riverECHO

As I sat at my computer this morning, bundled up in my sleeping bag and listening to the rain fall outside, it boggled my mind that we were in over 100 degree heat just a couple days ago before we parted ways with Jean to return to the southwest.

The second part of our vacation with Jean was spent in the vast red center. Believe it or not it was vast, covered in red dirt, and in the center of Australia. Our destination was Uluru, commonly known as Ayer’s Rock, or simply known as the big red rock in the middle of Australia. But before arriving in Uluru, we made a few stops along the way.

Just south of Tennant Creek, we pulled of the road for a quick stroll through the Devil’s Marbles. It was amazing that some of these “marbles” were still balancing as they looked like they would roll away at any moment. Our walk through the marbles was a quick one as we scurried between shady patches, but we did gather a handful of cool photos from the walk.

We continued on to Alice Springs, were we spent a night and visited the Alice Springs Desert Park, which hosts a display of various desert ecosystems. The park is entirely outdoors, except for the nocturnal display. As you can imagine the desert park was pretty hot and as much as we loved watch tons of birds swoop above our heads, the nocturnal area was the best. And no, it’s not just because it had air conditioning . . . well that’s only partly the reason. Our eyes adjusted slowly in the nocturnal house, where the lighting is always set to “full moon mode” during the actual day. It is just enough light to watch critters like rats, snakes, owls, wallabies, and horny devils move around as if it were the middle of the night.

The drive from Alice Springs to Uluru takes about 5 hours and we arrived just as the sun was setting. We parked the camper and quickly walked up to a lookout to take in the view. From the distance of our campground it was hard to make out its enormity. We awoke early the following morning and drove into the national park to watch the sunrise. It’s hard to describe just how massive Uluru is. Standing roughly 2,800 feet tall, it gives us just a glimpse of the size of the entire rock which is mostly underground. Think of it like an iceberg, where about 90 percent of the rock is hidden below ground. Its many contours and groves seemed to move as the sun slowly rose and when we took a closer look along a short trail up to its edge, it seemed to tower over us. Although there is a trail to the top of Uluru, it seemed impossible to attempt it from where we stood as it was overhung at the base. We all agreed that it would be a pretty amazing sight during a rain storm.

Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas, is another rock formation not even an hour drive from Uluru. Kata Tjuta stands slightly taller than Uluru but takes a different shape with many tall adjacent mounds instead of just one. Although on everyone’s “hit list” it also seemed way less busy. BJ and I strolled up a trail through one of the gorges that divided the rock mounds and it was impressive to stare up at the towering rock walls as the sun rose. We noticed that Kata Tjuta wasn’t smooth like Uluru, but rocky and rough. Turns out Kata Tjuta and Uluru were formed by totally different forces, but how bizarre that they just happen to be so close together in the middle of nowhere.

The extreme heat and the crowds took a little bit away from the experience but I think we were all impressed by the sights of the red center. Jean splurged one night and took us all out to an event called “Sounds of Silence.” A bus came to pick us up from camp and took us to a remote bush setting we watched the sun set over Kata Tjuta, drank champagne, ate dinner which included kangaroo and crocodile (Jean wasn’t about to try this bush tucker and order the vegetarian meal), and watched the stars slowly come out, complete with a presentation on the different constellations that were overhead. The entire evening was set outdoors on the outback’s sandy surface and although we feared that it would take a turn for “touristy,” the evening was one of the best we had in the red center. Thanks Jean!

After two nights in Uluru and many dips into the campground pool, we decided it was time to head back to Alice Springs. We spent our final evening with Jean at a restaurant called Overlander’s Steakhouse. It featured steak, as well as kangaroo, emu, crocodile, and camel. BJ and I ordered a sample platter and here is the verdict. Crocodile tastes a little like canned tuna but they put so much sauce on it that it seemed like they were hiding something. Emu had a duck taste to it. Camel was sort of bland. Kangaroo was the favorite, but it wasn’t nearly as good as when BJ cooked up his own version just a few weeks ago. We were surprised in the middle of dinner when the matradee approached the table with a few props that we were supposed to use in a restaurant-wide song and dance. What proceeded was pretty silly, but we made sure to do our bit and participate.

The following morning Jean flew back to Sydney for a couple of days before flying home and BJ and I flew back down to Perth. It feels like the last two weeks flew by way to fast with Jean. But as we look back through all the photos and remember little stories here and there, we actually covered a lot of ground, made the most of the heat by seeking out every swimming pool possible, and of course, enjoyed each other’s company.

