our first wedding back sneak peak….
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 30th, 2009
It is good to be back shooting wedding photography again. I (Colin) sure did miss it. Here is just a little sneak peak of the wedding we photographed last weekend in San Angelo. A shout out to Rachael Russo for letting us second shoot for her. Definitely check out more of Rachael’s stuff here. More to come later.
one is mine and one is Andre’as… who’s is who’s???
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
San Angelo wedding photographers
Good Bye New Zealand…
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 29th, 2009
Well, it was about that time. Our one and a half year adventure in Australia and New Zealand was now to a finish. We flew out Tuesday evening the 23rd. But before we flew out, there was some business to be done… the big trade. I must say, Jeremy and Eliza were a huge blessing in our lives. Not only because of this life saving trade, but because of the friendship and encouragement they gave us. Colin and Jeremy were like two peas in a pod. They had an instant bond when macintosh computers were mentioned - and it just grew from there. Then, what started as a simple joke about trading a van for an iphone - slowly started to get some consideration, until the day came for us to leave and the van hadn’t sold. So, the trade became offical. Thanks Eliza for your super skills of photo documenting this memorable moment and event… It’s not one that will soon be forgotten in our lives!
It was definitely a bitter sweet day for us. We were so excited to come home and see family. On the other hand - when you live in a country for a year, it kinda becomes your home. We were sad to leave the green grass, hills, rain, snow, mountains, and seeing at least 5 rainbows a day. It was also very hard to say goodbye to our new “family.” From the start of our time in New Zealand, the Marlar’s opened their house to us, while we got situated and figured out what we were going to do. I’m sure it was hard at times to have two extra people in the house (for almost 2 months), but they never showed it. Casey and Callie became like two more siblings to us. We watched movies together, played tons of cards, went to basketball games, and even some mornings got up super early so we could all go to the YMCA to play b-ball. We got to be a part of their lives and see the wonderful work they are doing in their church. I can truly say Scott and Rissa Marlar the two most selfless people I know. They gave up their lives in Texas to come serve and help a church in Auckland. God is doing amazing things there and wish we could have stayed longer.
Here is our final picture with the Marlar family before we headed off to the airport.
Just a picture with Callie and I. We bought matching shoes - and this picture makes us look like bobble heads!!
Jeremy and Eliza came to the airport as well. We all ate dinner together in the food court then the Marlars left for a meeting. These two stayed and played some cards with us to help pass some of the time! Then, it was off to the terminal… time to leave New Zealand.
We truly had a life changing experience these last 1.5 years. God has changed us and we made some great new friends. It’s impossible to put it down in words, but I hope the blogs of our adventures has given you a glimpse into a part of our journey. We are excited to see what is in store for us next!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
Muriwai Beach
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 29th, 2009
While in Auckland, we met some awesome people. One couple (who oddly enough, live in the same house as the Robertson’s did when they were in New Zealand) took us to Muriwai Beach one day. We went late in the afternoon and stayed until right before sunset - which was around 4:30 - 5:00pm… early, i know! It was pretty windy, but we all bundled up and enjoyed the sunshine while it was there! Here are some photographs of the beach.
Colin loved the silhouette of the birds.
The lighting was amazing with all the rays shooting through the clouds.
We also saw this neat rock wall that had amazing texture. I kinda wonder how the rock got that way…
This is Jeremy and Eliza - the couple who took us out here. (Jeremy is the one that traded his iphone for the van.)
Just a hilarious photo…
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
liam
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 27th, 2009
When we weren’t staying with the Marlars, we stayed with another awesome family. It was with a lady names Louise and her son Liam. Liam fell in love with Colin and looked forward to wrestling with him every evening. He was the cutest kid and had so much energy. Here are some of the photographs we took.
These first 3 are just Liam making faces… typical kid stuff.
Liam punching Colin.
Colin probably dragging Liam around on the ground.
Tickle Time!!!!!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
smores
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 25th, 2009
We finally made it back up to Auckland to stay with one of our new favorite families… the Marlar’a. We stayed with them for a couple months when we first arrived back in August - and they offered to let us stay with them part of the time we were back here. I think we have adopted them as our family away from home. Anyway, we had authentic american left over s’mores ingredients from our Active New Zealand trip that were given to us. So, we’d been saving them to eat here with the Marlar’s. Let the fun begin…
This was our solution to a “campfire”… Colin be careful!!! Don’t burn the house down!
Rissa making the perfect brown - not burnt - roasted marshmellow!
Colin burning his again.
Look at all that concentration… only the best for Rissa!
Time to eat!
Sweet Callie girl making hers.
nice smashing and fork action.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….
Chow down!!!
I don’t think the Marlars like s’mores… especially Scott. They don’t miss American food at all!!!!
The only one missing was Casey. We all enjoyed our s’mores making while Casey was working. We almost felt bad… but not enough to wait!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
waitomo caves 2
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 25th, 2009
There was just too many pictures to put all in one post.
Here are some more of colin and I caving and crawling in tight spaces.
The only other person besides Colin, that could crawl through this tunnel was the tiny indian guy. Way to go Colin… I got stuck.
The big race. We all started in a straight line and had a race upstream in 4ft water. The prize - a cadbury chocolate var. That being said, Colin was all in! When the whistle was blown, the two boys that were on my sides, jumped ahead and showered me with water from their tubes and feet. So i am in the back with my foot up in the air struggling to catch up… thanks boys…
Colin is no longer even in the picture because he was so far ahead. I am in last place here - but, the two guys that were 3rd and 4th stoppped because someone lost their boot. So while they were trying to pick it up and figure out who’s it was, I snuck into 3rd place!
Here’s the big winner - you can’t even see any of us behind him… I’d say Colin’s pretty serious about his chocolate!
The group again.
To end the trip, we had to come out where we entered. This is where the rock climbing came in. The cool part was, it was almost 7pm and pitch black outside. The sun had gone down so we climbed up at night - and you could see heaps of glow worms all the way up. It was an amazing time and something i won’t ever forget!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
waitomo caves 1
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 24th, 2009
While we were in Cambridge, we took a day trip out to Waitomo to visit the famous glow worm caves. This was the last big adventure we had planned on this trip to New Zealand. We have actually been looking forward to the Waitomo caves since we were last in the area last august. We signed up for a 5 hour afternoon caving tour that included abseiling, viewing glow worms, black water rafting, caving, and rock climbing. When we arrived, we found out the other 3 guys on our trip were all from Texas as well! go figure - that is completely random and the odds of that happening are so slim! So we started off getting suited up - and yes, we look very good and stylish. Then it was off to the site to practice for our abseil right at the beginning.
Here we are practicing.
This is on our way to the entrance of the cave.
Colin led the pack as the first one abseiling down into the cave.
And me on my way down.
The group
Colin and I black water rafting. I had to hold on to the rocks just to stay still so the current wouldn’t push me along.
carrying our tubes to the down stream a bit.
Probably shouldn’t be going backwards down a rapid in a pitch black cave…
At least one of us got it right.
Can you say COLD!!!
These last 3 photos are of us caving and crawling through tunnels - and yes they were VERY tight squeezes!
nice face colin…
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
meat pies photography and the Badgers
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 23rd, 2009
It was time to go see our friends the Badgers. Colin had met Lincoln in Australia when he was working for John North. (John and Lincoln both work for Ambassadors for Christ International.) Lincoln and Rhonda Badger came down and surprised us one day (actually 2 days before we finished our work in Okarito). It was so good to see them and spent 5 days at their home in Cambridge.
Rhonda is an EXCELLENT cook! She fed us so well while we were staying with them… bacon and egg pie, potato and leek soup, and so much more. Lincoln kept telling me how wonderful her homemade meat pies were - so lucky for us, she made them while we were there. Colin asked Rhonda if I could sit in and watch her make the pies, so that I would be able to make meat pies back home. So, Rhonda was brave and let me make them while she instructed me as to what I needed to do.
Here’s the pies in the oven…
And the final product… not to bad for my first meat pies ever!!!!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
zorbing
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 22nd, 2009
So here it is… the Zorb. The Marlar’s - who we stayed with in Auckland when we first arrived - told us how much fun this was and that zorbing was a must do! So, here we are, at the beginning of winter… in a bit of rain and shine… going to hop in an giant human hamster ball with water… and roll down a hill. It was hard to get motivated to get in a ball of water when it’s already cold outside, but we worked up the nerve. We got our “water clothes” on and went to the top. To our surprise - they filled the ball with WARM water! kudos for that!!! It was much more bearable sitting in warm water.
So here is us rolling down the hill. It is absolutely the most hilarious thing I have ever done! We both loved it and I remember Colin laughing the whole way down.
here we are at the bottom of the hill - inside the zorb ball.
and us popping out…
and us freezing outside, soaking wet, white as albinos because it’s not warm enough to ever wear shorts. FUN FUN FUN!
by colin and andre’a feldhaus
kiwi birds
Posted by admin in New Zealand on June 21st, 2009
WE FINALLY SAW A KIWI BIRD!!! We went to Rotorua the next day, and there, they have a kiwi incubation center. We paid to take a tour to see what they do from start (gathering the eggs from kiwi birds in the wild) to the end (getting the birds ready to release in the wild) and everything in between. In the wild, a kiwi bird has a 5% chance of surviving. There are just so many predators that have come in that love to eat kiwis - ex. stoats, possoms, dogs. So by hatching them in this center and leaving them until they’re around 6-9 months, the survival rate increases to over 70%. We went during the day so most of the birds in the park were outside sleeping. But, we did get to see two that live inside and are in a nocturnal room - so they trick the birds into thinking it’s night, during the day, so people can see them. The two we saw were very active and walking around poking their beaks in the ground looking for insects. One of them acutally poked his beak up and was smelling me… YIKES.
So here is a picture we took to show you the bird to egg ratio. It’s quite amazingly BIG! It’s the largest egg to bird ratio - it’s equal to a human giving birth to a 4 year old!
And we found our home sweet home kiwi - the okarito brown kiwi!
And one last random kiwi fact…
Dispite their long beak… they actually have the smallest beak of all birds. This is because the beak is measured from nostril to tip, and the kiwi’s nostril is at the very end of their beak! Pretty wild!
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus