ADIEU, NEW ZEALAND...

SUNDAY EVENING, MARCH 28, 2011 - AUCKLAND AIRPORT VICINITY - As we prepare to leave tomorrow and say goodbye to rainy, overcast and humid Auckland (that's how it was when I arrived here last November, too), I have been thinking about a list of the things I have enjoyed about New Zealand--this is what it looks like:

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT NEW ZEALAND:

·         Warm sun during my normal winter time

·         Beaches

·         Shells

·         Glaciers viewed from a helicopter

·         Birds (especially the song birds)

·         Fiordlands

·         Walking tracks

·         Friendly people from all over the world

·         Great wines

·         Te Matukua oysters, Green lipped mussels & individual meat pies (a shout out to Jade Lee, a Kiwi friend of Jon's living in the US right now)

·         Ferns, ferns and more ferns (every size and everywhere!)

·         Wildflowers growing alongside the roads

·         Vineyards on hillsides

·         Rolling hills

·         Surprise & unpaved roads

·         Beautiful colored butterflies

·         Maori maraes & culture

·         Lighthouses

·         Old buildings

·         Woolworth’s Home Brand Chocolate Chips cookies (the crunchy ones!)

·         Solid Gold & oldies radio stations

·         Tip Top “Hokey Pokey” ice cream

·         Free library wi fi

·         Seeing more cows and sheep than I ever had in my life

·         Deer farms

·         Alpacas

·         Diverse country—dry to jungle to beaches to mountains with snow

·         Pristine lakes (example is Wanaka Lake)

·         Tasman Sea

·         Sunsets

·         Waiheke Island living

·         Fresh fruit (oranges, kiwi, berries,apples, pears, plums, watermelon, pineapple)

·         Olive trees

·         Pohutakawa trees in bloom

·         Great music and musicians

Some shots from our Te Whau Vineyard day:

So we spent our last week walking the local beaches and then a day spent out at Te Whau Vineyard...we took the local bus as far as we could then walked the paved road past the alpacas again and all the views--about an hour's walk to the vineyard.   There we celebrated our successul trip, drank my first bottle of $85 Chardonnay, ate artisan breads with pesto and fresh olives, oysters lightly coated in tempura, did a tasting of some red wines and followed with a beef fillet dinner and dessert!   This took a few hours and was all soooooo tasty and delightful.  We met the resident "cat", Mrs. Merlot, who slept on a chair in the sunshine and then we walked back to Rocky Bay via the "bush track" up and down hills, along small remote beaches and getting some spectacular views that we would have missed on the paved road.  It took about an hour and a half to trek back via the track but was worth it.   What a way to end our run...........signing off now:

Sue &

Geoff (outside Te Whau Restaurant & Winery)

xo



ONE MORE THING....

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY SIBLINGS:

Dear Jan, Doug & Kathi,

I just wanted you to know that I believe that our Dad may have actually come from New Zealand in a prior life...

The reason I believe this is because I have noticed that since I arrived here last November, the old style toilet paper holders (they have newer ones in some places that are different) allow for you to tear off three (3) squares of toilet paper at a time only...yes, just 3!!!!

Dad MUST have had something to do with this design.  I just wanted you to know this.  I have felt his presence here since I arrived and am reminded every time I encountere one of the toilet paper holders that restricted my usage to 3 sheets!  

Lovingly sent from your sister, Sue   xo

NOTE to non-siblings:  If you wonder about this post...well, when we were young kids [I was probably about 5, 7 (Jan), 4 (Doug) and 3 (Kathi)]...living at 901 Legion Way in downtown Olympia, our dear Dad decided he was tired of the clogged toilet or of buying too much toilet paper (or both--I don't recall) and sat us down and showed us how to wipe our butts with 3 squares of toilet paper.  That is what we were supposed to use...3 squares ONLY!   None of us have ever forgotten that lesson in life!  :)  Sue

THE REST OF THE STORY...(or in this case, the rest of the lost blog)...

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011 – ONEROA PUBLIC LIBRARY – So here is my recreated blog for your amusement…blah, blah, blah….  J

Okay, so you know about the St. Pat’s Day activities and then the day in honor of Christchurch….

