Weekend away

This Friday we went to Waiheke for our much anticipated weekend away. Everyone has been preparing for weeks. Organising, planning events and getting or making their costumes.
 

We met at the ferry Friday morning

Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect island weather.

So ready!

A bus took us to The Venue in Onetangi. Everything was by the beach. Fantastic.

There were orcas playing in the bay, but that didn't seem to scare the Kiwis. We had a nice swim.

Challenges
The events planned by the teams were all fun. We had planned a sandcastle challenge for the other teams. This one is my favourite.

The next team made us dance and perform a play. Our Titanic play was so much fun. Everyone jumped when the iceberg hit.

The final challenge of the day was an engineering challenge. We were given an egg and asked to transport it across a 10 meter gap in a creative way. Ours sailed across with a kite made of paper. Yes, it was marvellous.

The next morning we were a bit worse for wear. It had been a long night of costume partying and midnight swimming. Nevertheless, we completed one final challenge. We created an animal model and performed a haka to honour it. The best one was clearly the shark team. Their massive, sharp toothed mouth chomped to the rythm of their haka.

It's a wingsuit
I was flying all night

Art at the vineyard
To round off the weekend, a few of us stayed on the island. We went to Cable Bay Vineyard to share a bottle of wine in the sun. It was my first vineyard experience in New Zealand, but I have feeling it was not a typical vineyard visit.

I had expected a vineyard to look like an old farm, so I was very surprised, when I first saw Cable Bay. It looks like an art gallery. It almost is an art gallery. I saw two magnificent sculptures there and I am sure there were many more.

From our spot in the sun we had a perfect view of the sculpture "Ratyte" against the backdrop of Matiatia Bay. I instantly recognised the style. I bet there is only one artist in the world who makes sculptures like that. I've been a fan without knowing his name since 2011, when he exhibited Morpheus in my home town Aarhus. Now I know. Phil Price, from New Zealand. I hope I'll see more of his work.

The elegance is in its balanced, ever changing movements
its natural fluidity seems to defy the hard material it is made of

Perhaps if you watch a video you can appreciate it more.
Video of how it moves in the wind

All Blacks parade
This Wednesday we spent our lunch break in a very crowded Victoria park. The welcome parade for the national heroes, The All Blacks, was cool to be a part of.

 

At 2:00 Richie McCaw walks past us with the cup

Maria, our MD, touched the cup and her son got
autographs from 14 of the players
You should have seen her smile when she showed us this photo