Volcanic ash cloud and olive picking

I'm sure you all have read or heard about the volcano in Chile and the effects of the ash cloud. Here is New Zealand, the effects are playing havoc with Air New Zealand and Quantus. One would think that Ernie & I would not be affected by that since we are not flying anywhere. Au contraire, Our goods have been sitting in Singapore waiting for the ash cloud to dissipate and allow flights into New Zealand. So the saga of our goods continues! The way it is going, we may receive just as we are ready to return to the US. Oh well, what is traveling without some hiccups. That's the only way to view all this. Speaking of the ash clouds, take a look at the photos of the sunrise we had on Friday:

 These were taken from Forrest vineyard where we are house/dog sitting for the next 10 days. Absolutely spectacular. Oh you should see the night sky here. I'll try to take some photos of the sky. I just know they won't be a replacement for actually being here.

So yesterday we went to Huia vinyard where Joelle works for the annual olive picking. Unfortunately Joelle wasn't able to participate since she was in Nelson with Jasmin on a St. John's camping weekend. St. John's is an international organization that provides medical and emergency care. They also runs a youth program where young people from six to 18 years can learn first aid, health care, self-discipline and general life skills in their communities. I was originally going to go to the weekend as a volunteer when we found out that the olive picking was scheduled for the same weekend. Of course you can understand my dilemma - be a volunteer victim for the entire weekend for kids 7 - 16 or pick olives which will them be cold-crushed to provide olive oil for all the workers. Seeing as how I might never again have the opportunity to pick olives, my decision was obvious.  Also obvious, Joelle was not happy with my decision as she also would have rather been picking olives. The joys of being an involved parent and we are very proud of her dedication. There were 11 of us picking and we picked almost 1000 kilos. We were armed with sticks (to beat the olives out of the trees), plastic wide toothed rakes (to rake the olives off) and our gloved hands (to simply run down the branches and 'pop' the olives off). Yes it was work and yes we had a great time. We started at 9 a.m. and quit when the light faded, around 5:30 p.m. Thankfully, the house we are staying in has an enormous hot tub and we fully utilized it last night.

Today is a day of rest and Monday and Tuesday we are labeling again. Time to work for wine again. No, we haven't finished off the 1 1/2 cases we received for our earlier efforts but one never knows!!!!

Bubbly (the champagne equivalent) being riddled - a 6 week process

Four racks and the cases behind waiting to be riddled

Laying out nets to begin the olive harvest

A great example of beating, raking and hand picking

A few of the trees were tall enough that we need the ladder to beat the olives out

Olives are gathered in the net and stems and sticks are picked out before putting into the small bins

Smalls bins being carried to the large bin for unloading

Lunch in the vineyard for a bunch of great olive pickers

At the end of the day, we filled two of these large bins each holding about 500 kilos of olives.

At the end of our picking day, the olives were going to the presser and they will be pressed Sunday evening. What a phenomenal experience. Well tonight we'll try to get some evening sky photos from the hot tub while we're finishing a couple glasses of wine. Hope y'all have a great day!

Queen Charlotte Drive & Picton

I realized after I published my last post that I never said anything about our road trip around the Queen Charlotte Sound. We had heavy rain all day Saturday and Sunday which meant flooding in the area between Blenheim and Nelson. Since we weren't heading in that direction, we didn't worry about that. We headed out around 10:15 Monday morning and were planning on driving all around the Kenepuru Sound and back again winding up in Picton. The plan was for an all day road trip ending up at Seamus's Irish Pub in Picton for supper and staying for the jam session of traditional Irish music.

When we put the info into our GPS for Linkwater to Kenepuru Head and we would then double back to Picton. The GPS said it would take us 3 1/2 hours to get to and we were a bit surprised since it is only 41.7K. Use the link to see what the road actually looks like on Google maps.

http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&source=embed&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108330471466062217291.00044e734074214354d9e

Once we started driving from Linkwater, we understood the situation. Here's a photo of a short section of road on our GPS.

