Heading South to the South end of North Island

Trip Start Sep 01, 2008
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Trip End Sep 23, 2008


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Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Monday, September 8, 2008

We headed out of Hastings this morning and drove down to Wellington, at the Southern tip of the North Island. Along the way we decided to follow the Classic New Zealand Wine trail East of the Ruahine Range and stopped at some really fine wineries. First we headed to Alana Estate were we had a glass of wine with a delightful lunch. Then we stopped at Te Kairanga vineyard and enjoyed another glass. Paul met a nice German man at the Hyatt in Auckland who owns a vinyard in Martinborough and he invited us to stop by, which we did and tried some of his fine wines. As quoted by Jonathan Ray, UK magazine The Spectator after having traveled the same trail:
"I have just had the time of my life and it would be fair to say that I have returned home with my gob not so much smacked as pinned to the wall and trussed up, and well and truly spatchcocked." What a way to spend a rainy day!
As we traveled we passed the snow capped mountains in all their beauty.
As we passed the Rimutaka Summit we followed a 4 level truck full of sheep. Not the most pleasant way to climb a mountain.
I know you are all waiting to hear another tidbit of interesting information about New Zealand...well, here goes:
New Zealand doesn't use pennies...everything is rounded off. Oh, and they don't tip. Go figure!!!
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Comments

shancloud
shancloud on Sep 8, 2008 at 10:24AM

tasty?
Did you try the spatchcock?

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