Our first weekend in Wellington already had a fixed activity…Saturday evening, Mat made it a date to have a port night. As Flo has to work every week night and thus misses most of the conversation amongst grown-ups, we also made it a date to go out on Sunday evening for dinner. Just the four “adults” Mat & Liz and Flo & me. To be able to do this has been a real treat as we managed to have their kids babysit our kids. Zeph especially was great as a babysitter but then they are a professional by now.
Weather was still nice so we needed some outdoor activity. After the much needed laundry, we headed out to Zealandia shortly before lunch time. Lunch was had along the way at a French cafe, then we reached Zealandia after a terrifying drive through Karori tunnel…we realized too late that Timmy is too tall for the tunnel and had to do the same thing buses do: Drive in the middle of the tunnel.
Zealandia is just a great place to be. Showing the kids native bush and birds, we even finished up with finding a weta. Just an overall great day.
In the evening, we got to hang out with lots of cool people that we haven’t seen in forever. We used to roleplay with almost all of them at some point while we were still living in Wellington. I had too much cheese and just about enough chocolate and enjoyed the whole thing.
On Sunday, we were just tired. Some plans were made and then dismissed. In the end, we stayed in until we went out to dinner in the Wellington CBD. Flo had an itch to eat in one of our favourite place from ages ago (that is still around) so we dined in Capital next to the Embassy theatre in the end. It was a lovely night even though we didn’t make it back to Plimmerton before the gorge was closed and Liz had to take a detour through the outskirts of Wellington instead of going on the motorway.
No. 3 going native…barefoot in pak’n’save
Someone’s happy
Mostly fries though
We only found the boat on the other side of the lake. XD
We thought it caught a fish when it dived but it was only a twig that was of interest to the parekareka
through the wetland
Almost posing
Little explorer on the ground
I heard it land which is how I spotted the kereru. Its wing are super noisy.
Some kind of fern
We actually saw many of them in this cluster of branches
Kaka close-up
I couldn’t find any name for this bird
It doesn’t wobble so it’s not too bad
and across the lake
Looking down the valley
…without the tuft. I guess that makes it a young one?
I do not like this…at all
He also snapped a lot of bird pictures this day
The kids’ backpacks make for such great pictures
Now, we only had a takahe and a piwakawaka left on the “what can I spot in Zealandia?” list
The literal fantail of a fantail. The bird was so fast that this is the best shot we got
Some of the older ones were marked with colourful beads
The tuatara liked the sunny spot
It’s a young one
also native
In a hidey hole
Our contributions
Good old Embassy. Why did they take Gollum down?
The Capitol was very accomodating for me as a vegetarian and Liz as a vegan guest
It felt a bit like a missed opportunity when we left Inch Beach Camping this morning to set out on the Dingle Peninsula loop. Especially their 10kg industrial washer and dryer – after 3 weeks, our bedding had acquired a certain … aroma. The sorrow was only short lived, as the first bit of road, going back north via a different, tiny single track pass was a reward in and out of its own.
View down into the valley
The top-rated item of the day is certainly Dunmore head, the westernmost point of mainland Ireland. On our way there, and to an extend afterwards, the road is lined with little way-side sights here and there. We bagged a few of them on our way to Dingle, the namesake town of the peninsula. My personal highlight was Conor Pass, just before Dingle. Town was buzzing with tourists making good use of the warm weather and locals on weekday errands alike.
Tea time
We arrived a bit too early for lunch, so we decided on a second breakfast in a highly rated café “Bean of Dingle”, which was busting at the seams when we arrived. We still managed to snatch a spot and enjoy the great coffee and treats. Afterwards, we went for a proper shop in town including ingredients for another dinner from our camping cookbook and headed out to find a good lunch spot. The dinner recipe was a bit of a gamble, as it required a box grater that we neither had nor could find in that supermarket.
Lunch worked out much smoother right away. We found a neat little spot with great views of a few of the islands further west. Nina was not so enamoured with the proximity of our picknick blanket to a steep drop of 15m, but the kids were fully relaxed.
They both admired the view
A few minor stops later, we were heading for Dunmore Head proper. The Agent of Entropy even got a well-timed nap in, falling asleep in the ring sling (wrap to carry a child <10kg) before being successfully transferred to the car-seat. The weather has finally turned a bit and we arrived with a light drizzle. More disheartening was the sign on the road back east though, stating one-way limitations in place between 10am and 4pm. It was 2:30pm now. There was some box-ticking to be done before, regardless.
It was a good 20 minutes hike uphill from the car park, but the views were more than enough to make up for any pains. Even the reasonable number of other tourists and cheeky “the last Jedi filming location” self-promotion could not put us off this time. Even the weather was in a way adding to it. Number 3 once again proved to be all the trooper. His personal highlight was climbing over the border-wall to the last paddock. Much to my surprise I was able to contain all nerd-posing for the photos, but the Last Jedi vibe was palpable, nonetheless.
Dunmore Head – at the westernmost point of Ireland
We came back to the car with 20 minutes until the road would open again. I suggested a cup of tea to sit it out rather than waste the same 20 minutes on a detour going back to where we came from. We felt it was a good call and the drive was worth it. Only slightly more terrifying than the usual single track roads noticing that some drivers were clearly not expecting oncoming traffic at all.
That late in the day, we had to decide. Go 45 minutes further to an unknown campground in Fossa or return to where we came from at Inch Beach. We had the ingredients for dinner and a promise of clean sheets convince us to do the second “2 nights but not really rest” camp of the trip. Even the matter of the grater got sorted out, thanks to kind fellow campers.
Cooking a full dinner (“Rösti”, great success) and getting 8kgs of washing and drying done lead to a slightly delayed bedtime and very tired parents, but given the weather promising a late and wet start tomorrow we were fine with that. We even still managed to keep up with the blog …
What a pretty road and view right in the beginning
Good morning sheep!
Nobody else on the road
The roadside hedges are so colourful at the moment
I guess that’s where we’re going
Going up
Checking out the waterfall
Family portrait
View down into the valley
The road sits on stone walls
The Wild Atlantic Way sign for Conor Pass
Looking back to the coastline
And a creek runs through it
Dingle town
Second breakfast @ Bean in Dingle
Tea time
The Agent could not be persuaded to give the basket to someone else
We pulled up here as a possible lunch spot but there were no benches. Still, it was a nice spot with a boat statue
This statue was the equivalent on land
Our view from the lunch spot
Eating while lying down…it’s a new trend
The Agent is super fussy about food at the moment
They both admired the view
Number 3 loves to check out all the plant life around
A original oratory from the 8th century
The Agent was supposed to sleep and promptly fell asleep on the way back to the car
The Reask Stone from a 5th pr 6th century monastic settlement
Number 3 found a building which had two rooms and declared it to be a school
Entering Star Wars territory
Approaching Dunmore Head
Up and over the wall
Dunmore Head – at the westernmost point of Ireland
Yippie, I also made it!
Trotting back to the car
Roadside tea portrait
Luckily, after tea the road was opened back up so we could take this lovely road
We took a rest day at Agriturismo Alba. After two cities in a row, we needed a bit of a breather for the next two cities ahead of us. With this in mind, we relaxed for a day.
She’s going to be a professional climber someday
Number 3 really wanted to spend some time at the playground and the Agent tagged joyfully along. We were the only ones on the playground this morning. Bringing our sand toys with us was enough to keep both of them busy for quite a while. The Agent loved the slide though and in no time started climbing up the ladder all by herself.
Doing laundry was overdue so we put on the washing. Unfortunately, the machine was broken somehow and all our clothes were dripping wet when we took them out. The sky was overcast for most of the day, so it would take forever for them to dry.
We had a slow morning with some blogging and then a nap. Well, the kids had a nap as they alternated their time asleep: The Agent started and sleep through 1 ½ episodes of Benjamin Blümchen (audio play for kids about the adventures of an elephant who can talk) which is when Number 3 fell asleep and the Agent was wide awake again. Oh well. No sleep for tired mamas. 🙂
Like this, the madness even looks pretty
When nap time was over, Flo urged us to jump into the lovely pool. I hadn’t even seen it by this point. The sun had come out though so I was persuaded.
The pool was immaculate, blue and surrounded by a lovely manicured green lawn. I got into the water fist, which was up to about my waist right next to the ladder. That was as deep as I would go in today, I decided, as the water was really quite cold. The Agent in her pushy manner nearly threw herself in before she realized how cold the water was and refused to be put into it at all. Her screaming quickly convinced me not to try again. So we got out, changed into something dry (or baby-naked in the Agent’s case) and watched Flo and Number 3 splash around until Number 3’s lips turned blue about 10 minutes in.
The pool excursion ended, a little earlier than expected, with a lovely hot shower. Flo even improvised delicious dinner with the asparagus tips we’d bought two days ago and the potatoes we’d carried since we left home. XD
The Agent of Entropy was in A LOT of pain because her molars and a few bonus incisors are breaking through at the same time. We prepped her a little with pain relief before bringing her to bed in the hope that we might get a quiet night as another gaming session was scheduled. Indeed, we had a quiet, kids-free evening and when we went into the tent later on both kids had crawled towards the middle of the tent and were cuddling. Sometimes, the little ones just melt your heart.
Early morning – these two are just two handful!
She’s going to be a professional climber someday
Almost like Benjamin Blümchen
Well, you gotta put that wet laundry SOMEWHERE
A regular lunchtime with the kids
One-handed spreading butter on my bread…trying to contain the Agent of Entropy
The Agent in her element. What the … ?
Camping at Agriturismo Alba
Like this, the madness even looks pretty
Fluffy chickens at Agriturismo Alba
“Where’s that swimming pool?!”
Yay nah – I pass. Kids are excited though
Reading books with the Agent – she took a liking to the depiction of kangaroos
Yeah, we used Christmas Day for chores. As the weird Germans that we are, Christmas Eve is the important date for us so on Christmas Day, we were all back to business.
Ready for a wash!
Most importantly, we had a whole clean-over. Not only our regular laundry got done but after 5 months, our biking gear also got a wash including the padding of our helmets. It didn’t improve the looks much but it had a definite effect on the smell. =p
We also caught up with more blog entries. This is when the mishap happened: Sonja has a really fast connection to the internet so we used our time at her place to upload all our photos from Indonesia to the cloud. It worked very well. Flo triple-checked that all pictures made the migration from our hard drive into the cloud, then deleted the pictures from the SD card. Just a second afterwards we realized that we hadn’t backed up the last four days onto the hard drive…the only copies had been on the SD card. Thus, we had just deleted the only copy of our pictures from the last days.
It was quite the disaster for me but Flo started some recovery program straight away. It took way longer than I would have hoped for (7 hours) but in the end, we had all our pictures back. *sigh of relief*
This vegetarian feast was served on banana leaves
In the meantime, we had only managed to go out for really nice Indian food at lunch time. Most of the afternoon was spent organizing our things and re-packing for our trip to Thailand to meet Flo’s dad.
In the evening, we had a bit of time for one other Christmas tradition so we ordered Domino’s pizza with a whole bottle of Mountain Dew and watched Love Actually for the umpteenth time. 🙂
Ready for a wash!
Sumatran diesel dust did not wash out of the yellow…
This vegetarian feast was served on banana leaves
Sunset seen from Sonja’s balcony…it’s on the 12th level
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