Welcome to Australia Jean, let’s go see the crocodiles. After a visit to one of Darwin’s well known outdoor markets, we left the city a day early to head to Kakadu National Park. Kakadu has been recognized as a World Heritage Park because of its diverse species as well as its Aboriginal culture and history. It turns from a drastically dry and fire swept countryside in the “winters” to a bright green and flooded area in the “summers.” We arrived at the end of the dry season known as the “build up.” Every afternoon, clouds build and build in the sky, making you think a storm is inevitable. Only when it barely starts to sprinkle do the clouds start to deteriorate and float away. This is also the hottest time of year up here. Thank the Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent for air conditioning in the big RV.

Our first stop in the park was a casual stroll along the East Alligator River at Ubirr. There are actually no alligators in Kakadu, or anywhere in Australia for that matter, but … oh my god … there are crocodiles. We were not expecting to actually see one and when we got to the first lookout along the trail, not even five minutes from the car, BJ spotted a dark shadow in the water. Sure enough … crocodile. Thankfully, since we visited the Steve Irwin Zoo along the east coast, we remembered that crocodiles will not chase after anything on land as their very heavy tail makes them extremely slow. But they do strike right at the water’s edge and it is advised to not approach the edge of the water or hang out over the water on, let’s say, a viewing platform. We were well away from the water so we hung out and watched and Jean convinced herself that we invited her to Australia just so we could feed her to the crocodiles.

During the very hot afternoon, BJ and I strolled to the Ubirr rock art sites, a number of galleries depicting drawings that were made thousands of years ago using either ochre or blood. Aborigines used rock art to share stories and the act of drawing the art was more important to them than the artwork itself. They would paint directly on top of an old drawing. So each rock art “gallery” could have hundreds of layers of drawings. The figures and forms were mostly obvious and included different kinds of fish, kangaroos, crocodiles, turtles, as well as humans with dilly bags and spears. One of the things that distinguish Aboriginal art is the depiction of internal organs and bones in each of the animals or human figures. They refer to this as x-ray art. We made one more stop before heading back to camp to walk to the top of a lookout over Arnhem Land and Jean, the trooper that she is, grabbed her walking sticks and made her way up the steep incline along with us.

We stayed in Kakadu National Park for two nights and on the second morning took an early morning boat cruise up the Yellow River. It was an awesome tour and way better than we expected. We saw tons of birds. Some of them could walk across lily pads and looked like they were walking on water. The Darter had a very long neck and actually spent most of his time spearing fish under water. Another one, called the “fire starter” learned that it could move a burning stick to a new area if it wanted to eat escaping grubs and bugs. But even with so many birds it was hard not to be constantly scanning the waters for another set of spikes or a pair of eyes barely breaching the surface. Once again we were surrounded by crocs and for some reason they always seemed to appear closest to Jean. The boat captain assured us that the crocs are used to these boats, but they looked pretty hungry to me. At one point a crocodile splashed out of the water and was heading straight towards a flock of geese along the shore. It made us all jump until the boat captain started yelling out “get a duck, get a duck, get a duck!!”

We left Kakadu and drove towards Katherine Gorge, where BJ and I had spent a couple nights about three weeks ago. We felt like we had the entire campground to ourselves and spent much of the day in and out of the salt water pool. After two nights in Katherine we made our way south to the popular outback pub of Daly Waters to set up camp for the night. It definitely felt like the off season at the pub but it was easy to picture the place bumping with people. Jean encountered tons of frogs in the bathroom, one of which was hiding out below the toilet seat and got a bit of a ride when she flushed the toilet. We had dinner at the pub and then hit the sack as BJ and I had to be up at 1:30am for a quarterly meeting at Vertical Media. We attempted to sleep for a few hours and then woke up to coffee and breakfast just before the meeting. With the very loud hum of the air conditioner, Jean managed to stay asleep on her bed in the back of the rig as we jabbered away on our computers in the wee hours of the day. Needless to say, we were pretty tired throughout the rest of the day.

We are now in the outback town of Tennant Creek, slowly making our way down to Alice Springs and Uluru. We explained to Jean that there is no sign that announces that you’ve arrived in the outback. It’s just a feeling that overcomes you. You might be spacing out for a while, watching the scenery go by, and all of a sudden, you announce “hey, we’re in the outback.” Jean experienced this epiphany today as we crested the top of a small hill. “Okay,” she said, “now we are in the outback.”

