Today we woke up to lots and lots of rain! Luckily we knew that in advance so we decided to sleep in and have a relaxing morning. We still wanted to get out and explore so we booked a tour with Bay Tours to drive us around the area and show us some local wineries, restaurants and other interesting places. Owen and Sue picked us up from our house late morning and we were off. We stopped at the smallest winery in New Zealand first, Riwaka River Estate. They on...

Today was a hiking day! We all slept pretty well after our long travel day yesterday! After breakfast, it was off to Kaiteriteri Beach to board the water taxi that would take us to the start of our hike. The weather forecasted a bit of rain and wind so the seas were rough! Almost all of us got wet just walking to the boat! Liam loved riding on the boat and bouncing on the waves! We dropped off Grandma and Grandpa Barnowsky at Anchorage Bay and the rest of u...

ORD --> SFO --> AUK --> NSN Today begins Sabbatical 2.1! We convened at the Oppermann house in Brookfield and loaded up the van with everyone's luggage. Liam wins the prize for most stuff! The amount of cargo space in a minivan is quite impressive! On our way to the airport, we received a notification that our flight was delayed. Luckly, we left early enough that there was an earlier flight we could be rebooked on! Unfortunately, this was just the...