Skype phone and US number

One more present Gretchen got for her birthday was a Skype phone, which means that we don't need to have the computer on to receive Skype calls anymore! Additonally I got her a normal US phone number (won't post it here, but let us know if you'd like it) so that anyone can ring us from their home or cell phones by using a standard US landline number and transparently it gets routed through to our Skype phone here in England! Which makes it much easier for people who don't have Skype to keep in touch.

Isn't technology crazy!

London calling

As you'll all be aware Gretchen hit a birthday milestone this past week...yes the dreaded 3-0. To celebrate I decided to take her away from it all for a weekend in the bright lights of London town. I booked a show in the West end, and we saw the sights - well as many as we could in 3 days, London is a rather big city you know!

We did the history thing (as London has been around since the Romans) and saw the Tower of London, we went to Greenwich to see the prime meridian, and took in various museums at a far too dizzying pace...We saw Spamalot in the West End, and frequented various pubs, some of which had been standing since the 1600s! We walked around the streets visiting Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey...and went shopping in various very expensive stores including Harrods, Fortnum and Masons, and a Chocolatier to the Queen no less.

Here's some photos - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mattbinns/London#

So all-in-all a great trip to the capital!!

England 3 months and counting

Well its been awhile since we updated the blog...so just for Hillary :-) here's what's been happening with us recently.

Its been over 3 months since we left the US, and things have been moving alot more slowly here than we had hoped for. The economy has been suffering here as in the US and as such its been really hard for us, especially Gretchen, to find a decent job. We're also had so much red tape to go through to get Gretchen setup with bank accounts, health cover, driving license etc...But its not all doom and gloom, its been great to see our new nephews and the rest of the family.

Harry is now 5 months and changes everytime we see him, Luke is walking and (almost) talking and Jamie still beats me on the Wii everytime!

As work is fairly scare at the moment, I've been studying for some professional qualifications to help with the fact that I've been off work for a year now (its a hard life isn't it!). Gretchen's been spending her time studying too, to get a UK driving license. Unfortunately this isn't just a matter of signing a few forms, she has had to pass the written exam, and take the practical. Crazy since she's been driving since she was 16, but as I said before there's plenty of redtape to get through here these days...

So all in all, life has been a bit slow since we've gotten here, but hopefully we've made it over most of the hurdles and things will start to pick up over the next few months.

Hello LA!

Well, here we are in sunny LA. We're been here a couple of weeks now, and due to a busy schedule, inc. flying up to Seattle for a week, haven't really done too many tourist activities yet. We have seen the Hollywood sign, been to Beverly Hills, Santa Monica beach even seen some movie stars though! and had a great time.

It helps that the weather here, is almost what it was in NZ, over the weekend it was edging up to 30C...!

Goodbye NZ!

Well, we have less than 2 days left in NZ...What a year! Whether it was cruising through the southern Fjords, sitting out at a bar in downtown Wellington, looking out at the yachts in the harbour, or hiking between active volcanoes through snow and ash...it was amazing.

I can honestly say there's nowhere like NZ, and I know it'll be very hard to leave. But leave we will and on Saturday we'll fly off to LA. Then after 3 months in the US, we'll hit the UK and set up shop there for a bit.

I'm sure it'll take time for the experiences over the year to sink in, especially since it hasn't sunk in that were leaving yet...

So we'll either catch up with you in the US or when we get to the UK, and I promise we'll try v. hard not to bore you with all of our stories!

Milford Track

We came, we saw, and we...tramped!

It took us four days and was over 33 miles, but we made it, and what a journey! Fjordland is one of favourite places in the world. With all its Fjords along the west coast and verdant, rainforest covered valleys, peaks cloaked with mist and glacial fed lakes, and waterfalls its a wonderfully atmospheric place. The Milford Track is the best known of the walks in Fjordland, and one of the best known in the world.




It traces a route across from Lake Te Anau through the Clinton Valley and up and over the MacKinnon Pass through the Arthur Valley to Milford Sound, the most famous of the Fjords in NZ. We even got to see the 5th highest waterfall in the world - Sutherland falls, which drops in 3 sections over 500m from Lake Quill tucked away in the mountain peaks. Not only did we see it, but got totally soaked by edging our way behind it, through tons and tons of icy cold water - what an experience!



The hike was easily one of the highlights of our year, esp. as we spent the 1st of Jan with our heads amongst the peaks on the top of MacKinnon Pass with stunning views, and even saw an avalanche cascading snow and ice from a glacier above us. Not a bad way to spend New Years Day!