We made the left turn onto Kenepuru Sound road and came to a sign that read:  SEVERE FLOODING ---- PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION.  We went a little bit beyond the sign and passed 2 road graders and and few plows that were heading down the road - in the same direction that we were headed - and they were covered in mud and spewing mud everywhere. We decided at that moment that discretion is the better part of valor and chose not to go on the Kenepuru Sound road and took the Queen Charlotte Road instead. The sights were stunning! I've placed several photos below. So we were feeling pretty good about our decision and looking forward to an easier drive. What a surprise! The road was a series of switchbacks on switchbacks on switchbacks. Is it possible to have that many? Don't know but it certainly felt that way. We were shocked and concerned when we came on the first mudslide on the road. By the time we passed the 5th one, we stopped counting. Most of the slides only covered 1/2 of the right lane. While we were concerned with the slides, we got rather complacent about them. When we came on the first caved in road, our concern was again raised. But, like the mudslides, you get complacent after the 4th or 5th. Just a leisurely drive to Picton - until we came to the tree that slid down and totally covered both sides of the road. Obviously it had been there for a few hours already because folks had simply drive off the road onto the mud and created a new 'road' around the tree. Thankfully there was room enough to do that on the left side of the road and we were not on a cliffside.

Spectacular isn't it!!!! This is what we get to see every day as we drive around here. Since we were in Picton earlier than originally planned, we had lunch and decided to see their aquarium. When we got to the aquarium, we noticed that it was the aquarium and Picton Cinemas. since the aquarium was on the small side and we had time to kill, we bought the combo-ticket (for the aquarium and a movie). Our timing for the aquarium was great. We got in just when two New Zealand penguins were taking their quarter hour swim.

Here's info on this little blue critter taken from http://www.penguin.net.nz/species/blue/index.html:
The blue or little penguin (Eudyptula minor), also known in Maori as korora, can be found in many places around New Zealand and Southern Australia and is the world's smallest penguin. They only come ashore under the cover of darkness and live underground in burrows. Although quite common, its small size and unusual habits make it rarely seen.

Physical characteristics
The blue penguin stands just 25 cm tall and weighs a little over 1 kilogram. The plumage is slate-blue with a bright white belly. Juveniles are indistinguishable from adults. Both sexes are alike, although the male is a little heavier and usually has a larger bill.

There are several distinct races of blue penguins and some argue that they should be split up into sub-species. Perhaps the most distinct is the "white-flippered" penguin of Canterbury, however genetic tests have shown it not to be as distinct as its plumage would suggest.

We also saw a most unusual fish - the gurnard. This fish has large pectoral fins that spread out like wings and are irridescent. My picture doesn't do it justice so please check it our on the internet.

Now, I have saved the best for last. When it was time for our movie, the ticket seller located us in the aquarium and advised us to take the ramp over the fish tank and go through the door and up the stairs to cinema 2. If we wanted snacks, we had to return through the aquarium to the gift/snack shop. I will not describe the theater other than to tell you that we have a private screening of the movie. I will let the photos tell the rest of the story:

With this, I will say good night to all!

Omaka Aviation Heritage Center, Queen Charlotte Drive & Picton

Blenheim is fortunate to have a world class museum of World War I aircraft and memorabilia. Some of the planes exhibited here are reproductions but a number of them are original equipment. The displays are amazing and so realistic. I've  included several photos but encourage you to go the the links provided to get more information. For my friend Robert, eat your heart out! Ernie & I kept talking about how much you would enjoy this museum.

http://www.omaka.org.nz/
http://www.omaka.org.nz/exhibits.htm

Etrich

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a

Story of 'Grid' Caldwell's Great Escape

Nieuport 27

War Saving Service Poster

 

The planes are displayed in an unheated building and we were given hand warmers when we entered and told that we can out to the gift shop/dining area as often as we need and get fresh hand warmers whenever we needed. While one is going through the museum, they are playing excerpts from pilots regarding the different aircraft or various mission reports. If you are ever in Blenheim, this is a must visit!

Oops - last blog was 4 days ago!

Again, best intentions! So let's see, last Wednesday we worked for wine and came home pretty tired and a bit sore. Some good food, good company and good wine took care of that. Woke up feeling good and ready to spend a little more time labeling boxes of wine that morning. We pretty much spent the rest of the day doing a few errands and stuff around the house such as moving the wood that was delivered to the driveway over the previous weekend. Joelle, Ernie, Jasmin and I moved the wood from the drive and stacked it in the shed.

