Emma – Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure

New Zealand Day 21 – Rare birds and beautiful lakes in Te Anau

Wednesday 1st February 2023

Our room in the Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park was way too hot (there was no air con and a big hot water boiler in the corner of the room) so we didn’t get the best nights sleep. We therefore felt very tired this morning, hopefully a bit of fresh air will wake us up!

We went to the Punanga Manu o Te Anau (Te Anau Bird Sanctuary), which is free to visit although donations are very welcome. You can also do a guided tour for $10, which is what we did. The tour is well worth doing, you learn so much more and get to go inside the bird enclosures.

First of all, we saw the takahe, an endangered flightless bird that is only found in the South Island of New Zealand. It was quite a privilege to be so close to six of these birds when there are only a total of 440 of them in existence.

We were very lucky to be so close to the rare takahe

We also got to see the ranger feeding the birds, which was quite cool as we were also in the enclosure and very close to them.

Watching the takahe being fed was fun

Next, we went to feed the mallard ducks, which I really enjoyed as we could feed the babies out of our hands. The mallard ducks are all wild so fly in and out of the bird sanctuary at their leisure.

We next went to the kaka enclosure. Here, the sanctuary keep birds that are injured or can not live in the wild for some other reason, with the aim of releasing them back to the wild when they recover. We weren’t able to enter this enclosure, so watched them being fed from the outside. We also learnt that the kaka are very closely to the related to the kea and both have small and declining numbers. Despite this, you often see kea of the South Island because they love humans and like to be fed – which is probably why a couple landed on our wing mirror while we were queuing at the Homer tunnel traffic lights yesterday!

The ranger explained to us why you shouldn’t feed these majestic and very friendly birds. If they get used to being fed, the juveniles don’t learn how to find food themselves. This is a big problem in the winter when there are very few tourists around, so they end up starving to death.

The final birds on the tour were the brightly coloured parakeets, which we fed with carrots on sticks.

We got to participate in feeding the mallard ducks and parakeets

After the bird sanctuary, we went back into town and enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the Sandfly cafe. Pete had a venison burger and I had corn fritters with smoked salmon and a fried egg. The food was excellent and the bakery items also looked delicious, so we bought a sausage roll and cake to takeaway.

The food at the Sandfly cafe was excellent

We had a bit of time to kill before our Te Anau lake cruise, so we had a wander around the lakeside. It wasn’t the best of weather, but the lake still looked beautiful.

At 1.30pm we headed to the pier, for our 2pm afternoon cruise on Faith, a wooden motor-sailer built in 1935 in Scotland. It’s an historic ship, which served in WW2, hosted Sir Winston Churchill, and has sailed across the world.

Faith is a beautiful wooden historic yacht

We cruised past some beautiful scenery, including a waterfall. The weather wasn’t that great, but the mist just made it look all the more mysterious and magical. We then dropped anchor and were served another drink and some beautiful canapés.

The scenery around Te Anau lake was stunning

The final part of the trip involved a Bush walk through secluded forest, with Jenny pointing out various things and giving interesting commentary along the way.

We were also lucky to see quite a few birds, including a fantail and a very friendly robin.

After the walk, we sailed back to Te Anau and were offered yet another drink. Pete also had the opportunity to drive, and we got to see engine room so it was a fun trip back.

The captain trusted Pete to take control on the way back

We got back to the pier at 6pm, which was much later than we were expecting as it had been advertised as a 3hr cruise. We were driving to Queenstown, so didn’t arrive at our hotel until close to 9pm.

We ate the sausage roll and cake we bought from the Sandfly café earlier. As expected, both were excellent.

The sausage roll and cake we’d bought from the Sandfly cafe were both excellent

After checking into our hotel and dropping off our bags, we took a walk down to the lakefront, which was looking beautifully mysterious in the fading light.

We were surprised by how many places were closed by 9pm. We tried to go to one of the ice bars but our top choice was already closed and the Minus 5° ICE BAR was only open to bookings. So we headed back to our hotel for an episode of Stranger Things and a glass of wine (which now seems to be our nightly ritual!)

