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.

New Zealand 2 : Waikato

New Zealand still has plenty of corner cafes like we had in SA in the 70's but they call them Dairies. Bakeries are also in most suburbs selling bread, pastries and pies. Some also have a few tables and serve coffee and light breakfasts and are frequented by locals. So in NZ, egg and bacon toasties replace the McMuffin of the US road trip. After Huhei and Hot Water Beach, we head down the Bay of Plenty to Tauranga. Here we stay with Lionel and Jenny, another great catch up after many years. We have dinner at the waterfront at Phil's Place ( Owned by Phil Rudd, one time ACDC drummer who lives in Tauranga and is totally off his rocker these days). On Tuesday, we head to Lake Rotarua and Lake Taupo and then back to the coast to overnight in Napier. Napier is the self proclaimed Art Deco capital of the world. An earthquake in the early 1930's meant that everything had to be rebuilt and there are some cool buildings here. Dinner is at Trattoria alla Toscana, run by a great Italian guy. We have been impressed with the quality of restaurants in New Zealand, but they are not cheap! The Hawkes Bay wine region is here too. Good  NZ Chardy and Shiraz from this region. We visit Mission, Church Road and Elephant Hills wineries. On Wednesday, the road trip to Wellington continues. Due to the cricket there is virtually no accommodation in central Wellington and we are saved by a late cancellation at the Copthorne. A bed at any price. Wellington has a compact, fun centre with lots of bars and restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. We choose Japanese cuisine followed by a student pub showing cricket.

New Zealand 1: Auckland and Coromandel

It's a long, long way to New Zealand from almost everywhere! We left the farm at 9am on Wednesday 11th February and arrived at  Auckland Airport Hotel Ibis at 1am on Friday 13th! 2 long haul flights back to back with a stop in Singapore, just long enough to spend the complimentary SIA transit vouchers. There is also an 11 hour time difference between SA and NZ! The rental car company picked us up from the hotel and once we had wheels, we headed west to Waitakere State Park and Karekare beach, with it's hot, black volcanic sand. We headed across to the Kumeu wine region, which is virtually a suburb of North Auckland and had lunch at the Tasting Shed at Coopers Creek vineyard. We followed the coast road via Riverhead, Long bay and the North Beaches down into Auckland to our hosts Louise and Dave. We went to dinner in Mission Bay and enjoyed catching up on about 20 years of lost time.
On Saturday we were chauffeur-driven around by Louise, for a guided tour of Auckland, taking in One Tree Hill, Mount Eden and Silo Wharf on the waterfront for lunch. Jet lag really kicked in, so we were lucky to catch a few hours sleep before heading out to a Super 15 rugby game; Chiefs vs Blues. You can't come all the way to NZ and not see some live rugby!
On Sunday we left for our road trip, taking the coast road from Auckland via Clevedon and Miranda to the Coromandel Peninsula. There were plenty of sea birds and waders to spot. New Zealand has a lot of birdlife, but very few species, many of which were introduced to the country. And although there are amazing forests, so much open land and many undeveloped areas, the only indigenous land- mammal is a bat.
The Thames Coast from Thames to Coromandel Town is an awesome coastal drive and made it onto our "Top 10 Coastal Drives of the World" list. We stayed at the Anchor Motel, drank NZ Sav Blanc with local fish and chips takeaways while watching SA vs Zim on TV in our room. Cricket World Cup is in full swing here now!

SA Summer

Near perfect weather served as a fabulous backdrop for great times with friends and family in January. The Perdeput (our cottage near Hermanus) was very busy with lots of house guests and plenty of parties and dinners. We cooked up a storm and drank too much excellent wine. We visited most of our old favourite local wine farms and restaurants and added a few new favourites to the list. So, when are you coming for a holiday?