We woke up Friday to cold and rain - a lot of it. Ernie and I decided it was a great day for a movie - Super 8. The movies start at 10 a.m. and it really works out great. You can see a movie and still have the whole afternoon to do whatever else you wish. Being in a smaller city, we were really happy that there is a cinema here. It has 4 screening rooms and we were in the newest addition. It probably had around 100 seats in the theater. It was stadium style seating with some of the most comfortable seats we've seen at a movie theater. Got an e-mail from the transfer company in Christchurch that is handling the goods we shipped. Woo-woo, finally! Our goods were packed and removed from our apartment at the end of February (in preparation for a 3/15 move to NZ). When we found out that our visas were going to take longer, the moving company agreed to hold our goods and just ship them around the same time we were rescheduled to leave for NZ (May 15th). They were advised that we would be on holiday until 6/1 and to plan on delivering them after that date. Wen we got back to Blenheim, we had an e-mail from them advising that they were told by their carrier that the case of wine we were sending could not be shipped. They were not licensed to handle alcohol. It turns out that our goods had not even shipped yet. We had them remove the case of wine (Chris would pick it up and hold it for us) and to ship our goods ASAP as there were items that we were waiting for - like hiking boots, winter clothes, etc. We are now working on completing the customs forms so our goods can be received into NZ and brought to us. We still do not have an arrival date but think that should happen within the next week.

Saturday brought better weather and we saw our first netball game. Jasmin plays for her school team and they had a game scheduled that afternoon. It's basically outdoor basketball with no dribbling. Ernie says it's like ladies basketball used to be. It was an interesting game. Unfortunately they did not win that day but we had a great time trying to figure out the game and cheering for her team.

We had dinner that evening with the winemaker from Huia and her husband, Vicky and Johnny. Johnny's folks ranch and they game them some meat from one of their cows. Joelle and Vicky kept referring to having a beast roast - now I know what they meant by that. We each cooked a small roast and combined the efforts for a great supper - roasted beast, mashed potatoes, gravy, sauteed peas and onions, fried beets, and maggot pasta. Yes, maggot pasta is what they called this salad that Vicky made. There are no maggots in it. It's made with orzo (a rice shaped pasta), feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, parsley and a little red wine vinegar. It was great! It seems that Vicky had made this dish before and somebody said the orzo looked like maggots and the name stuck. I personally think a great name and definitely creates an interest in the dish.

Let's see, that brings us up to Sunday. Ernie helped Joelle plant some grape vines in the yard, we transplanted some rhubarb and then restrung the laundry line outside. Other than that, it was an easy day. So when does vacation begin?????? Seriously, we're having a great time helping out and getting familiar with Blenheim. In fact, some of the shopkeepers now recognize us when we come in and ask about our week and what are we planning for the next few days. It's like we've been here so much longer than we actually have. Folks are so friendly!

Today was a trip to Nelson for Jasmin's first orthodontist visit. Yes it will be braced for her in about another year. It seems that this is the only orthodontist in the area and they have a small satellite office in Blenheim that they visit once or twice a week. So they determined that Jas will need braces and they will contact Joelle when an opening comes up in Blenheim so they can start her work - probably in a year or a year and a half. We toured the old town area of Nelson. Some great architecture here and the cathedral is beautiful. Dedicated in 1887 and they have a pictorial presentation of the original building of the church and the changes it has undergone through the years. They have an absolutely gorgeous stained glass 'rose' window and an amazing pipe organ. We spent a little time at the mediterranean store to purchase some Italian foods that we became addicted to while living in Italy. Then on to the Wurstladen - a great German sausage and cheese shop. What a treat! We finished with supper at Stephano's Pizza. I can honestly say his pizza was as good as any we had while in Italy. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Unless one has visited the south island of New Zealand or studied a map of NZ, one would not realize that the Alps have extended down here. The southern Alps are quite spectacular. Snow-covered mountains, lots of skiing, and yes they have glaciers here. In fact, the last time we visited (6 years ago), we did a glacier walk. We walked from the car park to the base of the glacier, put on crampons and walked up the ice stairs on the side of the glacier and then proceeded to walk on the glacier and through some small crevasses. WOW! Anyway, to get to Nelson from Blenheim, you have to cross the mountains. The roads here are mostly 2 lane, narrow and windy. On top of that, the only time I saw roadside barriers were on the curves. When we were on just windy stretches and the ground just dropped off, there were no barriers at all - just the drop off. I thought I was being a good passenger and pretty calm but Joelle pointed out that there were several stretches where I was pretty white knuckled.

We arrived home to find out that Christchurch just had 2 more earthquakes today - one at 5.6 and the other at 6.0. Those poor people were just starting to recover from the one in March and today's quakes undid all the work they just finished. We haven't felt anything here and we are grateful for that. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Hope y'all have a great night!