New Zealand Day 20 – the beauty of Milford Sounds

Tuesday 31st January 2023

We’ve got a fairly long drive to Milford Sounds, so we stopped off for some breakfast at Bracken Hall, where we shared a Venison pie. It wasn’t the best pie we’ve had but it was pretty good.

As we drove towards Milford Sounds, the scenery was just stunning and we stopped a few times for some quick photos. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do any of the longer walks, but it was still awesome to just see the beautiful views.

The scenery on the drive to Milford Sounds was stunning

Our longest stop was at mirror lakes. It’s a 5 minute walk from the car park to the lake and definitely worth seeing. We were lucky that it was a clear day so the reflections off the lake were stunning.

Mirror lakes is definitely worth stopping off at, it’s just a 5 minute walk from the roadside

Just before we reached Milford Sounds, we drive through the impressive Homer tunnel. The tunnel itself is one way and operated by traffic lights, but we didn’t have to wait long.

Homer tunnel is quite a cool tunnel to drive through

When we arrived at Milford Sounds, there were some very friendly and cute looking ducks in the car park. Car parking was $25 for up to 5 hours and this seemed to be the only option. However, after we’d paid and gone to the visitor centre we noticed a map to a free car park (which is just an additional 10 minutes walk away). We hadn’t noticed any signs for this on our way in and as we’d already paid it was too late.

There were some very tame, friendly ducks in the Milford Sounds carpark

We’d arrived in plenty of time before our cruise, so had time to do the Milford foreshore walk. The walk is a relatively short loop along the waterfront and the scenery was gorgeous, despite the dubious weather.

The Milford foreshore walk is a beautiful walk

At the information centre is a cafe selling hot and cold food and snacks, so we bought a venison pie and a carrot cake to share. The food was pretty decent and the cake slice was a very generous portion.

The pies and cakes at the cafe in the information centre were actually pretty good.

It was soon time for us to head to the cruise terminal, which is around a 10 minute walk from the car park and information centre. We had booked with Mitre peak for the 3.45pm departure, and the boat seemed to be one of the smaller ones (which I think was a good thing as we could get closer to the waterfalls). There was plenty of room on the boat, as there were way fewer people that the total capacity. Most people say outside, so the inside cabin was pretty empty.

Mitre Peak use one of the smaller boats in Milford Sounds

It was a very relaxing cruise and the scenery was just stunning. On the day we went it was a bit wet and intermittently cloudy, however this didn’t detract from our experience. The sounds looked very magical and mystical in the slight haze.

The scenery we saw on the Milford Sounds cruise was absolutely stunning

We also got to see several waterfalls on the cruise, which were very impressive.

We saw quite a few waterfalls , which were probably my favourite bit of the cruise

At a couple of spots along the way, the captain pointed out some seals (including a few baby seals) chilling out on the rocks.

After disembarking, we walked back to the car park for the drive to Te Anau, where we’re staying overnight.

As we queued at the traffic lights outside the Homer Tunnel on our way back, a huge Kea landed on the car in front! It was properly trying to get into the car, using its beak to try and prise open various bits of the car. It eventually gave up, and decided to have a go on our car! It was impressive getting to see these majestic birds so close up, but we were slightly concerned they’d scratch our hire car.

We ended up with a Kea on our car outside the Homer Tunnel

By the time we arrived in Te Anau it was around 8pm. We checked in at the Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park, and dropped off our bags before heading out for dinner. The accommodation itself was quite basic (the main disadvantage was that it had a big hot water tank in the room but no air con so was uncomfortably hot) but the location is excellent so it was only a few minutes walk to the main town centre.

We were lucky to get the last table at La Toscana Pizzeria (they close at 8.30pm) and shared a garlic bread, a chicken pizza, and a pepperoni pizza between us. The food was very good, though definitely not the best pizzas we’ve had. We had a chocolate cake for dessert, which was lovely.

The food at La Toscana Pizzeria was good, although definitely not the best pizzas we’ve had this trip

After eating, we walked down to lakeshore which was looking beautiful in the fading light.

The Te Anau lakefront was looking very pretty as the daylight faded

By this time it was getting late and most places in Te Anau seemed to be closed so we went back to the motel for the night.

