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Published: November 23rd 2005
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Goodbyes in Wellington
Gary, Franz, Arne and Ben pose for a snap before saying goodbye. We woke to a clear blue sky this morning - good prospects for our ferry across the Cook Strait. Following up to our delicious dinner the previous night, Arne and Franz took us to yet another great spot for breakfast - the Parade café at Oriental Bay. It looked right out onto the waterfront and served lots of delicious, healthy food and drinks. We had a nice chat with the two of them - it was hard to compress 18 months of catching up into 60 minutes but Franz tried. As usual, our conversation flowed freely and we wished we had more time with Arne and Franz in Wellington. They don’t plan to live there forever so we need to come back and see them! Although we did remind them that we’ve visited them twice now and it’s their turn to come to San Francisco.
After we took some pictures and said goodbyes, we fetched our luggage and made a mad dash for the ferry terminal. We made it just in time to check our luggage and find a spot on board. We took the Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton - a 3 hour journey across the Cook Strait from
The Interislander
Our vessel for a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour... the North to South Island. We were so lucky to have perfect weather for the trip, and it was a great time. We passed by the Chocolate Fish Café on our way out of Wellington - a great lunch spot on the seacoast that Rich and I had enjoyed last time. We also got to see some dolphins! As we left the Cook Strait, we entered the Marlborough Sounds and sailed in the waters between the beautiful, lush green hills of the islands and peninsulas there. We rotated shifts of staying inside watching the gear. We walked around and around the decks, marvelling at the views and taking heaps of pictures. The three-hour sailing went by very quickly.
Upon landing in Picton, we got our luggage, picked up our rental car and began our South Island drive. First stop: Blenheim and the Marlborough wine region. This area grows primarily Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir grapes, and we decided to turn up at a few cellar doors before continuing down to Kaikoura.
First we went to Hunters. We actually weren’t very impressed with the wines there, but they had a beautiful property. Next up, Cloudy Bay - one of the biggest
North to South
The South Island in the distance, with the last headlands of the North Island in the foreground. and most well-known of the NZ wineries. We liked some of their wines, but the pourers both here and at Hunters were somewhat blasé. I was the driver so I tried to take small sips and dump the rest - when I reached to pour my glass into the pitcher on the counter, the woman frantically tried to wave me off but it was too late - now she had to go get more water.
Then came the true treat. We decided to stop by Te Whare Ra. Pulling up to their cellar door, we were somewhat disconcerted as it had a sign asking you to go upstairs (to what looked like a small apartment) and ring the doorbell. Ben said “we’re going to get a story out of this”, and sure enough we did. We rang the bell, and soon enough a quite handsome guy named Jason was answering it and welcoming us in. He pulled out their 6-7 bottles for tasting and told us a bit about the winery. He and his wife Anna (whom we didn’t meet) bought the winery a couple of years ago after many years studying winemaking in Australia. They had a number of
different whites and a Pinot Noir, plus a Semillon dessert wine that unfortunately wasn’t on the tasting menu. Jason was much friendlier than the others we’d encountered - he picked up that none of us were wine experts and encouraged us to follow our own opinions of flavor and smell, using whatever descriptors are closest to what our tongues were experiencing. He said that no-one’s description of a wine is right or wrong as it’s all subjective taste involved.
After our tasting, Ben and Gary decided to buy a bottle of the Pinot Noir, and we began to say our thanks and goodbyes when Jason offered us a tour of the winery! We of course took him up on it. He took us to the barrel room and showed us just how small they were (only 30-40 barrels total, all single-vineyard). Then he showed us the hoppers where the white wine is stored and the machine used for crushing the grapes. We asked about distribution and he mentioned that they are just starting to break into the U.S. but only in restaurants for now. Distribution is of course wider in NZ and Australia. None at duty-free in the Auckland airport,
either (I asked).
With smiles on our faces, we said goodbye to Jason and headed southward. The remaining 2 hours of today’s drive was a beautiful trip down the Pacific coast. For most of the trip we were on a small road pinned between high mountains and the seacoast. Every bend in the road brought another amazing vista, until we got near to Kaikoura and the white-capped Seaward Kaikoura Range came into view and trumped them all. Finally we reached the Kaikoura Peninsula and settled into our hotel. When we arrived at the front desk, an elderly woman appeared through a door, wearing white gloves and apologizing. “I was just folding linens which if you run a hotel you do all the time.” She checked us in, pointed out the large selection of VHS videos (“if you need help getting to sleep, here is a selection of videos - mainly because they help ME sleep!”), showed us our rooms (quite nice, with a view of the mountains!) and asked if we needed a dinner recommendation. We mentioned that we’d already booked at Finz - today was Ben’s birthday and our travel agent had recommended it as a good place for
Kaikoura sunset
Watching the sun set over the mountains from Finz Restaurant in Kaikoura. a special dinner. The desk clerk said “Oh, you’ve chosen the best place in town!” and told us how to get there. We asked if we’d be OK going there in the jeans, etc. we were wearing and she said “Oh yes, don’t show us up now!”
With that, it was off to Finz. WOW what an amazing dinner. Kaikoura is known for its crayfish (what we call lobster in the States) and we figured we had to have some. Rich ordered half a crayfish and Ben ordered a full one. I had some stupendous kumara/asparagus soup, and bluefish with lemon and butter. Ben ordered some delicious fried oysters wrapped in seaweed, and we had a scrumptious order of breads with olive oil and dukkah. It being Ben’s birthday, of course we had to have dessert. These were the best of all. Boysenberry cheese cake with white chocolate, orange syrup cake with cardamom ice cream, rich dark chocolate & kahlua mousse, and assorted Kapiti ice creams - cinnamon, dark chocolate, and raspberry - yum! All of this while watching the sun set behind the mountains.
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