A Kiwi Weekend

This weekend was a quintessential Kiwi weekend. I am still having trouble believing that we live in such a beautiful country.

Saturday Will’s co-workers (husband and wife) offered to “show us around a bit”. We had no idea what they had in store for us. I was imagining taking us to a couple of sites around the city and maybe some lunch. We were pleasantly surprised with what they had in store. We drove out through the Waitakere Mountains, which were covered in native bush similar to a rainforest/jungle. I got a little woozy with all the hairpin turns, but it was worth it because 40 minutes later we saw this:

It was so breathtaking. The beach had black sand and felt so good walking around barefoot. They said in the summer the sand gets so hot, you hear expletives everywhere from people walking from the water to their blankets (black sand would do that…) It was low tide, so we were able to walk through some neat areas that are usually inaccessible. We saw mussels, starfish, anemones, and surfers J.

After that we drove to a winery for some tasting, then ended up getting a bottle to share with some fancy cheese and crackers. It was such a beautiful day. It was 55 degrees, but the sun was so hot I was in a tank top for much of it. We sipped wine, enjoyed the view, and watched some pukekos in the field. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Next stop was Mt. Eden, one of many old volcanoes that surround Auckland. We could see everywhere from up there. We walked around the top, took some pictures and “ahhhed” at the views.

We ended the night at Prego, an Italian restaurant that I’d say rivaled the best food we had in Italy.  This brings me to a point about New Zealand dining. #1) You don’t tip waiters/waitresses. They see it as part of their job to give excellent customer service so they are just nice because it’s the job, not to squeeze an extra couple of dollars out of you. #2) You pay at the register, not with the waiter. Even at fancy restaurants, you have to go up and wait in line to get your check and pay. There are some places where you do that in the US, but mostly it’s the seedy Mexican restaurants J

Sunday we had planned to take a ferry over the Waiheke Island to meet a former PwC partner who owns and operates his own winery. Will found him from another PwC employee who he happened to meet just before we left (coincident? I think not) The winery is not open to the public, but he will give tours/tastings for special people like us J. He picked us up at the ferry terminal, took us out for a fantastic brunch (Will had crab omelet, I had lemon pancakes), and then gave us a quick tour around the island on the way to their winery, Destiny Bay. 

Their winery had fantastic views of the water, land and sky. The website is destinybaywine.com. I highly recommend checking it out. They make VERY upscale wine that we could never afford, but it was so neat to see the whole process of wine making. We got to taste “raw wine” as well as the wine once it was processed and aged. They even gave us a bottle of what we tasted to take home. Did I mention they sell this wine for about $500 a bottle! They were so generous with their time and their wine. We will be enjoying every last drop!

They also told us how Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones were shooting a movie “The Emperor” in New Zealand in March and after tasting it at a restaurant, had to come by to meet them and see where the wine was grown. So we are among Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones and a select other few to tour this winery. Cool, huh?

After the tasting Mike took us on a drive around the island. We got to see some pretty fantastic views from the Island. There are cattle and sheep next to wineries and beaches.  The best of both worlds. Will is considering becoming independently wealthy and moving to the island where he can farm and I can drink wine at the beach every day. We’re currently taking donations…

 

Until next time,

Cheers