Wine, wine and more wine
NEW ZEALAND | Monday, 15 March 2010 | Views [388]
3/15/2010 10:00 PM
We had an early morning this morning to catch our 8:35am ferry to the south island. It wasn’t that bad, a little bit of rushing (and just a couple alarm snoozes), but we made it work. The ferry was great. You’d think that going from the north to the south island, you would travel north to south, but you actually travel east to west. We essentially passed through the split of NZ. For some reason, I thought the geography of the split would make the waters calm, but they weren’t – poor Jessie. There was about a 45 minute horrible period where we had some big swells, and that’s when it really hit her. But we quickly moved to the more stable part of the boat, she put her head down, and then we arrived.
While Jess was sleeping, I was able to use the iSite on board to book some stuff for tomorrow. We have an 8:30am guided kayak tour along the Abel Tasman coast – supposed to be amazing – and then we’ve organized a bit of a self-guided walk with a water taxi return. This whole experience tomorrow is supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of NZ, so we’re expecting some nice pictures. We even have a good chance of hanging out with some NZ fur seals. Wicked. The 8:30am part of the trip is going to suck, mainly b/c we had an early morning today, but what’s worse is that it’s about a 3 hour drive from where we are. So … that puts our alarm clock at about 5am, haha. Just enough time for two snoozes and a car load.
When we got into Picton off the ferry, we picked up the car, parked it at the hostel, and jumped right in the wine tasting tour bus. At first it was just five of us, but we eventually met up with a bigger group. It was a pretty standard affair. The region is really known for the Sauvignon Blancs, so we tried tons of those, but also some other delicious whites. The only reds in the region are Pinot Noirs, and one Italian kind. Those were just “ok” (so far, no reds compare to Cali reds), but the white wines have been great. Of course, we hit 6 wineries, and with anywhere from 6 to 8 tastings at each winery, everything was tasting great by the end of it. Tons of fun. We met some nice people along the way as well. Two girls from the UK on a four month trek to South Africa, India, Vietnam, Thailand and NZ (crazy). Another UK girl living in Auckland. And then an older single woman from Valencia, CA – she was a little on the “quirky” side, but gave us some good fish and chips recommendations. Oh … and the best part (for Jessie), was that the trip ended at a boutique chocolate factory. We only got to taste one kind, but it was delicious (and also $22.50 for 250 grams, yikes). Jess managed to sneak in another tasting, but that was the extent of it … doh.
We had an early fish and chips dinner. It was very tasty. NZ is known for their fish and chips. In fact, it’s probably the most cliché meal here in NZ, and they definitely know how to do it right. Maybe it’s the fish, or maybe it’s the batter … whatever it is, it’s delicious.
Afterwards, we got back to the hostel, played some Jumbline, made our breakfast and lunch for tomorrow (well, Jess did), and I chatted up a nice guy from the UK. He was probably in his mid 50s or 60s. Very fun to talk to. He seemed to be a huge history buff, but we also talked a lot about traveling. It was quite refreshing to have such an extensive and enjoyable conversation with a complete stranger. Not that Jess and I don’t have great conversations … it was just nice to chat up someone completely random, and have the conversation be so fun. It started with him telling me that his dad was in the RAF. Once I heard that, I wanted to hear whatever else he had to say. I love anybody connected to anything military or “elite” English stuff.
Anyway, we’re now back in our room (playing a bit more Jumbline), and will hit the sheets shortly. If we fall asleep right this second, we’ll get 6 hours and 35 minutes of sleep (plus our additional snoozes, ha).
