Tuesday 24th January 2023
After a few days of early starts and lots of driving, we had a much more leisurely start to the day today. We wandered over to Bakehouse Cafe to share a chicken, spinach, parmesan, and mushroom pie as brunch. The pie was good, we loved the very flavoursome filling and the pastry was also decent.
After eating, we went for a walk along the seafront. It looks much prettier in the sunshine (when we arrived here a couple of days ago it was very overclouded with a bit of rain).
We spotted an ice cream van that does fresh fruit ice cream, and to Pete’s delight one of the flavours was banana! So of course we had to give it a try, and it was definitely worth it – probably the best banana ice cream we’ve had this trip.
We then had a little time to relax by the waterfront before we needed to be at the pier for a Green shelled mussel cruise around the Marlborough Sounds. We’d picked a lovely sunny day for it, and it was absolutely beautiful cruising around the sounds. We were meant to visit a mussel farm, and were slightly disappointed that the cruise had been modified so we didn’t actually get to do this, and instead saw a very small school training facility. Nevertheless, it was still a great cruise.
After a couple of hours sailing, the boat dropped anchor and we enjoyed some freshly steamed Green shell mussels with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. I was surprised to learn the mussels were steamed without any liquid or seasoning, but simply placed on a metal tray, covered with foil, then heated on top of a stovetop unless the mussel shells began to open. They’re probably the biggest mussels I’ve ever tasted and were very delicious! After enjoying the mussels (which came with some accompanying breads and sauces), the crew set up a barbecue on the back of the back and cooked some king salmon. The salmon had been marinated in brown sugar, soy, and lemon zest and was barbecued until the skin blackened and crisped up, while the centre of the fish was pink and deliberately slightly undercooked. It was absolutely beautiful, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
There was much more food than I was expecting, and after eating we sailed to another bay where the crew fed the leftovers (including any mussels that had failed to open) to the fish (although the birds also joined in!). The water was beautifully turquoise and clear so we could clearly see the fish, and even got to see a couple of huge stingrays.
After the cruise, we crossed the coat hanger bridge and walked along the headland. We were planning on doing a much longer walk, but the sun was very intense so instead we relaxed in shade for a bit.
We ate dinner at Sisu, which has a small sharing plate concept. We ordered venison with drunken blueberries, tempura cabbage, meatballs with Bloody Mary sauce, and spinach and goats cheese pancakes. We absolutely loved the venison and meatballs, both dishes were very flavourful with juicy, tender meat. The tempura cabbage came a close third, very crispy and crunchy though a little on the greasy side. We weren’t quite so enamoured with the spinach pancakes though, they weren’t unpleasant but just didn’t wow us as much as we were expecting.
We then headed back to our hostel for a relatively early night.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 