New Zealand Day 19 – Road trip from Oamaru via Dunedin, and Pete the Sheepdog

Monday 30th January 2023

We’ve got a long drive today, as we’re staying in an Airbnb about an hour outside of Te Anau (on a farm in the middle of nowhere!). We left Oamaru in the morning, and our first stop was Moeraki Boulders Beach, which we’d been told by a local was a must see sight.

As we approached Moeraki, there were two signs to car parks pointing in the opposite directions. We chose the left route, which ended up at a cafe that charged $2 per person to use their walkway down to the beach. So we turned around and drove to the other car park which is slightly further (still only a 10 minute walk to the boulders) but free to use. We walked along the beach to the boulders, and were expecting them to be much bigger. They were still quite cool looking, but we found them slightly underwhelming. Maybe we just had too high expectations after listening to the local who had really bigged them up.

The Moeraki Boulders weren’t quite as impressive as we were expecting

We continued on the road, and after about 30 minutes driving spotted a sign to Evansdale Cheese Factory. So we decided to stop off and have a look. It’s got a small museum at the back which explains a little about the history of Evansdale as well as the cheese making process. There was a song above the museum entrance which said there’d be a charge to enter unless you made a purchase, but the very friendly guy behind the counter said it was just to deter large coaches using it as a free toilet stop and that we were welcome to look around with no obligation to buy anything. In the end, however, we liked the look of the small variety packs of 4 different cheeses so decided to buy one for our supper tonight.

Evansdale Cheese Factory has a small museum and is definitely worth a brief stop if you’re driving past

From Evansdale Cheese Factory, it was another 30 minutes or so drive to Dunedin. We went straight to the Settlers museum, which is free to enter and was an excellent (and surprisingly large) museum. It mainly focuses on the history of the area, but is very interactive and has a wide range of different exhibits, including a room with various old motor vehicles, and one with historic computers and electronics.

The Dunedin Settlers museum has a vast range of different exhibits, many of which are interactive

By this time, it was early afternoon so we went for a Thai lunch at Asian Star Food. The food here was excellent, particularly the chicken satay we had as a starter. The mains of crispy pork with chilli and basil, and pad kee mao were also delicious and authentic tasting.

The flic at Asian Star Food was excellent and very authentic tasting

Tonight we’re staying at an Airbnb on a sheep farm, in the middle of nowhere. It’s about a 2.5 hr drive from Dunedin, and on the way we stopped off at supermarket in Gore to buy a few things for this evening.

The Airbnb was absolutely beautiful, and we had a little terrace overlooking the field where the hosts, Wendy and Bevan, keep a few pet sheep. Wendy called them over and we got to feed them, which was pretty cool. One of them had been hand reared as a lamb so was happy to eat from our hands.

Our Airbnb was in the middle of nowhere, but so beautiful and relaxing

Bevan then offered to give us a tour of the farm. It’s so huge, we had to hop into his Toyota Rav4 in order to get around the farm, which I wasn’t expecting.

In one of the first fields we got to, Bevan noticed that the water trough was empty. This meant that must be a leak somewhere. We therefore had to drive around trying to find the source of the leak, which Pete (with his sharp hearing and engineering mind) managed to do. The sheep had apparently managed to switch on a tap, which meant all the water was being diverted there and didn’t reach the troughs.

On the way back to the farmhouse, we came across a stray sheep that had somehow managed to escape its field. Bevan tried to herd it back into its field but it scarpered up the hill. So Bevan gave Pete the keys to his car, and asked him to try and herd the sheep back towards the gate (which Bevan would open). So we ended up chasing the sheep up the hill in the RAV4, hoping it would turn around and go back down so the hill (which fortunately it did!) so we could reverse back down behind it and direct it to the gate. It was certainly a very memorable experience!!

When we rented to our accommodation we cooked the dumplings we’d bought from the supermarket earlier. We then enjoyed our cheese from the Evansdale Cheese Factory, accompanied by some biscuits and a bottle of red wine.

We pan fried some dumplings for supper, then enjoyed some cheese and biscuits with red wine

It was a lovely relaxing end to a long day!

