Laura's Side Trip to Akaroa

We were pooped from a full month on the road. But the siren-song of New Zealand called for me to see still more.

So on our last full day in Christchurch, I couldn't help but squeeze in one more side trip. I left Dan slaving away in the kitchen (he had offered to make a mole sauce for our hosts Richard and Colleen), and set out for the charming town of Akaroa.

The drive took me onto Banks Peninsula, an area settled by the Maori nearly 1000 years ago, and settled again by the French in the 1840s.

Today Akaroa is a weekend retreat for Christchurchers, and a quiet destination for low-key tourists. It has an active artist community, quaint shops, and is the jumping-off point for harbor tours to see little blue penguins and rare Hector's dolphins.

I shopped for souvenirs and ambled along the main street with the other tourists, mostly older Europeans, just taking in the good salt air and feeling truly relaxed for the first time in a week.

On the way home I stopped off to sample some delicious artisanal cheese at Barry's Bay cheese factory. And with fresh local gouda in hand, I headed back to Christchurch to celebrate our last evening in New Zealand.

Winetasting in Marlborough: The Wairau Valley

We had just made the crossing back to the South Island, and we were feeling a bit queasy and, paradoxically, hungry.

Of course, the best cure for a case of interisland ferry-induced nausea is to knock back a little wine.


And once again, we experienced a curious coincidence that seemed to occur regularly throughout our New Zealand trip: exactly what we wanted just happened to be exactly right where we were. We were just a few minutes away from the Wairau Valley, known worldwide for its excellent wineries.

A few weeks ago, we sampled some wines in the South Island's Central Otago region--one of New Zealand's newer wine-growing areas. And just a few days ago we were richly rewarded for taking a side trip to a winery up in Whangarei. Today, we'll get to sample wines from New Zealand's oldest and most established wine-making region.

The Wairau Valley is best known for Sauvignon Blancs, but you can find exceptional wines of all types here. Two wineries we visited that we recommend highly are Hunters Wines (one of the most highly-regarded wineries in all of New Zealand, and, notably, one of the last of this region's wineries that is still family-owned), and Cloudy Bay. Cloudy Bay might be of particular interest to American tourists because it is one of the few wineries in this country that exports in volume to the United States.

Barrels in the cellar at Cloudy Bay:


The wines at both of these wineries were excellent. We particularly liked some of the refreshingly understated Chardonnays that we tried (memo to California wineries: not all wine lovers enjoy drinking a stick of butter in a glass). And despite the world-class quality of their wines, all of these establishments somehow keep a Kiwi-esque casual modesty about them. It makes visiting the wineries a more special experience, and it certainly makes me want to buy a lot more wine.

Also, we have to mention that we had one of the best meals ever in the cafe at Hunters Wines. Go there. You won't regret it.



You can get maps of the region, as well as information on guided tours, in the Marlborough Information Center in Blenheim, New Zealand.



Related Links:
Hunters Wines
Rapaura Road, Blenheim
PO Box 128, Renwick, New Zealand
Telephone: +64 3 572-8489
Tastings 7 days: 10:30am to 4:30pm
Garden Cafe open 7 days: 10:30am to 4:30pm

Cloudy Bay
Located on Jacksons Road, in the heart of the Marlborough wine region.
Telephone: +64 3 520 9147
Tasting Hours: 10am to 5.00pm, Mon-Sun

Lake Taupo and the Drive Back to Wellington

Today was another day of driving, which meant another chance to see still more of New Zealand's stunning scenery. In about six hours of driving time, we went from Rotorua to just north of Wellington, the town where we would catch the ferry the next morning.

On our way was Lake Taupo, formed by a massive volcanic explosion that occurred in AD 186. Today, it's one of the trout fishing capitals of the world.


We stopped into the town of Taupo, a bustling yet casual sports community that hosts the Crater to Lake Challenge, a multi-sport single-day race event involving 4.3k of skiing, 35.7k of mountain biking, 34.5k of road biking, 16.6k of kayaking, 31.5k of water skiing and 11.5k of running.

And Dan thought running marathons was hard!

We spent a relaxed hour enjoying a delicious lunch and coffee at the Bodyfuel Cafe.



And then headed back on the road. Here is Mount Ruapehu, as it looms into view south of Lake Taupo:


More scenes from the road:



Chalk cliffs, a famous landmark in the region surrounding Taihape, NZ (also south of Taupo):


We decided to spend the night in Porirua, about a 40-minute drive from the Wellington ferry terminal. And as it turned out, at NZ$150 (about US$80), this nice little double room with a kitcheonette and complimentary french press coffee was the most expensive accommodation we had on our entire one month tour of New Zealand. If you can just get past the airfare, it just isn't that expensive to get around in this country.

Finally, after a long day of driving, we enjoyed a couple of badly-needed beers and some fish and chips in a Kelly's Irish Pub. Tomorrow, we'll be taking the ferry back to the South Island. Our New Zealand adventure, sadly, is beginning to draw to a close.

