Island Hopping

On Boxing Day, December 26th, we hopped a ferry to Wellington and crossed back over to the north island. There wasn't anything spectacular about this trek (as we had hoped), but I thought this picture was funny enough to share with you. Once in Wellington, we slept there for one night and headed north to Napier, the Art Deco city. When riding down the street, it felt very much as I recall the streets of LA felt... lined with palms of great height. The gardens seaside warranted many many photographs and so did the architecture. Apparently, twice a year they have a festival where everyone dresses in period clothing, drives around old cars, and pretends they have stepped back in time a bit. The next one is in March, so we'll be missing that, too. :(

Christmas in Nelson

We stayed at the most odd li'l BnB for Christmas - and I'll refuse to name it here. Chris and I were just glad to be alone and enjoy some peace and quiet for a switch (normally Christmas is filled with lots of family!). I'm sending you a couple pictures from the 25th. Here we are calling Trish and Gary on speaker phone to send them good wishes and find out if they got our special holiday delivery. (We are not always the best photographers!)

I have been missing my girly stuff, too... mainly having my toenails painted all the time. The polish didn't make it into the big duffel bag, so, for a treat on Christmas Eve Chris got me an appointment in town to be spoiled. Can you see my tropical orange toes and then who can miss his hobbit feet?

Merry Belated Christmas!

By the Sea in Nelson

We had decided a while back to splurge a bit and spend our Christmas in Nelson at a BnB, but managed to get there a bit early. This is a shot from our balcony at Accents on the Park, an amazing hostel with a pub, decks with views of the park, and a location only steps away from the fun of the city.

Trekking over to the mystical water's edge, Chris and I saw lines and lines of Catamarans and Rata trees (the red blooms you see next to them).

Seafood was on the menu and I had Trumpeter fish while Chris had Bouillabaisses. New Zealand is known for its Green Lipped muscles and when we saw them in the soup, we understood why. The edge of each shell is the most brilliant shade of emerald. The muscles themselves were giant, too!

Touring Wineries

Now, I have been a food professional in some capacity or another for quite a number of years. Despite my enamorment with wine, I have never toured a winery or been to a tasting room (as they like to call them here "cellar door"). When we left Oamaru, we drove up the east coast buzzing through Kaikoura and settling in Picton for a couple days. Surrounding the Picton area, in Blenheim, is the heart of the Marlborough wine country. Each picturesque stretch gives way to the next landscape beyond and some of the wineries in this flat valley are so close that biking tours are common here. You know, you rent a bike, get a map, and go - as the day wears on the bike path gets a bit more wiggly and giggly.

The first three pictures are from Allen Scott winery which was still small enough to be called *boutique* but had really neat grounds. They had a cafe under a canopy of vines, a huge chess board (the pawns were glasses of wine!), and rows of hedges like you wouldn't believe. We bought a couple bottles (yet to be opened) of late harvest Riesling.





Our favorite winery was Clos Henri which, yes, is French. The owners of the winery have been making wine in Sauternes for generations, but because of the AOC, they have been looking abroad to expand elsewhere.

After a ten year search, they found the soil conditions in Blenheim to be perfect for growing Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir on both river bed terroir and clay. We tasted bottlings from each and ended up with a bottle in hand - although I will admit that the favorite thing we tasted was one of their Pinots from France. It felt just wrong coming all the way to NZ to buy French wine at a winery... so we passed on that and are bringing home the runner up.

Here's a neat picture of the vines with the surrounding mountains in the background. Not bad, eh?

Olive Grove

We did it... we saw the Milford Sound, hopped around the glaciers, saw the Pancake Rocks, and drove over most of the western side of the South Island. After a long haul back across the country to the east cost, we spent a couple days in Oamaru at the Olive Grove Lodge.

I don't know if I can speak for Chris, or maybe I can, but this was my favorite place we have stayed and the gardens made it post-worthy. Kim and his wife Lyn run this former scout camp turned lodge with their two sons, nestled at the foot of the beautiful mountains and coast surrounding. We saw picture of the rather boring and run-down concrete BLAH that it once was and couldn't believe it's start.

Lyn has turned it into this beautiful oasis with lush gardens filled with poppies, foxglove, and I don't even know what else. The air was perfumey and gorgeous. Right by their li'l place in the world was also the Yellow-Eyed Penguin colony... and when we went there in the evening we got to sit in a hidden perch and watch them return home. They call to eachother from the shore and sea... and seem to greet one another and help the others groom, too. It was amazing to see. There were big furry seals there, too... not the best for picture taking, but breathtaking for quite a while to sit in the quiet, listen to the calls, and get lost in mother nature.

Milford Sound

At the southern end of the South Island lies the fjordland. New Zealand is home to only two areas in the world with beautiful fjords - the other being the Netherlands. Of these two areas - one is covered in snow, ice, and the like... and the other is warm(er) and very, very green. I doubt I'll ever make it a priority to get to the cold, snowy one, but our cruise through Milford Sound was pretty spectacular!

Again, the grey day made for neat pictures of the waterfalls and off the front of the boat, but my favorite was the top picture. It kinda makes you feel its splendor, doesn't it?

Billy Falls

The countryside here is littered with pesky waterfalls... can you imagine what it's like to *CONSTANTLY* see signs directing you to stop and take a look? I mean really... who needs that many waterfalls?

The Billy Falls were just off the way on our drive to Queenstown and really, the sign should have had neon letters, flashing lights, or something to indicate that this one was not to be missed. Let me rephrase - the experience was not to be missed, the falls were a lot like the others.

After a short and gorgeous walk through the forest, you end up on a very dried out riverbed that is lined with the most perfectly rounded blue-grey stones... as far as you can see. The small amount of water that is still flowing during their hot season is the most perfect shade of bright aqua that one can imagine. Think "Mountain Berry KoolAid". What's pretty cool is that the rivers in this area are almost all teal blue because of what they call Rock Flour.

The glaciers all around here feed the streams and as they melt and slide, they grind up the beautiful blue rocks beneath them into a fine powder that mixes with the churning water. It doesn't really matter to me what the reasoning is, just that is happens. It's WAY cool to see. It was such a chilly and grey day (again!) but it always makes for neat pictures with the clouds and fog rolling around. Oh, and I threw in another picture of us... are you seeing a theme here? My arms aren't long enough to hold the camera away and shoot, but his are!