New Zealand Day 18 – farmers markets, steampunk, and the distant Penguins of Oamaru

Sunday 29th January 2023

Every Sunday there’s a farmers market in Oamaru so we decided to check it out. It was a bit smaller than we were expecting, with a couple of butchers, a cheese stall, some fruit and veg stalls, a few other local producers, and a handful of food/drink trucks.

Oamaru has a farmers market every Sunday morning

Being foodies, our main reason for visiting the farmers market was to find some tasty food. We shared a cheese roll from one food truck. We’d heard cheese rolls were a thing on the South Island, but didn’t really know what to expect . It ended up being a rolled up bit of bread with cheese in the middle, toasted in a toastie machine, and was very tasty!

One of the butchers was offering bacon butties, so we gave one of them a go. Unsurprisingly, it was an excellent buttie.

Our cheese roll and bacon buttie from the farmers market were both delicious!

There was also a food truck doing Bahn Mi which we were highly tempted by, but in the end passed as thought it’d be a bit too greedy, even for our standards.

So instead we set off to explore Oamaru. Just across the road from the farmers market is Customs House Gallery, a small art gallery that’s free to enter.

Customs House Gallery, which is home to the North Otago Art Society and is free to enter

Our next stop was Steampunk HQ, which has a $10 per person entry fee. It’s well worth the money, Pete and I both loved this very quirky and unique museum. It was such fun to walk around and see all the crazy and clever sculptures, mainly made from old vehicles and bits of scrap metal.

Steampunk HQ, a very quirky and unique museum that’s well worth a visit

We next walked through the Victorian Precinct, a very picturesque area of Oamaru with lots or quaint and interesting shops.

Oamaru’s Victorian Precinct feels like a step back in time

Above one such shop is a model railway club, which opens its doors to the public at weekends for a $2 entry fee. We decided to go and have a look, and it was a pretty impressive set up. I hope they never have to relocate, and it must take days to dismantle and re-set up!

A couple of doors down was a limestone sculpture studio, so we had a quick look inside (no photos were allowed inside). Some of the sculptures were extremely intricate and beautiful, but also well outside our budget!

The limestone sculpture studio was quite interesting to visit

We were planning on visiting Whitestone City, but it was temporarily closed until 1pm. So we decided to walk back to the farmer’s market for the Bahn Mi we’d been eyeing up this morning. It was not the most authentic (served on baguette rather than Bahn Mi bread) but was delicious and excellent value. The pork belly was perfectly cooked and the filling was a very generous portion.

The Bahn Mi we had at Oamaru farmers market was definitely not authentic, but delicious all the same

After eating, we walked the length of Holmes Wharf to enjoy the fantastic views back to shore (and out to sea). I was surprised by how windy it was, the buildings of the town clearly provide a lot of shelter. Right by the wharf is also a very cool looking steampunk style children’s playground. We were half tempted to half a go, if only we were a couple of decades (or more….) younger!

It was a beautiful (but very windy!) walk to the end of Holness Wharf

We then walked back to Whitestone City, which by this time had now reopened. It’s another slightly quirky museum, this time a reminder of times gone by. My favourite part was the penny farthing merry go round, which was quite fun to ride. The museum doesn’t has a fixed entrance fee, but instead asks for a donation of what you feel it’s worth.

My favourite part of Whitestone City was the penny farthing merry go round

We next drove to The Natural Dairy to buy some famously good milk. I just hope it lives up to its reputation.

We bought some fresh milk from The Natural Dairy

On the way back to our Airbnb we stopped off at the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner tonight.

We then went to Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve to try our luck again at spotting some yellow eyed penguins. We’re there much earlier than we were yesterday, so will hopefully have a better chance of seeing some. Again, there were loads of seals which were pretty cool to see. After about an hour, we also saw two penguins! They were quite distant and so we could only just make them out (though we could clearly tell they were penguins) so unfortunately taking a good photo on my iPhone was out of the question! We waited another 1/2 hour or so, but didn’t see any more. Still, it was a pretty relaxing place to spend some time.

