After being in NZ for two months and travelling solo for 2 weeks, I finally picked my girfriend up at the Nelson Airport. That is the longest that we have been apart in almost 5 years, and I can't thank her enough for supporting me in going to NZ. Now we were finally back together, and had 16 days to travel!
The weather between May 30-June 16 was pretty miserable, and it probably rained a minimum of around 12 days. Also, it was getting dark out pretty early, right around 5pm. So, we made do and had the best time possible. For winetasting this weather is ok, and IMO is ideal for sampling wines; lack of crowds and what else would you do? For everything else it sucks. While on the South island it rained every day we were there but one... We still went hiking in the Abel Tasman National Park, which is not in any way a winter destination. This area is on the coast, has a lush rainforest like terrain, and the waters are pristine and calm. The whole time we were hiking we were thinking to ourselves "I wish it was warm and we could go swim in these beautiful waters".
With the wet weather we spent our last day on the South Island touring the Marlborough Sounds on a "mail boat". This was a 3+ hour cruise where we went out on a boat that was dropping mail off to residents throughout the remote areas of the Marlborough Sounds. This was a great activity; both time and money well spent. The boat was comfy, the ride unique, we could bring our own alcohol, and we managed to get some great pics. After that we were on our way to the north island.
We arrived in Wellington and stayed a couple of nights in the downtown area. This was Amanda's favorite city of the trip, and for good reasons. The city itself is "San Francsico-esque" with its proximity to the water, weather, nightlife food and downtown area. We enjoyed ourselfs at the Te Papa Tongewera, a massive 4 story musuem full of NZ history about the people and the land. We also took the cable car up the hill to the Karori Bird Sanctuary, http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/. This is a 550 acre fenced off area in the hills surrounding Wellington. By being fenced off it is rodent free (no rats or stoats etc.), which is the way that NZ was before the introduction of the pests by the Polyneasians and European Settlers. The place was full of beautiful birds chirping and singing away, and we also saw some Cave Weta (a really big gross looking transucent bug). That was our one dry day in the last 5, and the next day.... it was raining.
The next two stops were Martinborough and Napier in Hawkes Bay, were we did a total of 4 days of wine tasting... its also where I got a ticket for going 126kph in a 100 zone :( From Napier we went to Taupo and attempted the tongariro crossing, which is an alpine crossing that gets you up close to Mount Doom, which is Mount Morridor from Lord of the Rings. It was snowing and the visibility was bad, so we couldnt go over the summit. We still had fun and hiked about 15k. From there we shot over to Rotorua, which is situated in an amazing geothermal area. We actually stayed 4 nights here... we were a bit travelled out and wanted to relax, and relax we did. We got Massages, did a Hangi (an evening of entertainment and eating with the local Maori tribe), went to hot pools and also a geothermal park. We also had a fun day of "luging" and went on a sky swing, which was pretty fun.
The last highlight of our trip was the Waitomo Caves, where we went "black water rafting" and saw glow worms. You basically get in a wetsuit with a hard hat and a light, and hike and innertube your way through a very dark cave. In parts of the caves there are glow worms, which are actually worms that glow (although I believe it is their poop that really glows) This was also a very cool experience and a great way to finish off the trip. From there we went to Auckland where we stayed at the Sky City Casino and had a very fun evening of Wine, Champagne, Oysters and some casino action to get the bday celebrations rolling..... the Next day we were on an airplane back to San Francisco.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Back and Settled Part 1: Thoughts on NZ Travels
Waterfall at Milford Sound
The title says it all: I am back and settled in the good ol' US of A. After a 12 1/2 hour flight "back in time" from NZ, leaving NZ 7:30pm June 16th, we touched down in SFO around 12:30pm on June 16th, just in time to continue my birthday celebration and extend the total hours to 43. That's right, a 43 hr b-day, but I sway from the point. The flight was great, and I really enjoyed Air NZ as an airline: Great food (for airplane standards), open bar w/ NZ wines and great entertainment (everyone has their own screen for movies, shows etc.) made the flight go by very quickly.
In between the end of work and this flight back, I had travelled by car for roughly 30 days in NZ. The majority of time, roughly 20 days, was spent covering a large part of the south island, and the rest up in the north island. Between the driving, sightseeing, lack of internet and procrastination, its been a few weeks since the last post.
In a quick Vacation recap: I took off from Blenheim, which is in the northeast corner of the south island, and headed all the way down the east coast to the south point of the island, with stops in Christchurch and Dunedin on the way. Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula (albatross and penguins!) were by far the highlights of the south island east coast, although I did enjoy wine tasting in North Canterburry and the Moeraki Boulders quite a bit too. After spending a short time in the Catlins, and the majority of time in my car due to rain and wind, I made my way to Milford Sound in the Fiordlands. On a stop in Invercargill on the way, I dropped by "kingfish" and ordered Monkfish fish 'n chips, probably a first and last... I was pretty excited about this, so I have to mention it. I also had some Scallops with it to. Now back to the traveling, next stop was Milford Sound.