We made it to the local tavern in Cervantes right in time for the Melbourne Cup to begin and as exciting as it was to watch those horses run their hearts out, I had barely had a sip of my beer when the race was over. It was especially entertaining to watch our friend from the evening before, who apparently forgot meeting us or was too drunk to remember, yell out “go horses!” in the middle of the race.

We had one destination in Cervantes, other than the unplanned Melbourne Cup outing. The Pinnacles is a large sand dune covered in hundreds of mini limestone pinnacles.  Most of them were about our height but a few towered above us, almost giving us the feeling that they were watching us. We arrived just as the visitor center closed, so I still don’t know how they formed or why they are there, but you could drive the skinny sand road through the park and walk anywhere you pleased.

From Cervantes, we quickly drove south to Perth to catch a plane up to Darwin, where we will be picking BJ’s mom up from the airport in a few hours.  She will be joining us for two weeks as we explore Kakadu National Park and make our way to the Red Centre to see Uluru (Ayer’s Rock). We left Slim behind in Perth and have rented a monster of an RV for the three of us to live/travel/work/cook/lounge in for the next couple weeks. This thing is insane; it has two “lounge” areas and air conditioning. Slim would be very disappointed in our extravagant ways. We better not get too used to it, but I’m sure it won’t be too hard to enjoy living the high life.

Oh boy, BJ just discovered that we have a Playstation/DVD player and guess what game it came with … MotorX World Tour. Looks like we suddenly have plans for the next couple hours.

BJ joined me at the winery last weekend where we spent most of the day picking Riesling grapes from the Drumlin vineyard right next door to the winery. It’s the only vineyard that the winery has in Gibbston. The remainder of the fruit comes from Cromwell, about a 30 minute drive down to a valley that has a bit more mild climate. Much to my surprise the grapes are actually quite sweet to taste. There were a few vines that were not quite ready for picking and the simple way of testing it was to pop a grape into your mouth. If it tasted good and sweet it was ready. If it tasted bitter and sour, we left it to ripen on the wine. The day of picking became a family affair and I think the kids ended up having the most fun in the end when they were allowed to go for a quick soak in one of the fermenters. The juice becomes quite warm as it starts to ferment, so it would feel much like a hot tub . . . well with a thick layer of grape skins on top.

I didn’t go for a “swim” but experienced the grapes under foot for the first time yesterday. It reminded me of the classic black and white scene of I Love Lucy when Lucille Ball heads to Italy to crush grapes (check out the video below). We had already pumped most of the juice out of the fermenter into a large tank which will eventually be transferred to barrel. What was left in the fermenter, all the grape skins, had to go through the press to extract every last bit of juice. My job was to scoop up the remaining grapes in the fermenter and transfer them to the press. The easiest way to do it was by getting up close and personal with the grapes. I took off my gum boots, washed my feet, and hopped in with the same strange expression that Lucille Ball makes when she first feels the grapes with her feet. It gave my arms a workout but it was secretly a lot of fun. Sometimes it’s the little things that bring the most pleasure . . . like standing in grapes and juice up to my knees, lugging buckets of grapes over the side of a bin, and slowly turning purple as the juice splashed back at me.

Last week we dropped Jean off at the Christchurch Airport. Her visit was a delight and we were sad to see her go after what seemed like a very short two weeks. I must officially thank her for taking over the blog duties. It was really nice to have some fresh words on here as I sometimes feel I get a bit monotone . . . if that’s possible when you’re writing and not talking. Although it seemed like we were on the move most of the time to see all that was on our long list of sites on the South Island, I felt like we got some quality relaxation time in, especially in Punakaiki on the west coast, and some good laughs . . . Dan Quayle. Thanks for coming to visit us Jean and we hope to see you again in about six months.

We have also had the pleasure of meeting up with Josh Miller and his girlfriend Pui, who spend most of the year in Chaing Mai, Thailand but are on a month long venture through what has ended up as only the southern half of the South Island. There is just so much to see and do down here. Together we experienced a new tourist activity last night and took the gondola (Pui had never been on a gondola or chairlift before last night) up to a restaurant that overlooks all of Queenstown and Wakatipu Lake. We didn’t really know what to expect at the restaurant but as we walked in with our pre-paid tickets to the all-you-can-eat-buffet, we had an overwhelming feeling that we had been dropped off by a giant bus tour. But the food, to our surprise and advantage, was great and we made many a trip back for our 5 course meal (the dessert bar being the favorite). We must have enjoyed it because we watched surrounding tables both come, eat, and go before we could even think about leaving. Josh and Pui only have a handful of days left in the country and will be driving on to the west coast today. Happy travels and see you in Thailand!