So going back to work may not be all it's cracked up to be!

So we worked for wine today doing relabeling. It was definitely not glamorous work - actually rather tedious but not difficult. It was fun spending time with Joelle and her work colleagues. There was a lot of standing for Ernie, unpacking 12 pack boxes and repacking the wine into 6 pack boxes after the bottles were relabeled. I was able to sit for most of the day putting different labels over the current labels.  Thankfully we were able to do the work indoors instead of outside like we thought would happen. I did drop 2 bottle and broke them. I guess that will come out of my 'pay'.

Changing subjects, my son-in-law made a very interesting statements the other day. He said that New Zealand is really a third world country pretending to be a first world country. That statement alone made a great impact on me. We've had numerous conversations about living in New Zealand and some of the difficulties we've encountered. We've determined basically it's because their infrastructure leaves something to be desired. The internet usage both at home and at hotels is based not on the speed you choose but how much data you use on a daily/monthly basis.

In Joelle's house, we have to be very aware of who showered on a given day and who was planning on showering on another day because they have a hot water heater that heats the water only at night so that tank of hot water has to last all day until it heats up again overnight. Now, she did have one that heated twice a day but they changed to once a day to conserve finances. She does have a washing machine but not a dryer so we have to hang our clothes outside on the clothesline to dry. It's not that they don't have dryers here, it's just that they take several hours to dry clothes. So not very effective and quite costly. All the electric outlets have switches to turn the outlet on and off and Joelle is constantly reminding us to turn off the outlet if we are not using it. Again, to conserve finances. And again, living here is expensive.

Going back to my original subject, after a long day doing wine work, we decided not to cook but rather go out to eat. We chose an Indian restaurant in Blenheim and just had a great meal. It's quite common in ethnic restaurants to bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee. Trevor brought a super bottle of Savignoun Blanc from Forrest. After a full day of physical work, a bottle of white wine followed by a bottle of Pinot Noir and a lot of good food, I am a  most happy camper We're home now and getting ready for a cuppa. That's what they call a cup of tea and yes we drink it with sugar and milk. Well, after my cuppa, I think I'll be ready to crash. Have to get up tomorrow and go back to finish labeling the boxes on the pallets since we didn't have the labels today.

Oh, we're going to have to stop at the mattress store tomorrow to pick up a set of sheets. We bought a new bed for the sleepout last week and it was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. Well Wednesday came and was getting ready to go and no mattress yet. We called them to find out when the bed would arrive and found out that they didn't have a king size bed in the warehouse but would have it on Friday. Since we were expecting the bed that day, they offered to deliver a different king size bed on loan for the next two days and then bring the one we ordered on Friday and exchange out. I've never before heard of a loaner bed. Obviously we declined and said we would just wait until Friday. Personally I think that was the better decision. Just not quite comfortable with a loaner bed.

That's all for today. Y'all have a great day! I'll be back on line tomorrow!

A quiet lazy day! No pooh-flinging!

Woke up to cold and rain therefore no pooh-flinging today. Instead, a great day to hunker down and relax. We left Austin on May 15th and haven't slowed down until today. Ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few items. Oh, they do not use grocery carts here, they use trundles. In reality they are the same type of grocery carts we use in the states, they are just called trundles down here.

You know how you see homeless folks in your cities holding signs that read 'will work for food.' After friends of our read my last blog, they suggested that we should have a sign that reads 'will work for wine.' I can get on board with that one!!!

Made my first feijoada Cake today. Came out really good. For those not familiar with this unique little fruit (including me until a few weeks ago), they are really good. They taste like a combination of passion fruit, banana, kiwi, tangerine. So good!

I'll let y'all know tomorrow how we survive a day of labeling at the vineyard.

Getting old is a bitch!

The subject title may seem odd for a blog about our New Zealand trip but bear with me. As Ernie & Joelle started to read my entries, they both started to remind me of all the other stuff we've done and I didn't mention. When I try to garner a little sympathy for an old mind, they basically say suck it up and get with the program. Maybe not in those actual words but definitely with the looks. Thank God for family!

So here are some of the things they reminded me of and I can't believe they didn't get mentioned in this journal.