Friendly Kea
Kea posing in front of Homer Tunnel
Kea on my car... apparently they cause lots of damage to people who park their cars in this area
Mitre Peak
The Encounter
Looking out towards Australia from Milford Sound
Seals at Milford Sound
Milford Sound was the most breathtaking part of the south island for me. Fortunately it stayed dry for me during my day day there... it had been so wet and stormy up to that point, and severe weather was in the forecast. As soon as I arrived, I wanted to stay for a lot longer than one night, but do to time restrictions and weather, I didn't. Its unlike anything that I have ever seen before, and lived up to its larger than life image portrayed in the travel guides... probably a bit more. The drive out there was nearly as impressive, and I stopped at least a dozen times to snap shots of the sheer snow capped alps crashing into the ground. I went out on Milford Sound in the Encounter, one of the many boats available to take you around and get you deep into the Fiord. I was in complete awe and went through about 4 battery changes and a gig of memory on my camera card. I also had a chance to get up close with a Kea, which is the worlds only alpine parrot.
Queenstown
From Milford I went to Queenstown for a night, and headed about 30 mins out to the Central Otago wine tasting region, where I spent the next two days, which I will talk about in another post. After that I was on my way up to pick up Amanda, with only one stop for some rest over the Haast Pass. I ended up having beers with some very friendly Maori Locals who invited myself and another couple over who were staying at the "holiday park". Boss and his friends were the friendliest folks, and showed us some great hospitality. This was definitely a random highlight of the locals I met... I wish I grabbed some pics with them, but unfortunately I didn't. From there I shot straight up to Nelson in one day, which was a 11hr drive, and made a couple of very brief stops at Foxen and Franz Joseph Glacier's.
Franz Joseph Glacier
That concludes my solo travels in a nutshell; I had a great time, met some very nice folks and saw some amazing things. I also spent quite a bit on petrol (between $1.7-$2/LITRE!). Next I'll talk briefly about our north island adventures and also about my wine tasting in NZ.
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
West Coast South Island
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
NZ Road Trip (Ill get some pics up ASAP)
I left Blenheim last Tuesday, making my way down the coast to Christchurch, where I spent the next few nights. I had a chance to do some wine tasting in North Canterburry (Waipera Valley), and also to check out the Banks Peninsula. Unfortunately for the wine tasitng, many of the cellar doors now have winter hours or they are closed, so I only had a chance to visit 3. Favorites of the day were Pegasus Bay Chardonnay and Torlesse Reisling. While I was in Christchurch the weather was a bit overcast, cold and rained at times.
After my 2 full days in the area, I made my way down the coast to the city of Dunedin, which was a great drive with a couple of fun stops; the Moreaki Boulders and Bushy Beach, which is home to a Yellow Eyed Penguin community. I got some great pics and wish I could have stayed in the area a bit longer, but was happy to arrive in Dunedin.
Dunedin is in the Southeast of the the south island, and is a vibrant little city that is full of energy, great architecture and beautiful surrounding areas. The weather cleared up while I was in Dunedin, which was great and also a much needed break for the previous 6 days or so of mediocre weather. The area that I visited over the two days was the Otago Peninsula, which is home to a number of different coastal wildlife, and once again, great views. Highlights of the peninsula were visiting a Royal Albatross community, where I had the chance to see some Albatross chicks and a couple of adults, and Sandfly Bay, where I got the closest I've been to the Penguins so far. I also got pretty close to some big Sea Lions. I also visited and toured the Speights Brewery, and visited the train station and the local museum.
Next post will be about my time in the Caitlins and Milford Sound.
After my 2 full days in the area, I made my way down the coast to the city of Dunedin, which was a great drive with a couple of fun stops; the Moreaki Boulders and Bushy Beach, which is home to a Yellow Eyed Penguin community. I got some great pics and wish I could have stayed in the area a bit longer, but was happy to arrive in Dunedin.
Dunedin is in the Southeast of the the south island, and is a vibrant little city that is full of energy, great architecture and beautiful surrounding areas. The weather cleared up while I was in Dunedin, which was great and also a much needed break for the previous 6 days or so of mediocre weather. The area that I visited over the two days was the Otago Peninsula, which is home to a number of different coastal wildlife, and once again, great views. Highlights of the peninsula were visiting a Royal Albatross community, where I had the chance to see some Albatross chicks and a couple of adults, and Sandfly Bay, where I got the closest I've been to the Penguins so far. I also got pretty close to some big Sea Lions. I also visited and toured the Speights Brewery, and visited the train station and the local museum.
