Wow,

We can't believe it is nearly the end of our time here in New Zealand. We have had a wonderful time here with Simon's parents and younger brother. I feel like most of our time has involved eating yummy food or reading books. I've gotten more than caught up on reading since I finished my class. I am loving it!!

We were very excited to have entertainment for us here in Wellington. Simon's youngest brother, Shaun, just had a baby boy last month, so it was very fun to get to meet baby Tyler and mommy (or should I say mummy?) Ruth! Tyler is the first nephew for Simon and I so it will be fun to look for things in blue. :)

We have also been spoiled to have arrived during New Zealand's school holidays and over a weekend, so we've been able to spend time with Simon's mum and dad. Mike, Simon, and I went for a walk around the hilly neighborhood on Saturday once the rain stopped. I was amazed at how close the house is to the ocean. We walked right on top of the hills in the area and it was beautiful (of course we didn't have our camera with us-ugh!). Windy Wellington wasn't even so bad (for a few hours at least-ha :)!). The next day we walked out past the red rocks along the bottom of a hill to see where the seals come to spend the Southern Hemisphere winters. There must have been at least a couple hundred just in the area we could see. They were perched atop all the rocks in the area, posing for our photos! (PS-We just updated our photos from NZ-check out siamy2008 on photobucket).

On Monday, Simon's mum drove us north of Wellington, over the Rimutaka mountain range, to a wine-producing area called Martinborough (not to be confused with Marlborough, which is in the South Island). Martinborough is a tiny town surrounded by tiny vineyards. The grapes in the area are all picked by hand so the area is known for the quality of its wines, not the quantity. Conveniently enough, each of these vineyards has a tasting area, so we were off on a tour to sample every wine Martinborough has ever produced (or so it seemed after the first several!). We stopped at about six or seven vineyards with Mavis acting as our DD! Because it was a weekday during the offseason, there weren't many tours around. We kept running into the same four or five people all over the area. In fact, one young couple came from Sydney just to sample and buy wine from the area! Mavis found her favorite Savignon Blanc and I convinced Simon to buy the most incredible, sweetest, most delicious wine in history! Ha ha!

We have also been around the city, to Te Papa (New Zealand's national museum), the Beehive and Parliament (NZ's government buildings), and to one of Shaun's Futsol (indoor soccer) games. We always wish we had more time here, but I guess we'd better make the most of our time here, so we are off to dinner for Simon's mum's birthday (everyone say "Happy Birthday, Mavis!!!").

Tomorrow we leave on a 6am flight (yuck!) to Sydney, along with a few hundred other people who will be there for World Youth Day. I'm starting to think that the Pope is following me! It should be a fun atmosphere. We are just in Sydney for two nights so we might not be on to update this again until South Africa (almost the last leg of our journey-oh no!), so be sure to check out our pictures.

Look forward to all the message board posts. :) Love, amy & simon :)