We went to Huia Winery the other day to have lunch with Joelle (she works in the vineyard there). We picked up several meat pies (similar to the pot pies that one makes in the states except the stores serve them already coked and ready to go). She arrived at the winery tasting room about the same time we did except she came in on the tractor. What fun! Ok, so maybe only a city girl would think riding a tractor would be fun. Just call me silly. After lunch, we got a personal tour through the winery and got to taste some wine right out of the tank. Ernie and I thought that was so cool and we were so lucky to get a chance to do that.

We then went on to Forrest Winery to visit Trevor (our son-in-law who works in the front office of his winery) and tour his winery. Trevor introduced us to the winemaker Chris and we then got to try several white wines directly from the tanks and a few reds from the barrel. Twice in one day. Just call me ecstatic!!!! So Joelle just pointed out that we got better treatment from our son-in-law than we did from our daughter. Thank you Trevor!

Joelle is putting Ernie and I to work - and here we thought we were retired. We're going to do some labeling at Huia next week. Seems they have a shipment that needs to go out and the wine needs to be relabeled so they need extra hands. The bad news is that we don't have a NZ tax number so they can't pay us, the good news is that since they can't pay us with money, they're going to pay us out with wine. Oh gee, does life get much better than that?

Oh, oh, oh......we are also going to be working at a pooh-fling. They actually call it a 500 prep. I guess pooh-flinging conjures up other images and raises some questions as to what goes on in an bio-dynamic vineyard. They actually make a 'tea' from the cow manure and then dilute it in water. The tea is then put in barrels on a trailer and the trailer is pulled through the vineyard while workers fling the tea on the grapevines using long handled brushes.

As I said earlier, we are heading into winter but we've just had a 'warm snap' to the weather and now the cherry tree in their yard is blooming. Hopefully the out-of-season bloom won't cause a problem.

Again, thank you family for reminded me things I forgot to list! Hope y'all have a great day!

Sleepout done and feelin' like home!

So we picked up carpet yesterday to put in the sleepout. There was a small area rug and the rest of the floor was basically painted garage floor. For those of you not familiar with a sleepout, it's a 'romper room' or a bedroom to us at the back of the garage. It is quite common in New Zealand and Australia. Since we are going into winter, the floor was pretty damn cold and kept the room quite cold also. We were able to buy an off cut of carpet at the carpet store for a mere pittance of the original cost. Of course it was slightly wider than the room and not as long as needed so that meant I got to be the carpet cutter. After cutting and piecing the extra carpet, I must admit it looks pretty darn good and the room is appreciably warmer already. We put together shelves for our clothes and everything is in it's place now. It's starting to look & feel like home.

Ernie decided to cook tonight - his 'famous' rosemary chicken. While he was cooking and making all the requisite noises like shit, damn, where the hell is that, you guys don't worry about me just go on playing your game. Joelle, Jasmin and I were playing a dice game at the table. We did tell him to let us know if he needed any help but he just assumed that we would know when he needed help and be there. We'll need to work on the asking for help issue. Anyway, while we're sitting playing dice, Joelle looks toward the kitchen and so very casually remarks "Dad, I think your kitchen is on fire!' As we turn to see what she's talking about, the flames were rising higher and Ernie was jumping around trying to blow out the fire. He finally placed a pan lid on the flames and they eventually went out. After the excitement, we resumed our game and he continued to cook. Oh, the meal was excellent and his chicken reputation remains untarnished.

Hope y'all had a good day today. Ours was very productive and good. Tomorrow we will have a relaxing, easy day while celebrating the Queen's birthday.

A yank living in a metric world and other difficulties!

That's me - a yank - better known to some as an American. I get that everyone else in the world is on the metric system and even some yanks are too - if they're scientists or engineers. But for us everyday people, metrics are like greek to me. My husband has written up a cheat sheet for oven temperatures and I'm starting to figure out weather temperatures - 15C and lower is cold and I should wear a sweater at least and over 25C means you start peeling of clothes. Actually slipping into something lighter since peeling off my clothes might get me deported.

I know I will conquer this mystery but when I go shopping here, it gives me quite a scare. I look at some fish or a piece of meat and the price is $20 or more per kilo but my first response is to read it as per pound. Once my breathing slows down and I stop mouthing expletives, I realize my error and then just bemoan the fact that everything is more expensive here but not as outrageous as it would be if it were per pound. As for the cost of things here, it is fair to say that New Zealand is quite expensive. Currently, gas (for your car) is between $7.50 & $8 US.