We saw loads of seals at Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve, but only two distant yellow eyed penguins

We headed back to Fantail Cottage to cook dinner. To start we had some green shelled Marlborough mussels, cooked with white wine, onion, garlic, and a dash of cream, and accompanied by the Hunters sparkling white wine we’d bought on our Marlborough Valley wine door. Our main course was a creamy chicken, mushroom, and garlic pasta. It felt very good to cook again, we’ve not had much opportunity since we started travelling and I really miss it!

It was good to cook for a change, and we enjoyed our Green Shelled mussels and creamy chicken pasta

Predictably we ended the night with an episode of Stranger Things on Netflix and the rest of our wine.

New Zealand Day 17 – Bread & Circus, art, and culture in Christchurch

Saturday 28th January 2023

We timed our visit to Christchurch just right as we’re here during Bread & Circus, a big buskers festival. The first act we saw was Paul Klass, a juggler who likes to juggle sharp knives and fire. Pete got his five minutes of fame, as he was called on stage to assist. He did a brilliant job and the crowd clearly loved him – although there was one slightly hairy moment when he had to throw the knives to Paul (who was balanced on top of a couple of boxes at the time!)…. apparently it’s not as easy to throw a knife handle first as it may seem, and the blade was headed dangerously close to Paul’s crotch! Luckily he’s a skilled juggler so could deftly catch the knife whatever the angle.

Pete got his five minutes of fame as Paul Klass’s assistant at Bread & Circus

We then had a wander around Christchurch, which is a very picturesque place. It’s got a lovely river through it, and a cute little tram (although we didn’t bother riding the team).

Christchurch is a picturesque city, with a tram running through it

There was also a surprisingly large amount of construction going on, including in Cathedral Square (so unfortunately we couldn’t properly see it).

There was a surprisingly large amount of construction happening in Christchurch while we were there

We wanted to visit the Canterbury Museum, but it was unfortunately closed for refurbishment. Instead there was a temporary art exhibition which you had to pay to see. Pete was keen to see the next Bread & Circus act, so we didn’t think it was worth paying when we’d end up rushing through the exhibit.

Canterbury Museum was unfortunately temporarily closed for refurbishment

One the way back, we passed a little ice cream cart, which had Pete’s beloved banana flavour. So we shared a scoop, along with a scoop of peanut choc chip. The ice cream was excellent, the banana was one of the best we’ve had.

We found some amazing banana ice cream from an ice cream cart near Canterbury Museum

At this point we split up, as Pete wanted to see the sword swallower and I was keen to look around the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. The art gallery is free to enter and spread across two floors. It’s got a good range of contemporary art, some of which I really liked and some of which I didn’t quite get the point of. It was still a very pleasant way to pass some time.

I quite enjoyed wandering around Christchurch Art Gallery, which is free to visit

I then joined Pete back at Bread & Circus and we watched a magic show. This time he escaped any audience participation!

We enjoyed watching a magic show at Bread & Circus

After the magic act, we walked to nearby Riverside Market. We came across Mischief Wine Cellardoor and Wine Bar, and had a free wine tasting. We enjoyed the Pinot Gris, but not quite enough to buy a bottle.

Mischief Wine Cellardoor and Wine Bar in Riverside Market do a free wine tasting

We then had lunch. As it’s a food market we shared a steak, egg, and chips at Riverside Butchery and then bought some momos from Kathmandu MO:MO House. The momos were very average, but we really enjoyed the steak. We also bought some sausages from Riverside Butchery to take home for our supper tonight.

We loved the steak at Riverside Market but found the momos very average

We then walked back to our hotel to pick up our car, and then make the 3 hour drive to Oamaru. We stopped off at a supermarket on the way to buy some more ingredients for dinner tonight.

We stayed at Fantail Cottage in Oamaru, which (as it’s name suggests) is a lovely little cottage. It’s got a kitchen area and sofa, as well as separate bedroom and bathroom. So we were able to cook some sausages and mash for dinner.

Dinner was sausages (from the butcher at Riverside Market) and mash – delicious!

We ate early then went to Oamaru Lookout Point for beautiful views over the town below. We could also see all the Shags congregating on the pier, which was quite impressive to see (even if they were in the distance).

