Rose of Tralee - Friday

I'll try to keep this short (hehe thats funny coz i am short haha) so I will be leaving out the details, so I have some stories leftover to tell :)

Friday, the real fun began. We woke up at 7.30am to get ready and met the Judges at breakfast by 9am. Breaky was lovely and so was the company, it was crazy to think that we were officially in a competition.

Just after 10am, we arrived at the 'Seriously good chocolate company' where we donned hairnets and aprons, and created masterpieces!!

After learning how to make chocolates from molds, we mucked in and got to work. I managed to 'accidentally' get a bunch of chocolate on my gloves, which promptly got licked off(when we were finished of course). Once we were done and they were dried, we packed up our little goodie bags and headed out for a brisk walk to lunch at the Kiln (I am so proud of myself, that paragraph could have been 5 times as long, but now I have some stories left to tell).

During lunch, we met our MC who introduced himself, then went down the line and said who each of us were, and what region we were representing. Pretty impressive I think!!

After lunch at the kiln, we did a little bit of window shopping and stopped in to a few shops/sponsors to have a look, and have our photos taken.

"The New Zealand Rose of Tralee finalists (from left) Ashley Mackenzie-White, Karen Lynch, Kimberley Farthing, Nicole Gourley, 2009 New Zealand Rose of Tralee Lisa Monaghan, Elizabeth Sara, Anna Mills and Laura Young merrily stride down Don St in Invercargill yesterday"

On our way to our mayoral reception with the one and only Tim Shadbolt, we were met by the Southland Times who took our photo which made it to the front page of Saturdays issue(photo above).

Meeting Mayor Tim was flippin awesome!! We didn't get to talk to him much because he's a busy man, but he welcomed us graciously, we had a couple photographs, then we mingled with everyone who was there. There were people from the various Irish societies, Tim Shadbolts people, family of Lisa, and other really awesome people.

The shortest and the Tallest, Me and Ashley

Next on the Agenda was a walk down to H&J Smith Department Store (think Farmers) where we got our makeup done at various makeup counters. I went to Revlon and the lovely beautician beautified me for the Social evening.

After changing into Cocktail dresses for dinner and the social evening, we departed for the Kelvin Hotel. Dinner was delicious!! even though we were so full from Breakfast + Chocolate + lunch + mayoral reception + Dinner + Desert. Soo much food!! They even had nibbles at the social night, also held at the Kelvin.

Mum, Dad and Tania had arrived in Southland after flying in that day, so I finally got to see them and hang out with them a bit. It was a bit scary having all three judges sitting at the table with them during the night, but I got to sit with Tim Shadbolt so it was aall Good!!

The night was awesome, The Roses mingled with everyone and met each others supporters. Some of our Escorts had come to support us which was lovely. During the night we had our first on-stage interviews. Mine was OK, then it was onto the talents. The talents were not judged, they were just a bit of fun. I did a Solo Jive, and after I finished and walked off the floor, Michelle, Rachel and Lynne(our chaperones), started calling for Tim to get up and dance with me. Much to my surprise, my dream came true and I got to bust a move with Tim Shadbolt!!

Me and Tim were best buddies by then, so we had a good time.

The rest of the night was generally meeting more people, singing classic Irish songs (I'm so glad I learnt 'I'll Tell Me Ma' at Camp last year) and convincing Tim Shadbolt to be my dance partner on Dancing with the Stars.

In conclusion, Friday was awesome!!!!