Svetcovs' Kiwi Experience: Sheep, Wine, and Strawberries

The first weekend back at home, after my amazing time in Sydney, was rather pathetic: drizzling from time to time throughout the day, cold and gloomy… quite dismal. We have found that staying at home during days like this adds to our misery, so we bravely ventured out of Auckland and into the New Zealand countryside.

We had a plan (it’s a tribute to my anal nature: we always have a plan!): Sheep World was to be our first stop and the highlight of our outing. Then, we were to stop by a couple wineries to replenish our very modest (one wine-rack) fine wine collection. Afterwards, we were to stop at Snells Beach and lastly, we wanted to finish our day-trip with a stop at “Charlie’s” - a great local ice-creamery.

Sheep World… where the sheep are PINK!

We watched the sheep show: a couple dogs rounding up the sheep.

Then came the sheep shearing - very entertaining.

Later, E bottle-fed a baby lamb.

Lastly, we went around the farm, saying “hi” to its residents.

While Eric tasted the wines at Hyperion, E tortured the owner with endless questions (seriously, this kid does not shut up… ever!). I, peacefully out of earshot, walked about the farm/winery and took pictures. I loved the place. This truly is what New Zealand is all about: GREEN OPEN SPACE!

Our next stop was at the Brick Bay winery. Eric tasted some reds, E slept in the car, and I took some more pictures. The truth is that I had a headache and unbeknown to me I was coming down with a cold that put me to bed for a couple days in the week to come.

We did get to Snells Beach but it was so blustery, that the boys opted to stay in the car while I ventured unfazed (camera in hand) to… take yet some more pictures.

By the time I returned to the car, E REALLY WANTED HIS ICE-CREAM! Within minutes we were at Charlie’s and E was happily satisfied with a generous scoop of his favorite – chocolate ice-cream.