Guest blog entry by BJ’s mum, Jean Hansen . . .

A rolling stone gathers no moss except if that stone is located anywhere along the western coast of New Zealand.  As we traveled from  Franz Joseph further west, I noticed that moss was glistening off the top of fence posts and fence rails and hanging like shimmering veils from the limbs of the trees.  We had truly traveled to the rain forest regions of the west coast.  And per my last guest blog that was how we arrived at Punakaiki.

We actually spent three nights in that region because it was an area that no one in the group – BJ, Lisa, and of course not me, had yet to explore.  The Tasman Sea was fantastic with gigantic waves.

We visited the Pancake Rocks and were intending to go out this morning at high tide to experience the blow holes, but after staying up until 2 am to finish a book I had started, the bed was simply too enjoyable to get up.  As BJ and Lisa will most likely be living there for approximately 6 weeks before they leave NZ, they promised to take a video of it and send it to me.

BJ and Lisa both worked some over the past two days.  And I seriously doubt that you could in too many countries in the world, get up and work for ½ day, drive from the rain forest of the West Coast, over the Southern Alps via Arthur’s Pass, and back to the pastoral lands of the East Coast.

We were so taken by the first place that we stayed near Christchurch that we are back there again, with the Giant Schnauzers and the Clydesdales for my last night on the South Island.  Tomorrow, I fly to Wellington and then the next day I start my long journey home to the Tetons.

Every time we went exploring I would come up with questions about what I was seeing and asking why – sort of like traveling with a very inquisitive child and most likely, very annoying to my cheerful, helpful traveling companions.  But what could they say – after all one of them is related and the other is too much of a lady to dismiss me.

Actually, they were able to find answers to a couple of my questions, like how did sheep get to NZ and when did they arrive? The country has no native mammals.  And why does the ice in the glacier appear to be so blue?  But I have other questions to explore like why in the Canterbury portion of the South Island, the farms appear to have borders of evergreen trees that are trimmed like huge hedges?  And what motived the early settlers to plant portions of their ground to forests?

As you can most likely tell from this blog, I am one for exploring the countryside and not much of a city explorer. Just today, we experienced  an ocean and it’s beaches, a rain forest, high mountains, open plains and green pastures.  Yes, and the animals keep finding us – yesterday, we shared lunch space with a cat, a dog, and a Weka.  And today we interrupted a Kea who was eating someone else’s castoffs.

Now it’s back to work for me so I can  – hopefully – meet up with the traveling duo again – where ever, they may be – this fall.

Guest blog entry by BJ’s mum, Jean Hansen . . .

Here we are at day 9 of my visit to New Zealand and I can’t believe all that I have seen and done in the time that I have been here. I couldn’t ask for better guides and traveling companions than BJ and Lisa. Of course, I am a little prejudice –‘cause BJ is my son.

Today is a “layover day” which means that we are actually spending more than one night at one location. As I write this update, I am sitting in the upper level of a holiday home, looking out over the tree canopy at the Tasman Sea on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. BJ and Lisa have gone for a walk and looking out at the rain falling, I expect that they will be coming back soaking wet.

The nonchalant attitude of the native New Zealanders and the pristine environment – seemingly unaffected by humans – is extremely addictive. From my first night in Christchurch where we were greeted by two giant Schnauzers and two Clydesdale horses, to the Albatrosses on the Otago Peninsula when we were staying in Dunedin, to the playful seal who raced to our cruise ship in Milford Sound so he could surf in the wake of the boat, to the friendly cats who hung out at the cottage in Arrowtown, to the Samoyed, Mike, in Wanaka , and finally here, Milly, the small black Labrador who earns her keep as a ski resort rescue dog – we have found “pets a plenty” during our travels. Even where we have been eating seems to have taken on an “animal” theme. Starting with the Three Cows in Christchurch, to the Fat Duck in Te Anau, to the Blue Duck at Milford Sound, and thought about eating at the Cow in Queenstown.

I have seen sheep, sheep, and more sheep, as well many deer farms. Just across the lake from where BJ and Lisa live is Deer Park Heights – an animal preserve of sorts and also the place where several scenes of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy were filmed. BJ and I enjoyed watching Lisa get mauled by the goats, thars, donkeys, and miniature horses as she was trying to feed them pellets out of her “little tin bucket”. As the goats were knocking her down, she was hollering, “BJ, did you get that” so expect some interesting animal interaction photos to be posted!

I have been fortunate to see in my brief time here, the Cathedral at Christchurch, Craft Market on the Square at Christchurch, the Moeraki Boulders along the east coast, the University at Dunedin (where BJ spent part of his junior year in college), the Otago Peninsula, the Farmer’s Market and Happy Hens in Portabella, the Larnach Castle, the bird wildlife park in Te Anau, watched the Milford Sound Movie, cruised the Milford Sound, and then a long layover of two days in Arrowtown.

BJ and Lisa had to catch up on work, so I browsed Arrowtown on my own during the days and we got together at night. I visited the local Museum, checked out the shops, and toured the Chinese Settlement. I did get to see where the kids live and met their flat mates. Their house was filled with flat mates’ mother and a new baby, thus the reason that I stayed in a great place in Arrowtown.

Then on to Wanaka where we went to the “chick flick” He’s Just Not That In to You with most of the teenage female population of the town. The movie theater was great. It was platform seating, but on each platform was a couch, a love seat or a recliner. Other seating options included regular turn of the century theater seats and a complete Volkswagen Buss Convertible. Apparently we didn’t’ think that I had spent enough time in airplane seats so we settled into our row of three airplane seats and watched the movie – complete with a twenty minute intermission. Time enough to have a pizza, ice cream, cookies or other meal items from the adjoining restaurant. I went from flying in an airplane watching movies on my trip over to NZ to watching a movie in an airplane seat while here.

I woke up in Wanaka with a fever, so the trip from Wanaka to Franz Joseph was filled with my sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose. We did stop at Fox Glacier to see ice floating in the river and to get up close and personal to a glacier, then spent the night at Franz Joseph. I was feeling a little better this morning and had high hopes of taking a small airplane ride to the top of one of the Glaciers for a snow landing”, but the weather didn’t’ cooperate with us. So no airplane ride. I will have to keep that one on my bucket list for a little while longer.

I have eaten some new and interesting meals. But the most fun I had was Sex on the Beach in Dunedin. I thought about having it with a Nutty Italian, but I thought that the one drink was enough for the night.

So, here we all sit watching the waves and enjoying the slight drizzle and planning our adventures for tomorrow. Might try to get in a little whale watching and/or penguin viewing before flying out in just 5 days!!

That’s what my fingers looked like last night after 10 hours at the winery . . . completely purple. But apparently that’s just how it goes this time of year. The grapes come in by the truck load and we immediately start processing them, which means first de-stemming them. Don’t worry, we don’t do this by hand; I think my fingers would actually turn into grapes if we did that. We have a huge machine called . . . guess what . . . a destemmer. The fruit goes in the top and through a large tube where little rubber paddles spin around plucking grapes from their stem. The single grapes, juice, and broken skins fall out the belly of the machine into a bin or onto a chute and into a fermenter, which is basically a HUGE plastic or aluminum bucket. Because we are dealing with the pinot noir variety, everything that comes out of the destemmer is set to ferment together so that the juice takes on the dark purple color of the skins. This is really just step one and there are MANY more to go. “Plunging” will be step two, where we’ll use a giant plunger to push the skins down to the bottom of the fermenter over and over again. Picture a toilet plunger but with a really long handle and a bunch of holes in the actual plunging mechanism . . . It wouldn’t work well for the toilet but works great for plunging grapes. Okay, that’s all you get for this week and to be honest I don’t really even know what the next step is so you’ll just have to wait to hear about it until I find out for myself. It might be something really cool I haven’t even thought of yet.

On another note, we head to Christchurch this evening to pick up Jean who is flying in tomorrow afternoon. We will start our tour of the South Island with her along the east coast toward Dunedin and then head inland to Te Anau and Milford Sound before returning to Queenstown for a few days. She has come in the heart of fall. Leaves are turning brilliant yellows, oranges, and red and the storms that have rolled in are leaving just a bit more snow in the mountains. There is definitely a briskness in the air and the days are already getting shorter, but there is something wonderful about bundling up and drinking coffee as the days get colder.

This week was all about planning and preparing.

At the winery, we’ve been spending the afternoons making space and cleaning huge tanks to get ready for the delivery of grapes that we are expecting this coming week. The grapes will go through a de-stemmer and then a press. The juice will then sit in a huge tank with the skins until it is ready to be put into barrel. It’s been a learning process and I still don’t understand all of the steps but it’s been a fun way to spend my afternoons. I am genuinely excited for the fruit to show up this week.

At the home office, we went through a time change . . . the southern hemisphere’s “fall back.” Our normal 20 hour difference, which in my mind I think of as a 4 hour difference but a day ahead, has become a 6 hour difference. This means that our normal wake up time of about 7am is no longer 11am in Wyoming but now 1pm. So, we’ve been trying to wean ourselves off the long nights of sleep and get up just a little bit earlier each day. We’ve also been wondering how a work day will work once we are in China or even further west when the time difference is even closer. One thing is for sure . . . as the time change has come so have the turning of the leaves. It is fall in Queenstown.

Another area of planning has been Jean’s upcoming visit. With her help, we have been researching places to stay and go and see all over the South Island. She was a little shocked at the first itinerary we sent her which had us relocating every day. There is just so much to see on the South Island but we are embracing the idea of an actual vacation for Jean and staying for a little bit longer in a few places like Dunedin, Queenstown, and the West Coast.

One area that we haven’t been planning is in our travels and, therefore, are still unable to answer the question “When are you coming home?” We received a wedding invitation today from our good friends, Clay and Steph. They’ve known that we won’t be able to come to their wedding in Montana in June, but they took the time to take a photo of their wedding invitation and email it to us just so we could feel like we received one. We love you guys and will definitely be there in spirit.

We’ve been spending the weekend somewhat battling the rain and were able to escape yesterday afternoon for a short ride, a solid session of BJ’s hacky sack lessons in a park, and dinner and a movie in Arrowtown. Today’s outlook for rain isn’t much better but I am sure we will be able to keep ourselves entertained . . . even if it is a trip to the local pool or a café.

Jean handed me this book just before we left the country. It looked interesting but I didn’t realize how amazing of a story it would be. The synopsis: a true story of a transient, usually homeless, family told from the point of view of one of the daughters, now a successful journalist living in New York City. Jeannette’s living conditions would make most of us gawk in disapproval but they never seemed to phase her optimism nor joy as a child. She spent nights in a cardboard box, ate moldy stale bread when there was nothing else to eat and sometimes just didn’t eat, dug a huge hole in their backyard to throw trash so they didn’t have to pay the dump bill, and dealt with an abusive alcoholic father and a lackadaisical self pitying mother. But her dreams of what can be never falter and eventually lead her to a life very different from the one in which she grew up.

BJ’s mom, Jean, spent two days over Christmas with her sister and family in Buhl. On her drive out of Teton Valley on the snow covered roads she saw a small kitten run across the road. She didn’t think anything of it until she saw the same kitten sitting in the middle of the road in the same spot on her way back home two days later. Her animal saving instinct stopped the car and picked up the mostly frozen kitten and took it to the local vet. They thawed her out over night, ran a few tests, and then called Jean to tell her they couldn’t keep her and asked if Jean wanted to take her in before they gave her to the animal adoption center. Jean asked us if we would mind having another cat around and we knew she had already formed a bond with her. Jean chose the name “Chili” for her . . . partially to go well with “Salsa” and partially because she was quite chilly when she found her. Chili now lives in a large cage in the living room in Victor and has yet to warm up to Scooter, Jean’s terrier, but has been loving the daily bathing rituals from Salsa. Last night, as we were chatting with Jean over skype, we watched as Salsa jumped up onto the table right in front of the webcam on Jean’s computer, blocking most of our view with his big belly, and began licking little Chili, who Jean was holding in her arms, until he was satisfied that she was well bathed. I never would have thought Salsa would stand to have another cat in the house but obviously I was unaware of his desire to be a big brother.

After meeting the latest member to our family last night, we looked outside and saw a dark ominous cloud building over Queenstown. We decided to pack up our swim suits and spend a few hours at the local indoor swimming pool. Our arms started burning after the first lap so we didn’t last long but it was a nice way to get some exercise for the day. The pool also has a lazy river and two huge waterslides. It costs extra for the slides but I’m sure we’ll be willing to fork it over on the next rainy evening. We returned home and made Vindaloo curry, what has become a favorite for us when we cook at home. I would love to say we make it from scratch and that it is just as good as when we buy it from a local Indian restaurant . . . but that would be a big fat lie.