So we decided to go and walk the “track” over to Mudbrick Vineyard on Saturday (they have tracks all over NZ—some long and some short and they are all over this island, too).   The day is sunny and warm and we walk around Surfdale Beach along the Esplanade—the tide is very low:

Then around the point to Blackpool Beach and I see the first SUVs that I have ever seen driven out to boats (cuz of the lowtide):  J

Then past the Piritahi Marae (the Maori sacred grounds):

Past some boats on shore:

And an old, landmark rusted scow:

Up and up and up we go along the track and I turn and look back at the view:

We finally are on the other side of the mountain (I swear we hiked uphill a mile but it was more like a half mile!) and there is a beautiful olive tree orchard with ripening olives (I had only seen green ones so far) so we each pick and eat a black one--YUCK—they are bitter & need processing to taste like real olives!   But at least I have seen ripe olives on the tree now:

On we go and look at the views as we hoof it towards Mudbrick—getting thirsty and hungry:

Only to walk into  the cellar store and find out that they are closing for a wedding party…damn, I am grousing about the hour long, hot walk so the nice young man gives us each a small glass of pinot gris (me) and chardonnay (Geoff) and they were great but just made us want more.   The woman in the shop said to walk out their entrance and turn left—and we would find another vineyard called “Jurassic Ridge” so we did—saw a beautiful view of Auckland in the distance:

But our bad luck continued and it was closed...so we walked (nearly another mile)into Oneroa, went to Ricky’s and Geoff had some good beer and I had a cider and then we took the bus back to the cottage.   Later we salvaged the day by popping corn and watching a funny movie about the 1960s radio pirates called “The Boat that Rocked”—it was great!

Luckily Sunday dawned sunny and bright so we headed (via bus) out to Onetangi Beach.   We met Sherman & Chong who were visiting from Malaysia at the bus stop and pointed out some good vineyards to visit while on Waiheke.   We went to “salt” along the beach:

Had some fabulous oysters (pic didn’t turn out!) and some good wine:

Listened to Briar Ross Trio who played and sang some great jazz:

Then back on the bus and after a stop for a few provisions we were back in Surfdale in time for the Sunday jam session at Malones  Irish Pub—our LAST one here on Waiheke.   Manu Pratt and his son, Naki, are great musicians and this was, in my opinion, the best jam session yet (and it was hard to beat the others we went to)—here they are doing what they do best:

The music ends around 9:30 PM but we stayed until nearly 11 PM so Geoff and Manu could talk about music and musicians they both know or have met.   It was interesting to me to listen to them.

So ends another week.  We have a few things to get done this week but I this will, most likely be my last blog post and pictures from Waiheke Island.  I do plan to write about the things I loved about NZ at some point...we'll have to see when and where I get that done  In the meantime, as the song goes, we are homeward bound…….

                                 Love, Sue & Geoff xo

P.S. Our next travel plan is to meet up on May 14^th in NYC and then go to my grandson, Jon’s, West Point graduation.   One trip at a time…  J

Sine die

AS WE PREPARE TO LEAVE NZ...

Early Tuesday morning, March 22 2011 - I spent a lot of time working on my blog off and on today only to near finishing it nnd it went "poof" and disappeared...not sure what I did so will try to recreate it later...it is just past midnight here and I need some sleep for some reason...  :)

So I do remember saying in my lost blog that we had an entertaining St. Patrick's Day on Thursday--the local Irish Pub (Malones) was raising money for Christchurch so we participated and spent the late afternoon listening to Irish music by "Gael Force" (they were great!), dinner at Stefanos Pizzeria, then back to the pub for "Jafa" (rock and roll duo from the UK who rocked the house on guitars!)  It was a fun afternoon and evening...and here's a picture of Gael Force:

On Friday, we somberly watched the TV cooverage of the Christchurch memorial service--it was very moving and I know that the people of Christchurch needed to have some kind of acknowledgement of what they have endured.  They asked people to wear black t-shirts that day or buy one made in Auckland (with all proceeds going to Christchurch) so I bought Geoff and I each one to wear (they have a hand drawn heart with "Chch" in the middle and the words in white that say "our hearts are with you X"--so we wore our t-shirts to honor and remember Christchurch :

(Sorry about my goofy grin above--I think Geof just "goosed" me and I only got one shot of the 2 of us!)

It looks like this is as far as I can get with this blog and downloading pictures at this point so tune in later and see the rest of our week!   Love, Sue and Geoff xo   PS Be sure to read the blog below about the great Pinot Gris!  :)

FOR THE WINO-S OUT THERE!

MONDAY - MARCH 21, 2011 - 6 BLAKE ROAD, SURFDALE, WAIHEKE ISLAND, NZ

Last week we visited Man O’ War’s vineyards (on the way to Stony Batter) and then their tasting “cellar” le of their Pinot Gris 2010 to purchase.  

One night this last week we enjoyed this wine with our dinner and both raved about it (Geoff usually likes Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc)—it was fantastic!   Then Geoff was reading the local weekly newspaper, The Waiheke Marketplace, and saw an article about the wine we chose:

“Three wines were rated equal in Cuisine magazine’s annual pinot gris tasting with one of them from Waiheke.

