New Plymouth

Sat 4 Feb

From Otorohanga we headed down towards New Plymouth, for our 3 pm rendezvous with the rest of the wedding crowd.  On the way we saw a sign for the Waitanguru Falls, so we turned off and headed down a very winding road to find the falls.  It was incredibly lush and green and our first experience of remote native forest.  The falls weren't that big but they were beautiful.



Then we pressed on, coming to the west coast and stopping at Mokau for lunch and then into New Plymouth.



Later, after a quick shower, we joined the wedding bus and made our way to the Barton Estate for Christoph and Joseph's wedding.  Ian, Mattias and Jack joined us on the bus.  We had canapés and cocktails ahead of the wedding and took in the expansive view over the city and out to the ocean.

The ceremony was lovely, though short, since it was a civil ceremony there was no hymn singing or anything like that.  The celebrant took the couple through their paces and at the end they exchanged rings and kisses.

Then we took another break as they reconfigured the room to the dinner arrangement, while we had some more drinks and canapés on the terrace.  The grooms had many photos taken in various locations around the estate.

Then, to dinner.  Our hosts had placed us with Ian, Mattias and Jack and also Lynny (whom we discovered lived in Potts Point only a few blocks from ♣) and Gretchen (an Aucklander).  The dinner was lovely too, followed by several speeches, the highlight being Christoph's young nephew, Jack, who blew us all away with his witty speech and his sheer energy and enthusiasm.

Then, cutting of the cake.  We heard later that Joseph had ordered the cake in the USA and brought it over (very carefully I imagine).  It was a black and silver affair, with the silver cake having a quilted appearance.  Underneath, Joseph had ordered banana cake, lemon cake and chocolate cake, so there was a variety to tempt the tastebuds.

Christoph and Joseph opened the dancefloor with their favourite song (though I didn't make a note of what it was) and then we joined them.  After some tea, more modern music was played and we had a boogie.



And then, before our carriage turned into a pumpkin, we headed home (though I have to admit that we were early departers).  Christoph's father, JJ, was on our bus out, so we can say we managed to keep up with the father of the groom!