Oamaru Lookout Point had beautiful views over the bay and we could just about make out the myriad of shags congregating on the pier

We next went to Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve to try and spot the Yellow eyed penguin colony. We didn’t see any, but there were loads of seals sunning themselves on the beach which was quite cool to see.

We didn’t see any penguins at Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve, but there were loads of seals

Finally, we went to Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony to try and spot some blue penguins. You can pay to get a ticket to access a viewing area, but the tickets were very expensive so although we debated whether to buy them, in the end we decided against it. We were lucky to see a couple of penguins, although I felt a bit sorry for them as they had to cross the road to get to their nesting areas and they didn’t look particularly confident.

We were lucky to see a couple of blue penguins at Oamaru

We also saw a shag up close on our way out.

We also saw a very tame shag on our way home

By the time we got back to the cottage it was late, so we had a quick episode of Stranger Things on Netflix before bed.

New Zealand Day 16 – When in Kaikoura…. Kaikoura!

Friday 27th January 2023

Kaikoura is derived from the Māori words Kai (eat) and Koura (crayfish), and apparently the town is renowned for its fresh crayfish. So it’s obviously on our agenda to try some before we leave. Firstly though, we decide to check out the Kaikoura Museum. Fortunately we can leave our bags at the Kaikoura Gateway Motor Lodge (where we stayed last night), so we don’t have to lug them around with us.

The Kaikoura Museum had a special exhibit on the 2016 earthquake, which I’m ashamed to admit I was completely ignorant about – I’d no idea that an earthquake of this magnitude had even occurred here. It was quite an eye opening exhibit, the earthquake lasted for a full 2 minutes and Kaikoura was completely cut off from both rail and road access.

The Kaikoura museum had a special exhibit on the 2016 earthquake when we visited

The rest of the museum focused on Kaikoura in general, and in particular the diverse range of marine life. It was pretty interesting to visit.

The Kaikoura Museum is relatively small but interesting to visit

We walked along the seafront and came across a small food truck, the Itty-Bitty Bakery, which specialised in pies. Now Pete and I are both pie fans, and apparently pies are a thing in New Zealand so we felt we had to try one. The smoked brisket pie was amazing, probably the best we’ve had yet in New Zealand.

The Itty-Bitty Bakery do amazing smoked brisket pies

We still had a bit of time to kill, so walked along the beach. The day was slightly grey and overcast but it still looks beautiful out to see.

We came across a pop up art gallery, just opposite the Kaikoura Museum, so decided to have a look inside. There was an interesting selection of artwork, all of which was for sale.

It was now lunchtime so we went to the Craypot Kitchen & Bar Kaikoura to finally try some crayfish! It wasn’t at all cheap ($90 for 1/2 a crayfish and chips!) so just got one between us and also shared a portion of prawn dumplings. We enjoyed the crayfish but definitely didn’t think it was worth $90 (mainly because there’s not much meat to it, although we already knew that would be the case). We’re still glad we tried though, as couldn’t leave Kaikoura without eating crayfish! And the dumplings were very tasty and much better value.

Eating crayfish in Kaikoura, along with some yummy prawn dumplings

For dessert, we went to nearby Poppy’s Parlour for some ice. They’ve got a range of homemade flavours along with fresh fruit ice cream. Pete went for the fresh fruit blueberry and I had chocolate and hazelnut. It was very good ice, and a generous portion (which seems to be often the case in New Zealand!)

Hazelnut chocolate and fresh fruit blueberry ice cream from Poppy’s Parlour

By now it was around 2.30pm so we walked back to our motel to pick up our bags then went to the train station, to catch the Coastal Pacific to Christchurch. We were a little early, but this gave us time to find a water tap to top up our bottle of drinking water.

The train ride was lovely, passing through stunning scenery. Again, there was commentary telling you about the various things that you were passing by as well as a few historical stories and Māori legends.

We arrived in Christchurch around 7.30pm and as it was starting to rain took the lazy option of getting an Uber to the airport to pick up our hire car. It turned out to be another souped up, very new Yaris, but this time with 5,000 km on the clock (our last one in Aukland had only 25km and that new car smell).

We drove to the supermarket to pick up some things for a light supper, and were surprised by the crazy expensive wine on the shelves!

We were surprised to see wine for almost $1,000 on the supermarket shelves.

We then went straight to the Admiral Motel where we’re staying tonight. We timed it well, as it started absolutely pouring down with rain a few minutes after we arrived. The motel room itself was basically an entire house! It had a huge living room and full kitchen, as well as a separate bedroom and bathroom.

For dinner, we cooked pan fried pork and prawn dumplings, followed by scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast.

Our dinner of pan fried pork dumplings followed by scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast

We then relaxed in the sofa with a glass of wine and an episode of Stranger Things on the big TV.

New Zealand Day 15 – the Pacific Coastal rail and seal spotting in Kaikoura

Thursday 26th January 2023

Today we’re getting the train to Kaikoura. We only have a few hours until we need to be at the station so just took our bags with us as we headed into town (rather than leaving them at the hostel and coming to get them later, which we’d have been pushed for time to do).

We walked down to the seafront and sat on the grass for a while, watching the ducks and seagulls. It was very relaxing. Apart from the seagulls fighting every so often, although that was entertaining to watch!

Earlier in the week, Pete had noticed that the Bakehouse cafe do roast dinners. He’s very much missing them (back at home we’d have a roast most Sundays), so we went there for an early lunch. We had one roast pork dinner to share between us, and shared a sausage roll while we waited for it.

Sausage roll and roast at Bakehouse cafe

The say you should check in for the train 40 minutes in advance. I’m not sure it’s totally necessary, but we went there early all the same. Apparently we were the last to check in so obviously everyone else gets there even earlier! We were also the youngest there, probably by a couple of decades or so. I don’t know why the train isn’t more popular with younger people. It’s a bit inconvenient because it only runs once a day on 4 days of the week, but it was such a beautiful journey.

Travelling by train was a great (and very scenic) experience

There’s an open air carriage which you can stand in and get a better view of the scenery, which is pretty cool.

I loved the outdoor carriage on the Coastal Pacific railway

There’s also commentary on the train, which is played through headphones (the headphones are provided on each seat). Annoyingly it’s not always obvious when the commentary is starting, a very subtle bong and a green line on the tv screens at the front of each carriage. So we ended up missing bits of it along the way. The excerpts we caught were quite interesting though, for example we learnt the pink pools we passed on one stretch of the journey were natural salt mines coloured pink by algae in the water.

The pink tinge in the salt lakes is apparently caused by algae

The train has a café carriage with a full licensed bar serving hot and cold drinks, snacks, and hot meals (which looked a bit like microwave ready meals). The prices weren’t too bad so we bought a bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to share.

When we arrived in Kaikoura, we walked to the Kaikoura Gateway Motor Lodge, where we’re staying for the night. We checked in, dropped our bags, then headed out for a walk.

Kaikoura is a beautiful place for a walk

It’s about 3 miles to the seal colony just past Point Kean Viewpoint, so we had enough time to get there and back before our 8.15pm dinner reservation. On the way we thought we spotted a lone seal on the rocks, although it was hard to tell if it wasn’t just a random black rock. We approached a bit closer until we could properly make it out and it was indeed a sole sleeping seal. Our first sighting of one in the wild! Hopefully we’ll see more at the actual seal colony.

The seal that we thought might be a rock

About an hour later, we reached Point Kean Viewpoint and the colony. We weren’t disappointed – there were quite a few seals (this time more awake!) and I was surprised at how close they were.

We saw loads of seals very close up at the seal colony just past Point Kean Viewpoint

We spent a bit of time observing them before the long but scenic walk back into town.

Dinner was at Zephyr Restaurant, where we ordered polenta fries and bread with dips as an appetiser, and then fish of the day and pork belly for mains. The polenta fries were great, but the rest was a bit disappointing. The bread seemed a bit stale, the fish overcooked, and both the fish and pork were extremely dry. It wasn’t terrible, but definitely didn’t live up to our expectations.