Why We'll Return to Whangarei Part 2: Ngunguru, Matapouri Beach and Sandy Bay

Today was our second day staying with Dan and Genevieve in Ngunguru, and we spent the day exploring the various beautiful beaches in the surrounding area. Once again, we'll let the photographs (again, mostly Laura's) do all the talking.

Our first stop was Sandy Bay, populated mostly by surfers today.


This little place looked really quaint, but they served a really bad (and expensive) attempt at cuban food. Oh, well. Just one minor flaw in paradise.


Dan, wondering why in the world should he ever go back to New Jersey:


Dan and Gen's children, watching the waves:



Can you imagine what it must be like to grow up in a place like this? There's never any shortage of mountains to climb.



The estuary, just two blocks from Dan and Gen's home, filled with water during high tide.


More mountains to climb!



Laura, at peace.

Winetasting in the Central Otago Region

"Between you being sick and cancelling your horseriding trek, and us both cancelling the whitewater rafting outing today, we saved almost five hundred bucks. Guess we're gonna be buying some extra wine!!!"

Laura was her usual exuberant self when we woke up this morning, but I was still reeling a little bit from the upper respiratory bug I picked up a couple of days ago. So we decided to spend an extra day in Queenstown to rest up a bit, and spend a few hours getting our first taste of New Zealand wines in one of the country's lesser-known wine regions: Central Otago.

This region is much better known for its fruit farming, and indeed the first stop we made was at a cherry tree farm where a crunchy French guy sold Laura a kilo bag of the best cherries either of us have ever had in our lives.

In addition to cherries, we saw enormous olive orchards, peach orchards and apricot orchards dotting the region.

And of course, this sign here at the town limits of Cromwell, NZ says it all...


But forget the fruit--let's get into the wine! We visited two distinct wine sub-regions within Central Otago region: Cromwell and Brannockburn. Both areas are building a solid reputation for rieslings and pinot noirs.

You can see quite a few nascent grape plantings dotting the various foothills throughout the area as winemaking begins to get a foothold here.


We really had a blast winetasting here, in part because it's fun seeing how new wineries try to establish themselves when they are first starting out. Some of them clearly love what they do, it's obvious when they talk lovingly about their wines. That was what happened at our very first stop, Aurum Winery, where we tasted and bought a couple of bottles of really good reisling and chardonnay.


A few minutes after we arrived a couple of guys came in after us, both visibly limping. We struck up a conversation and learned that they competed in a local team triathlon the day before. One of the guys did the biking segment (uh, that's 112 miles), and the other guy--he was limping the worst of the two--did the running segment (26.2 miles). As they say here: good on ya!

Of course other wineries aren't quite so casual and unpretentious. Instead, they try really, really hard to go high end, and sometimes it doesn't come off as well. This winery, Carrick Wines, dressed its pourers in black outfits, gave them a script to memorize about each wine, and charged twice as much per bottle:


The huge guy in the blue shirt in this picture ended up following us to the next winery. He was a pontificatory English guy who had all the answers about wine--and he couldn't help but share all his knowledge with everyone within earshot. Naturally when we saw him turn left out of the parking lot, we went in the other direction, fast.

Here I am at Bald Hills winery, spending still more of the money we "saved." Of course we can only bring back two bottles on the flight home, so I guess we'll have to drink most of what we buy right here!


This picture was after we left our fourth winery. I think. Come to think of it, I don't really remember anymore.

In Christchurch, Everyone is Above Average

On our third day, our friend Colleen Loffhagen took us on a tour of Christchurch's artisan craft galleries and local markets.

Christchurch is a smallish city of fewer than five hundred thousand people, but it's clear from the caliber of its craft shops, art galleries and theaters that this city punches far above its weight from an artistic standpoint.

Furthermore, we were completely blown away with the quality of regional meats, cheeses and other foods that we sampled at a farmers market in town. We enjoyed delicious local breads, pastries, homemade sauces and tapenades. Everything was excellent.

Of course you'd expect this town to have a talent for lamb, wool and cheese, but we never expected them to be excellent at everything.

That afternoon, we enjoyed another delicious lunch on Richard and Colleen's back patio, a brief tutoring session on cricket, and then it was time to hit the road and head south to Dunedin.

The Food

Whoever said that New Zealanders knew their food was making an understatement. We've been eating (and drinking) like kings since we arrived.

Within minutes of arriving, Richard made us feel right at home. As we chatted in his kitchen, a delicious lunch platter appeared before we knew it, with many of the items harvested just minutes before in his backyard garden.


This was just the first act, however. Later that evening Richard spontaneously whipped upped a glorious dinner--a spectacular risotto topped with pancetta and greens paired with two delicious New Zealand wines.


Even the junk food we've tried, a snack of fried pineapple rings midday yesterday, was delicious!

Lunch the next day was at the Pegasus Winery, just 45 minutes north of Christchurch on the way back from a sightseeing drive along the west coast of the South Island.


First we tasted four or five wines, then we sat down for a glorious lunch on the grass.

We're still trying to get our minds wrapped out the fact that it's the height of the summer here. Part of us is still back in New Jersey, shivering in the cold winter. And when you see a peach tree growing in your friend's backyard, it's hard not to think you've arrived in Eden.


Some photos from yesterday's drive coming up shortly...