We went to the Mitre 10 store (like a Home Depot or Lowes) looking for shelves and carpet and stuff like that to finish off the sleepout (more about that in a minute) and I asked a sales person where I could find a flashlight. She just stared at me like I was from an alien planet. I tried to describe what a flashlight is and what I needed it for and she sent us off to the lighting department. Obviously I didn't want a floor lamp or a ceiling light so we just wandered around the store until we found the torches. Go figure!

Went to the boot sale this morning (a city wide garage sale for my US friends). Got some very cool table puzzles and some veggies but nothing more. Then went out to get carpet for the floor of the sleep out. The project for tomorrow is to finish getting the sleepout put together.then things will feel like home. I think we will be finished with all the settling in stuff by the end of this weekend. Oh, we have a long weekend because we are celebrating the Queen's birthday on Monday. God save the Queen!

Wellington Food & Wine Show

Last weekend we took the ferry from Blenheim (on the south island) to Wellington (on the north island) to attend this show. While the Cook Strait is known to be rough crossing usually, the water gods smiled down on me and provided a relatively calm ride. While I love the water and water activities, my stomach hates them. I usually just go along with my planned event and suffer the stomach problems soI was doing the happy dance on that crossing.

Our son-in-law and daughter were exhibiting Forrest wines at the show. What a treat! We got to sample a lot of amazing wines - along with some no so amazing and sample equally great food. The people we met at the show - just other attendees - were so much fun and so open and hospitable. In fact, one couple invited us to come back to Wellington to spend a weekend with them visiting wineries in their area. Since we've been in New Zealand, we have eating some amazing Thai, Indian and Malaysian food. The flavors are so fresh and lively that they seem in stark contrast to the winter weather. I had the chance to take 2 cooking classes while at the show and can't wait to cook chicken curry laksa (a malaysian soup).  Yum yum!

Intentions are great but my actions suck!

 I really intended to post something every day and treat this blog as a travel journal. Unfortunately, consistency in posting is proving to be my achilles heel. One of the really cool things we did on the trip from Wanaka was a stop outside of Kaikoura to see the Ohau Stream seal pups. It seems that the seal pups travel up this stream to the waterfall and stay there, in safety, while their mothers feed at sea. There were so many pups in the pool at the base of the waterfall that the water appeared to be boiling.

Looks like these two are headed out to sea!

Second blog and already behind!

So the first post has been published and there is so much to catch up on since the decision to blog but unfortunately it is late and am having trouble focusing.  We are currently in Wanaka in  the southern area of the south island of New Zealand. We had a great day today beginning with an 11K walk around the lake followed by lunch in the van because the winds were blowing around 35 MPH. The weather today has been quite iffy. We were going to go for a walk to the Rob Roy Glacier but we didn't have the right outer wear and provisions - that being rain gear along with winter weather wear. We left Wanaka in relatively nice weather (overcast but otherwise nice) but the forecast was for rain and possible snow along with strong winds. We did not have winter hiking gear nor rain gear so had to forgoe the glacier walk for a lake walk. We did about 11K around the lake, had lunch in the mini-van because the winds were so fierce that we couldn't eat outside and then went for a rousing and very competitive ground of mini-putt (that's miniature golf for all you non-New Zealanders). I must say that this was one of the fiercest miniature golf courses that I have ever played. In any case, we had great fun and then had to return to the condo for a round of clothes washing. While the clothes were doing their thing, we played an fun game of Balderdash followed by a round of Kings and Assholes. Yes that is the name of the game. Great strategizing game but definitely one that will leave you calling your fellow players assholes!!! You should really try this game!!!! Tomorrow we will return to Blenheim for one day and then on to Wellington for the Wellington Food and Wine Festival. We arrived in New Zealand  one week ago and haven't slowed down since. We managed to buy a vehicle, a new bed, sort through our luggage and work through jet lag. When we arrive back in Blenheim on Sunday evening, we will be looking for our goods that were shipped and the arrival of our new bed. Things are beginning to settle into place. So much more to say but have run out of time on our internet allotment in the condo lounge. Got to admit that I'm pretty proud of two posts so far. Will try to stay current in my post but may falter if my son-in-law doesn't stop sampling his wines. Miss all my family and friends in the US but am enjoying getting re-acquainted with my family here. To all my friends in Italy - Ciao! To all my friends in the US, enjoy the summer and great home-grown tomatoes and summer fruit.