Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Christchurch Earthquake

This week is Stamp Club - had to change it since I was in New Zealand when we were supposed to meet.  Speaking of New Zealand, I just heard that they had a 6.3 earthquake today!!  Guess there's some things you are glad that you missed.  I don't think I would want to live in an area that is so susceptible to earthquakes, tornadoes or hurricanes.  New Zealand has over 14,000 earthquakes a year!  When we checked into the B&B in Christchurch, one of the ladies there told us they had had a couple of quakes the past few days - just small ones.  I guess they are just common place to them.  That is one of the things I was so surprised about in Christchurch - how much rebuilding was still being done - almost 3 years after the big quake hit them in Feb, 2011.  Most of the damage from that quake was in the downtown area.  We took a cable car ride and the conductor told us that the quake had been very shallow causing so much damage in the city.  The cable tracks were undamaged during the quake and they think that is one of the things that helped keep the streets together instead of crumbling.  There was a beautiful 19th century cathedral in the center of the city.  I wish I could have seen it before the earthquake. The spire and part of the tower was destroyed and the structure of the building was severely damaged.  It had been damaged previously by five previous earthquakes.  In March, 2012 work began on demolishing the building but in mid December, the demolition was halted by the High Court of New Zealand.  However, in early December 2013, the Supreme Court rejected a final bid to preserve the cathedral meaning that the diocese is free to demolish the building and build a replacement.  There is a group pushing for the building to be repaired but that will cost  millions of dollars.   In the meantime, the cathedral community has been worshiping in a temporary building, the Cardboard Cathedral which we visited.   The triangular prism building is fashioned from 98 interlocking cardboard tubes.  They also used timber, steel and a concrete base alongside the tubes.





Outside of the Cardboard Church - see cardboard tubes

Inside Cardboard Church - notice cardboard beams

 


That is not the only temporary structure that the city has.  They also have a pedestrian shopping mall built with brightly colored shipping containers.  It is very unique!




Thursday, January 16, 2014

I'm back with pictures from my trip!

I'm home!  I think this is the longest I've been away from home and definitely the longest I've been away from my husband.  But it was a great trip!   We arrived back in Texas Monday night from New Zealand after a full day of traveling.  We left Christchurch Monday afternoon at 4:30 pm; flew to Auckland; headed over to the International Terminal (about an 8 minute walk) and had to go back through Security to catch our flight to San Francisco (13 hour flight!); went through Security and Customs in San Fran. and caught our flight to Houston; and lastly our final flight to San Antonio where we landed at 9:30 pm .... still Monday!  Whew!  We were glad to be home!  I stayed at Ashley's a couple of days to get some rest.  So far, the jet lag hasn't been as bad as I expected.  Of course, I have been going to bed about 11 and getting up around 9. 

I'm going to try and share a few pictures with you for the next few weeks from some of our stops in New Zealand.

The Auckland Airport
 

We visited the Auckland Zoo and saw these giant tortoises!

We took the ferry to Waihike Island on Sunday from Auckland and visited several wineries.  These are some grapes hanging from the vine.

Having lunch and a glass of wine at one of the wineries.

Ashley and Courtney relaxing in our little apartment in Auckland.
Auckland Memorial - beautiful view of the city from here.
Baboons at the Auckland Zoo - one in tree and one on ground.  The one of the ground had covered himself up with a piece of cardboard.  We watched him climb up with the other one - carrying his cardboard and covering himself up again!
Love Birds at the Zoo

Our first gas fill up!  Wow!
 
STAMPIN' UP NEWS

Dates: January 11-February 10, 2014
The Details:  NEW Paper Pumpkin subscribers who sign up at My Paper Pumpkin between January 11 and February 10, 2014, will receive a FREE set of  2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers -a $14.95  value.  The Paper Pumpkin kits have been revamped to be better quality and better value!
  • This special offer is only valid for new subscribers.
  • Customers must sign up at My Paper Pumpkin
  • The markers will be sent with the subscriber's Welcome Kit.  No coupon code is required. Anyone who signs up for a Paper Pumpkin membership during the promotion dates will get a set of 2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers.

SU has some exciting new products coming soon! New personalized stamps that you are going to love! And REALLY exciting new markers coming called Blendabilities. If you like Copic markers but don’t like the price, you will love these. Alcohol markers that blend beautifully and even a marker that removes color if you make a mistake. The chart shows the 12 color groups that will come in sets of 3 for 11.95 (US) So each dot you see below represents the 3 gradient colors that blend together. There is a set of 6 skin tones, and the color remover pen also. They are not refillable at this time so they can be a lower price point than other alcohol markers. They will not replace our regular markers – the alcohol markers dry too fast to use on your stamps or to use aqua painters with. Think of these as another color tool to add to your tool box. They are square and won’t roll off your table, bullet tip on one end, brush tip on the other. They recommend using the Memento Tuxedo Black pad (which we will carry also) and NOT using StazOn, which is an alcohol based pad.  When are they available? Not sure. They said this quarter, so maybe March? I’ll keep you posted.
 
IMG_8588 

 Also - 2 new Photopolymer sets are coming out and some news about SU manufacturing them in our Kanab facility. They can be stinky to make and even opening my package at home requires some airing out but they stamp so nicely!  Photopolymer stamps will be included in the annual catalog as well as be available in our clear mount cases!


Dates: January 11-February 10, 2014
The Details:  NEW Paper Pumpkin subscribers who sign up at My Paper Pumpkin between January 11 and February 10, 2014, will receive a FREE set of 2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers -a $14.95  value.  SU has redesigned the Paper Pumpkin kits making them better quality and better value!
  • This special offer is only valid for new subscribers.
  • Customers must sign up at My Paper Pumpkin
  • The markers will be sent with the subscriber's Welcome Kit.  No coupon code is required. Anyone who signs up for a Paper Pumpkin membership during the promotion dates will get a set of 2012-2014 In Color Stampin' Write Markers.