Awarded five stars, Man O’ War’s Pinot Gris 2010 is created on Waiheke and made from grapes grown on neighbouring Ponui Island.   Cuisine magazine tested 171 New Zealand entries but only awarded 14 with four stars or more.

The first three were first equal and covered dry, medium dry and medium categories with Man o’ War’s taking the medium category.

Man O’ War’s vineyard manager, Matt Allen was at the end of a 15-year vine planting programme on the difficult undulating landscape at the eastern end of Waiheke when he thought he’d try planting Ponui Island.

The island has slightly warmer temperatures and is just a short boat ride away,

His idea has now paid off with five star recognition from Cuisine.”

We couldn’t agree more!  Try it if you ever get the chance!    It comes with our “5 star” approval, too!  J  Love, Sue & Geoff aka the Waiheke wine pisspots   xo

P.S.  More blog later!

SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME LEFT!

TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011 – ONEROA LIBRARY – We are thankful that all our loved ones are safe and sound but our hearts have been with those in Japan as we watched the coverage of the earthquake then horrified by the tsunami that followed.  New Zealand was spared any major difficulties as a result of the tsunami—an advisory to stay off beaches and out of the water for the weekend was the only restriction.   This earthquake resulting devastation put a bit of a damper on our high moods—earlier in the week we had some great Waiheke Island experiences—which I will share now!

We both got haircuts last Tuesday!   Feels wonderful: 

On Thursday, the day dawned sunny and bright so we called the local car rental business and “hired” (they use that term here) ourselves a car for a day to explore the far reaches of this island.   Our cute little car was called the “baby Hummer”: 

We are on the Hauraki Gulf side of the island for our first several stops—that is the side that mostly faces Auckland.

Our first stop was a popular picture taking spot (couples, bridal, etc.) near Ostend:  

Then off to Rocky Bay: 

Next we headed out to a place called “Azzuro Groves” where they grow olives and alpacas!   

The alpacas have one of the most beautiful views from the island:  

The view peeking through the flax across the street: 

We travelled a bit further down the road to the end of that peninsula where Te Whau Vineyards has 360 degree views and a wonderful restaurant where apparently Sean Connery likes to go! 

Next we headed around a dirt road and enjoying beautiful views along the way:   

Arrived at a lovely place named “Whakanewha Regional Park” where we sat by the water and had a bite to eat—very peaceful:  

Part of the park has a wetland and area that is off limits to protect the NZ Dotterel birds beach nests: 

Some of the areas we drove over reminded us of our touring various parts of “mainland” NZ with the grazing sheep and rolling hillsides: 

We drove past Onetangi heading towards the huge area that Man O’ War Vineyards owns—you go back on a dirt road: 

From here we are seeing beautiful South Pacific views from here:  

We park by a Man O’ War vineyard where they are picking grapes: 

And walk about 1.5 kms to Stony Batter Historic Reserve to see the tunnels built back in the 1940s to defend Auckland—a very interesting walk (with Coramandel in the distance across the water):   

Some of the built ins:  

We went into the hillside tunnel and walked throughout using torches (very interesting underground military bunker): 

The walk back:   

We followed the dirt road down to Man O’ War Bay and tasted a little wine! 

Then started the loop back:  

Orapiu (a foot ferry wharf): 

A look at “Shelley Beach”: 

We were going to have dinner at Kennedy Point but they had closed:  

Drove down to the car ferry wharf: 

Then back to Oneroa for a “side” view of the beach/water from beyond the town:  

We ended our day with dinner at “Viola” in Oneroa—a bit of prawn/pesto gnocchi and pizza!   By the time we got home, we were tired and I think we were asleep by 9:30 PM that night!   J

Friday morning Geoff returned the car and after lunch we walked about 20 minutes to “Goldwater” (or “Goldie” to the locals) Vineyard…had a wine tasting of some lovely wines, bought a couple of bottles and some great olive oil/herb spread…we walked up a small hill and enjoyed the sights from above the vineyard—we both were thinking about how lovely the day has been!  

We walked back and stopped off at our favorite local Irish pub “Malones” for a cold one(picture above ^). 

Sunday night we returned back to Malones for the Sunday Night Jam session of local flavor…and counting down to the big St. Pat’s Party: 

Note that the bottom of the sign says "Land of the long white cloud"--that's what NZ is known as--but I don't think it is for the long white "cloud" of Guinness heads!  Haha

Love, Sue & Geoff xo

P.S.   Our neighbor in Surfdale, Mike, brought us two freshly caught red snapper--our dinner Monday night for sure!   Here's what they looked like: