the weather was fantastic, and the setting perfect so we booked in for the night.

Earlier on we’d spotted a few people digging in the shallow sea water for what appeared to be clams, they’re actually called pipi’s. So we thought we’d like to try and get some for our tea! The only problem was the tide was already on it’s way in and it appeared as though people had got their catch for the day. Dave managed to get one from underground and then we found a few more around the surface but after nearly an hour of searching we knocked it on the head and put them back into the sea. We will try again next time! The resort has laundry facilities, hot showers, and a shared kitchen so we took advantage of all of these and enjoyed a little spot of luxury. For sunset we walked up to the memorial again, sat and took it all in. We were in an amazing spot taking in the views of the bays around us, the moon was already on show.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Our Qantas trans-pacific flight was easy enough with over five hours of sleep to pass the time and the obligatory movie or two. We all know what airplane food can be like, but recently both of us have been fairly impressed with the offerings. However not this time! Dave’s fish dish was very dry and Helen was only given the option online of setting a Vegetarian Indian Meal which was below par, even including a chickpea curry breakfast! Whilst everyone else got cereal, muffin, egg omelette with mushrooms (and bacon) etc. After some bartering with the slightly unfriendly air hostesses, (who even said that maybe next time we should bring our own food for Helen! She only avoids red meat!) eventually we managed to get a spare continental breakfast! Victory!

Landing at 9am New Zealand time we headed for our pre-booked hostel Garden City Lodge using the fixed price shuttle service which cost $36 for both of us and our luggage. The hostel is located just outside the main part of the city in Parnell on a quiet side street. We checked into our small bunk bed twin room which was basic for $60 per night, but good enough with shared bathrooms, a mid-sized kitchen and good communal areas downstairs. We bought a quick sandwich at the Italian Bread Shop before heading into Auckland through the park to look for the Backpackers Car Market to see if there were any decent camper vans for sale as we didn’t want to rent like we did in America.

The Backpackers Car Market was shockingly bad, overpriced, poor quality and poor choice of vans and cars. We decided the most important thing was a new mobile as our American phone would more than likely cost too much to unblock. After some backwards and forwards between shops we found our new phone and SIM for NZ, let the van hunt continue. Stocking up on provisions at the Countdown supermarket we headed back to our lodgings to cook up some dinner, it had been a long day!

We spent most of our time in Auckland looking for a van to buy rather than sightseeing. We checked out the adverts on the hostel wall and gumtree (at this hostel you only get 100mg of free wi-fi, it’s $10 per 100mg after that) and we managed to find a couple of possible candidates to purchase in a much more reasonable price range than at the backpackers market, and made some appointments to view the next morning. We really wanted to get something ASAP so we could get on the road and start exploring as well as beat the peak season backpacker rush for vehicles. One possible candidate was situated just around the corner so we decided to view that evening as it looked promising.

After a short walk we arrived and started to give it the once over. The van looked in good condition with no rust in the arches, practically new tyres, relatively clean, converted with a double bed in the back and cooking space, recent repairs to radiator and a new battery. After meeting with Jodie and Sam, the current owners, who showed us around and answered our questions we went for a little test drive around the block, the Mitsubishi L300 Sportpac handled gracefully enough and we said we would sleep on it. Before we got back to the hostel we had decided we wanted her and contacted Jodie and Sam to say yes to the purchase. Prior to some garage tests… We just bought ourselves a camper van!

The following day we booked a garage appointment on Parnell Street to give the van the once over for any issues that we couldn’t figure out ourselves. For $85 worth of peace of mind its definitely worth it and there was only a minor issue that was fixed and we were good to go. We withdrew the money over the counter at a local bank rather than accessing lots of cash machines and then signed a couple of documents with Jodie and Sam, got the van registered in our name and within 30 minutes we were the legal owners of Po. A spot of 3rd party insurance through Travellers Car Insurance and we’re all set for our New Zealand adventure. Tomorrow we would head north in our new home for the next two months. Before the day was out we went to the Warehouse store in Newmarket and bought some additional gear for the van; toilet roll, and extra chair, pillows, sheets and a few other necessary items for our new home!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We had the car with us for the next two days, and as we had both been ill that week we hadn’t planned to do too much in Phoenix. Our first day saw us drive out to Scottsdale where we enjoyed good sandwiches at The Orange Table next to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA). When we had finished our lunch we headed into the SMOCA as it is free on Thursdays! It was a good job that the gallery was free that day as we weren’t very impressed by the People’s Biennial exhibit and other installations were in progress so we couldn’t see much further into the museum. They do have a nice outdoor elliptical sky space and some lovely cacti around!

Leaving slightly uninspired we made our way to Tempe to check out ASU and the Art Museum there. Helen had pretty much been raving on about it all morning saying how nice the architecture is there and the museum is really interesting etc. So I think Dave was pretty impressed when we did arrive and go round the museum. Some of the art is perhaps a little too over the top for us, but they do have an anaconda on exhibit there at the moment who has been rescued from its owner and the architecture didn’t disappoint. We explored the campus some more before making our way back to Dave’s and cooking up a lovely fish dinner! Oh to be cooking in a proper kitchen again!

The next morning we were up early and Helen enjoyed an excellent massage from Massage Envy located in the Mayo area. She’s been having some neck pain so it was long anticipated! Dave meanwhile occupied a cafe and edited our imagery! When we left we realised we hadn’t actually had the car booked until friday but it was supposed to go back on Wednesday! Stooooopid! After we rang and explained they just charged us for the extra days rental and  so after a little longer journey to drop the car off (they advertise the drop off as down town Phoenix when it is around 19 miles north of downtown!!) and a taxi to the nearest light rail stop, we eventually took the light rail to downtown. For the rest of the afternoon we stopped at Starbucks and took advantage of wifi use before Dave joined us for a mighty meal at Same’s Cafe in the Arizona Center.

On the 29th October it was Dave’s birthday! WOOOO! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! etc! Another birthday overseas, can’t be too bad going for us! This time we enjoyed the company of cousin Dave who took us on a steep hike up Flat Iron’s Rock. The hike took around 5 hours and it was tough in parts, especially if you weren’t used to scrambling up rocks! The views up top were awesome! The descent was harder still because of the steepness so we knew we would be feeling stiff the next day.

When we got back from the hike we enjoyed some home-cooked birthday cake and got ready for a night out in Scotsdale. We ate at A Touch of Thai, where the food was really tasty but the atmosphere was poor. This was followed though by excellent atmosphere and pretty cheap drinks at Dos Gringos. An 80′s famous fancy dress party was taking place and we didn’t quite fit in (not dressed for the occasion) but that didn’t matter!

On the 30th heads were sore and we anticipated the arrival of Jill and Joe, who would be helping us out massively again by bringing us back to LA the next morning. We had a pretty chilled day whilst Joe and Dave tackled some DIY and we walked through some local hills to wake ourselves up a bit. Cheap food at Chuuy’s and we were ready for bed! Thanks to cousin Dave for having us stay!!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)