WE MADE IT!

Well we are here! It is kinda chilly.... Our bags arrived a few days later than we did... We are sore and tired... BUT SO GLAD TO BE HERE!

So more about our trip.... we left St Louis at 4 pm Thursday, June 21 and arrived in Auckland, NZ at 5am Saturday, June 23 (we crossed the dateline). Then we slept on metal seats in the Auckland airport for the first hour of our 8 hour layover. We also enjoyed coffee and danishes and leftover Oreos from the plane. Qantas is a great airline by the way. Perhaps that will boost our ffmiles....

We were on a tiny plane (19 seater) from Auckland to Blenheim ("Blennum"). That flight was really fun-- it has been unusually windy in NZ this week. So we bounced around a little-- well, a lot.

Marj and Bob took us (and the lonely bag of our 4 checked bags that arrived with us--the other three took a side trip to Melbourne, Australia and arrived 1-2 days later) to eat in Picton, a lovely seaside town. We sat on the patio of a little cafe where Marj and Bob are on a firstname basis with everyone. The view was incredible... as it is everywhere in this country.

After lunch we took a tour of Blenheim and some of the valley surrounding the vineyard. We then drove around Marj and Bob's vineyard-- Carpe Vinum... PICTURES TO COME I PROMISE!

Yesterday-- Monday, was our first day of work. We started at 10:30 as we had to go back to the airport (for the 3rd time) to pick up the last 2 bags. (hooray for clean underwear!... and warm things)!!!!!! The morning became progressively cloudier and around 2pm it started to rain pretty hard. Work was called off and we headed for shelter. I took my first shower of the trip... it was "indoors" and HOT! Then we watched a movie and The Daily Show in the yurt whilst enjoying some popcorn. Lovely rainyday activities.

This morning the door to the van (our temporary dwelling) was frozen shut from the rain and the below freezing weather. Brrrrr. We tried to start working at 8:15 but the ties on the covers we had to remove in order to 2 bud the vines (will describe the process in more detail WITH PICTURES! later) were frozen. So we waited 15 more minutes for the sun to come up the hill. We worked til 5:15-- when we finished the cover work on all 3 blocks. Yay! We are farmers.... we have definitely decided that the romantic image most people have about working on a vineyard is completely unrealistic... a lot happens (by the hands of those who work HARD) before the harvesting, "stomping" and sipping can commence....

Now I am heading for bed-- we are shacking up with Tadeu, the sweet Brazilian man who works with us at Carpe Vinum. It is supposed to be -5 degrees C up here in the hills tonight so the van would be torture. The deluxe suite is quite toasty in contrast.

Cheers! Til next time... WITH PICTURES!