February 2010

So I think we mentioned that last month was a bit boring with no big events happening. All we did this month was head about 213,506 miles south (or so it seemed that far) to the wonderful countries of New Zealand and Australia. Course we didn't spend the entire month in the southern hemisphere but nothing else we did in February can really compare. Needless to say this post focuses a bit on our trip. We start off here with a picture of Ellie...we are not sure who's child she is in this photo. She does that sometimes...decides not to look like either one of us. Anyway, suppose that is for you to decide.

And after a flight to Soeul Korea, an all nighter (on which Ellie slept for 2 hours) to Sydney and a final leg to Christchurch...only to be followed by 4 hours in a car to Blenheim....

need I say AHHHHH New Zealand wine country.

A bit of an artsy photo of some Sauvignon Blanc grapes...they don't actually taste all that bad.

The first place we stayed...Omaka Heights. We are about 6km outside Blenheim, NZ. This was the view on our patio.

We decided to take Ellie out for a nice dinner...we made early reservations so the restaurant would not be so crowded...but all in all Ellie was great...not to mention the food.

Not sure if you can see it well...this is a photo out the back of Omaka Heights. You are looking at olive trees...mmmmm. If you look closely, you can see a sheep eating from one of the trees at the bottom. We are pretty sure we ended up eating the sheep...mmmmm.

These are alpacas (smaller relatives of the llama). They produce wool just like sheep...we bought Ellie some slippers made out of the wool. They are funny animals. You will have to ask where the money came from to buy said slippers.

Here we are about to embark on one of the greatest days ever...the Marlborough Wine Festival

Below are some more views from Omaka Heights...

The day after the wine fest we decided to stay in for dinner...traveling with Ellie eventually wears you down. As noted before we had quite a view from our patio. We decided to go to the local grocery store and buy some prepared foods...then we saw this place called Renwick Takeaways (they call carry out places 'takeaways'). Katie ran in and picked up some fish and chips.

We are here to tell you that the Kiwis do fish and chips better than the Irish. We enjoyed this dinner with a bottle of Highfield Estate Sauvignon Blanc...salty, greasy food with a bright, limy, acidic wine...a perfect match.

And oh yeah...the sunset almost ruined the evening...the following images happened over the course of about 10 minutes. Katie says this may have been her favorite part of the trip.

The next day we decided to take a picnic to the Queen Charlotte Track...a 70 some KM hiking trail in the Marlborough Sounds. We only treked about 2 KM in but had a great lunch...more cheese, etc, and wine.

This is what happens when you combine a 4 KM hike with a bottle of wine, sunshine and a 15 lb baby on your chest.

This is Valentines Day...to any guys out there who are looking for new ideas this might be something to give your sweetheart...a baby girl (those are Ellie's alpaca slippers), wine and a New Zealand wine trip.

The next day we went to heaven on earth...Cloudy Bay Winery. Here is Katie having fun at the cellar door.

And here is Ellie having fun at the cellar door...every winery we went to had a basket or box of toys in the corner...it was great!!

If Jesus were to visit a winery he would enter through these doors!

Ellie wanted to take an entire barrel home...we said no this time.

Ah...the infamous biking day. Imagine biking all day from winery to winery drinking wine the entire time. Now imagine doing it with a baby strapped to your bike. Needless to say...Katie was a bit nervous. Ellie on the other hand loved it!

Lunch always tastes better with a backdrop like this one.

This is Ellie's friend Luna that she made at Isabel Estates...This dog was obsessed with Ellie...the size difference made it funny...and of course scared Katie. Good luck trying to find the wine in the states. If you can we suspect you will enjoy. It is all family grown, picked and organic...their choice of weed control you might ask...sheep...they eat the weeds and leave the grape vines alone until grapes are produced at which time they just let the weeds grow until harvest. A really, really neat winery to visit.

Our time on NZ is coming to an end here. This is the east coast of the south island just north of Kaikura...a really interesting sleepy little old whaling town. There is a house there that has a front porch proped up on whale vertibrae.

This is more of the east coast...the weather changed from sunny in the photo above to cloudy and windy in about 30 miles...thats life on the coast. The black sand is not sand in the photo below. It is actually little flat rocks about the size and shape of a penny. It feels good to walk on believe it or not.

We have skipped ahead here to Sydney...if you couldn't tell. We took a ferry across the harbor to Manly Beach (despite the name it is not a beach for gay men). Had to get this ionic image.

This is just a shot of the beach

We didn't actually meet these people...the time of day is about 10 am. These folks are drinking VB (like Natty light for the states) and yes, yes they are also smoking weed. We bet they were nice people though.

Another iconic image...this time of the harbor bridge.

Ellie wanted to pose here...the word on the street is that the week following our visit here there was a photo taken in this same spot of like 200 naked people. Timing is everything.

In okinawa we have huge bats...about the size of a chicken...you see them often...but nowhere in okinawa do they congregate like this and not during the day. We were sitting in the botannical gargens in Sydney and a cockatoo came flying in and scared all these bats into a frenzy...we were like what the...

This is Ellie on our way home...flying international they give you a little bassinette for the baby...it is awesome if you are the parent!!

We finished up the month at home...work was such a joy to return to. Ellie turned 7 months (if you couldn't tell).

We end the month with our two girls hanging out...one is actually enjoying herself...the other is annoyed almost out of her mind.

We must leave you for now. We are sorry for the delay in this post.

We do have a wine list growing on this post that you all are able to access and contribute to as well...we hope you do.

Additionally...we try to send back photos and news to America and feel a bit jipped in return...if you all have time lets see some photos of you all back in the states.

Until next time!!

Sayonara gozaimas!