New Zealand 6 : South West, North West, Proteas in the Rain

We drove up the west coast of the South Island, via Wanaka, overnighting at Hokitika and took the ferry back to Wellington. It's a windy little city with good restaurants but a pretty pathetic fringe festival that we tried to enjoy. After "Pete the Mentalist Banana"cancelled his show due to illness, we were left with some rather esoteric offerings and managed a laugh or two at "Geraldine, Maiden Aunt!" Not so at the one woman show featuring dialogue with an array of electrical appliances!
We travelled up the west coast of the North Island, staying in New Plymouth, then cut across to Tauranga again, then back to Auckland. By now the rainy weather we had been expecting throughout the trip began to set in.We went to Eden Park with Dave and Louise to see the Proteas against Pakistan, a great day out with a dissapointing finish. On Sunday night we headed back to the Airport and off to Singapore.

New Zealand 5 : Queenstown and Central Otago

We drove to Queenstown where we were met by a severe shortage of accommodation due to the fact that it was Chinese New Year. Thanks to the wonderful staff at The Glebe, we got a huge apartment for the price of a double room and it proved to be an awesome location, especially for strolling home after late nights out. Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and was packed with backpackers, busloads of Chinese tourists and energetic retirees from Europe and America. There are very good restaurants in the town and out at some of the wine farms and surrounding towns.We had dinner at Madam Woo, an Asian Tapas-style place followed by live music at 1876. The next day we strolled around town, ate an awesome lunch at Josh Emett's Rata Restaurant and visited a bird park; our only chance to see a real live kiwi bird. For dinner we took the touristy vintage steamboat across to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a BBQ followed by drinks and live music at "Pub on Wharf".
On Friday we had a day of wine tasting in Central Otago, (in Gibston Valley,Cromwell and Bannockburn) with a great lunch at Amisfield Winery. We ended up at "Pub on Wharf" again for the evening. On Saturday we drove up to Glenorchy (not much here)and historic Arrowtown (rather too touristy.) We ate dinner at the steakhouse Botswana Butchery followed by another party, this time at the pub Ballarant.

New Zealand 4: Christchurch

It's a scenic drive down to Christchurch via the Waipara wine area to Christchurch to stay with wonderful hosts Trevor and Fiona. We had a great BBQ and watched more rugby on TV.
On Sunday Trevor took us on a tour of Christchurch, showing us the earthquake devastation as well as the beach at Sumner and the funky Lyttleton. It's just amazing how a whole city has rallied together in support following the quake and how well everyone is just getting on with things. Like the Porthole Bar operating out of a used container in Lyttleton. That evening we watched more cricket on TV. New Zealanders are really sport mad; playing themselves and supporting their teams.On Monday we went to the cricket and saw Scotland vs England on a very hot and sunny day. The stadium was damaged beyond repair in the quake but a few World Cup games were held at Hagley Oval.The temporary stands and grassy areas made for a very convivial and picnicy day out. All in all the NZ weather was surprisingly good to us! On Tuesday Neil and Trevor went fishing near Hamner, being dropped into the area by helicopter and collected again in the afternoon.

New Zealand 3:Marlborough and Kiakoura

At 8am on the 19th February we caught the ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island and drove to Blenheim. After drinking a lot of amazing NZ sav blancs over the years, especially when we lived in Singapore, we were dying to tour the area. Blenheim is a rather sad, little town with not much character and most of the region is as flat as a pancake. Of course, we went to Cloudy Bay first and enjoyed wine and cheese in the garden; very pleasant.
We also visited Spy Valley and Brancott. We dined at a wonderful Michelin Restaurant at Hans Hertzog. The food and wine were delicious but the staggeringly exhorbitant bill left us a little dazed.
Its hard not to keep comparing things with the winelands of the Cape, the natural and architectural beauty and mostly the value for money.
From Blenheim we drove down the east coast to Kiakoura, a  hippy, seaside town on the backpacker route, with lots of cafes, music and a thriving ocean adventure tourist scene. We ended up having lunch and dinner in the same pub watching cricket and rugby on TV.