Next post will be about my time in the Caitlins and Milford Sound.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Hittin the road
Harvest is over and its travel time.... I recently left Blenheim and headed down to Christchurch. I have spent the last couple of days checking out the surrounding areas (wine tasting in Waiparu and a scenic tour of the Banks Peninsula). I am now heading down South, probaby making a couple of stops on the way to the town of Dunedin. A few pics from wine tasting and my trip to Akoura (banks peninsula)... will get some more up later. 
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Final Day of Work
Today is the final day of work for the interns. Many started to leave last after last week due to the shorter hours and lack of work, and now everyone will be heading out for good.
At this time in the cellar, most of the work is racking and transfers, with a little bit of "cap management" type work (punch downs) going on with the reds. Oh yeah, still plenty of cleaning going on. As mentioned before, it has been a very short harvest down here. All of the fruit seemed to get ripe at the same time and yielded lower than expected (8000 tonnes instead of 10000 tonnes), which translates into less work.
Locations like New Zealand, that rely heavily on outside international laborers coming to help with vintage, have a unique set of circumstances when it comes to hiring their cellar staff. New Zealand is dependant on receiving outside labor to handle the workload associated with all aspects of the winery and vineyards, including pruning and cellar work. With a national population around the 4.3million mark, they don't have the resources that locations like California has to pull from. So, many of the vintage travel from great distances and have certain expectations when it comes to the work. That is, x amount of hours @ y amount of money, and of course, the experience is priceless. The winery also has a certain expectation of labor demands for the vintage, which is going to be based off of previous years results, and also expectations for the current vintage. So, there are assumptions and a bit of guesswork going on.
This year was a good example of how expectations can fall short with these situations: Yealands had less fruit than planned, probably hired a few too many people, and the fruit came in later than usual (about 1-2 weeks later), but then came in very very fast. It really came to a point where they didn't need the vintage staff with such little cellarwork to do, but because many traveled so far with certain expectations, they did the nice thing and worked the schedule to keep people on the minimum amount of time expected (6 weeks).
I have heard stories like this before, but much worse, from other vintage workers who talked about travelling to a destination and having to pack up and leave way early because the crop got severely damaged. My situation wasn't nearly that bad, just a bit disappointing. It did remind me of a few important things in life: Never assume, a plan is just a plan and can change at any time, and of course, mother nature can be unpredictable.
In a nutshell.... Bad news: less work. Good news: more travel time.
below are pics from the vintage party at the cork and keg.
preparty at fabios house
Bob's "mystery sausage tray"
cork and keg
Markus, Alex and Jaime
Me and Richard
At this time in the cellar, most of the work is racking and transfers, with a little bit of "cap management" type work (punch downs) going on with the reds. Oh yeah, still plenty of cleaning going on. As mentioned before, it has been a very short harvest down here. All of the fruit seemed to get ripe at the same time and yielded lower than expected (8000 tonnes instead of 10000 tonnes), which translates into less work.
Locations like New Zealand, that rely heavily on outside international laborers coming to help with vintage, have a unique set of circumstances when it comes to hiring their cellar staff. New Zealand is dependant on receiving outside labor to handle the workload associated with all aspects of the winery and vineyards, including pruning and cellar work. With a national population around the 4.3million mark, they don't have the resources that locations like California has to pull from. So, many of the vintage travel from great distances and have certain expectations when it comes to the work. That is, x amount of hours @ y amount of money, and of course, the experience is priceless. The winery also has a certain expectation of labor demands for the vintage, which is going to be based off of previous years results, and also expectations for the current vintage. So, there are assumptions and a bit of guesswork going on.
This year was a good example of how expectations can fall short with these situations: Yealands had less fruit than planned, probably hired a few too many people, and the fruit came in later than usual (about 1-2 weeks later), but then came in very very fast. It really came to a point where they didn't need the vintage staff with such little cellarwork to do, but because many traveled so far with certain expectations, they did the nice thing and worked the schedule to keep people on the minimum amount of time expected (6 weeks).
I have heard stories like this before, but much worse, from other vintage workers who talked about travelling to a destination and having to pack up and leave way early because the crop got severely damaged. My situation wasn't nearly that bad, just a bit disappointing. It did remind me of a few important things in life: Never assume, a plan is just a plan and can change at any time, and of course, mother nature can be unpredictable.
In a nutshell.... Bad news: less work. Good news: more travel time.
below are pics from the vintage party at the cork and keg.
preparty at fabios house
Bob's "mystery sausage tray"
cork and keg
Markus, Alex and Jaime
Me and Richard
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