broken chains and bottom pains !!

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Hello from the North Island.

So we went on our wine tour which also included beer, cider and some fruit liquers. Not so keen on the boutique red wines quite a thin taste prob quite nice in the summer but not the belly warming that we're used to.

We left Nelson in the pouring rain and just managed to get through to Picton before they closed the roads. We opted to avoid cycling on the first part of the Queen Charlotte Track and went on the water taxi straight to Punga grove the first hotel for us to stay at. It turned out to be a good idea as the trampers we met advised that the water was up to their knees across some parts of the track.
Thankfully we woke to a lovely sunny day and set off on our trusty bikes - phils chain of course broke within 10 mins and required a quick fix en route!!
The views were just amazing but the terain was rather rocky and rough so we were glad to get to the 2nd hotel.
Not so great was the 2nd day with rather sore bums and a near vertical initial climb. We over came though and enjoyed the rocky downhill sections - all i can say is that i'm glad the bikes weren't ours or phil would need to do some major maintenance afterwards!!

Having washed the mud off and had a good nights sleep we boarded the ferry and said "goodbye" to the south island and "hello" north island.

Wellington is a lovely city and we've walked our socks off. We've been to Te Papa and up on the cable car to the botanic gardens.

Early morning train to Tongario tomorrow.

F and P xx

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Comments

[joandross]

boysenberry wine
hi both. Glad you made it to Picton, it's mad how they just close roads (especially as there's probably no other route through!!!) we really liked wellington too. Shame about the wine, look out for boysenberry wine, it is a deep red colour and it will definitely give you the belly warm you were after. it is ross's favourite. it is definitely made in taranaki, not sure if it is made/sold elsewhere. I would liken it to a port - not the flavour, but the rich warmness and don't need a large amount of it - but I don't try telling ross that as he disagrees (unless we're in england with only one bottle of it and then he savours every last drop!!!) keep the updates coming, glad you're still having great time love jo and ross x

[jo and ross]

almost forgot
Another wine worth trying is Lindauer Fraise, bubbly with a hint of strawberry - really nice and you can't get it here!!!! xx

[jo and ross]

more about wine!!
ross has just reminded me the boysenberry wine he likes is made by Sentry Hill - happy hunting!!