Our slightly disappointing meal at Zephyr Restaurant

By the time we’d eaten it was getting late, so we walked back to our motel and headed to bed.

New Zealand Day 14 – tour of the Marlborough wineries

Wednesday 25th January 2023

We managed to book a last minute wine tour with Na Clachan wine tours. It was a bit odd as no availability was showing on their website two days ago, so Pete gave them a ring. The guy said he could add some more availability to the website and suddenly four available spaces appeared! So here we are. Along with one other German couple, who also booked very last minute. Apparently six others will join us for the afternoon.

Our first stop on the tour was Lawson’s Dry Hills Winery & Cellar Door. Here we tried 5 wines, all of which were very pleasant but none stood out enough for us to buy.

Our first tasting of the tour was at Lawson’s Dry Hills Winery & Cellar Door

We then moved on to Rockferry, where we sat outside on a lovely shady balcony overlooking some fruit trees. I really enjoyed this tasting, as we got to try different vintage years of the same wines. For the Sauvignon Blanc, we all preferred the 2020 over the 2021, whereas with the Pinot rose it was very hard to tell the difference between the two vintages. Pete and I actually preferred the Sauvignon Blanc at Lawson’s Dry Hills though, so again we didn’t purchase anything.

At Rockferry we sat outside on a lovely shaded balcony

By the time we’d finished our Rockferry tasting, Chris has driven into Blenheim to pick the 6 passengers joining us for the afternoon, and they were waiting in the minibus. We drove the short distance to Allan Scott, where we had a tasting of 3 wines while we ate lunch. We ordered the braised beef cheeks and the pork belly, both of which were excellent.

At Hunters, our next winery, the tasting was very slow. We had the first wine, a white sparking, and when the server returned she asked us how we enjoyed the rose. We were all very confused! She said the white wasn’t in stock so we’d tasted the rose, however someone on the table had some wine left and it was clearly white…. not sure quite was what was going on, but it was very good wine!

As they were being so slow we had to skip one of the 5 wines we were meant to be tasting. However, after they’d poured the final one, Pete and I went inside to buy a bottle of the sparkling wine to takeaway and they let us taste the wine that had been skipped. They also let us taste some of the rose they thought they’d served us earlier (we’re not generally rose drinkers but had a couple of excellent ones we loved in Australia) but we preferred the white.

Our wine tasting at Hunters was very slow, but we enjoyed the wines

We then went to Nautilus, where we sat indoors for the tasting. This was only winery where we had a choice of wines, we could select 4 out of 6 wines to try. Pete and I obviously shared so we got to taste all 6.

At Nautilus we had a choice of wines to taste

Our final winery was Framingham, which had a quirky little garden area with handmade wooden furniture. It was certainly a lovely environment for a wine tasting. At Framingham you can choose which wines you want to taste, but as we were on an organised tour we had to go with the recommended tasting.

Framingham winery had a very cute and quirky little garden

We were dropped off back in Picton, and went to Scoozi Woodfire Pizza for some carbs to soak up all the alcohol. We shared a garlic bread and a prawn and pepperoni pizza, and the food was very good.

We enjoyed our pizza and garlic bread at Scoozi Woodfire Pizza

After dinner, we walked back to the hostel for an early night.

New Zealand Day 13 – Marlborough Sounds cruises and a lot of great food

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.

A chicken, spinach, parmesan, and mushroom pie at Bakehouse Cafe made a good brunch.

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).

The Picton waterfront looks much prettier in the sun

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.

Probably the best banana ice cream we’ve had

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.

The Marlborough Sounds and it’s stunning scenery

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.

Green shelled mussels and barbecued king salmon on the back of the boat

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.

The crew fed the leftovers to the fish towards the end of the cruise.

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.

The sun was very hot and intense in the afternoon so we relaxed in a shady spot for a while

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.

New Zealand Day 12 – Rainy Picton and our first Marlborough winery

Monday 23rd January 2023

Breakfast at the Tophouse historical inn is only served until 8.30am, so we were up relatively early so we could shower and be in the dining room comfortably before 8.30am. We don’t often eat breakfast but it was included in the room rate and according to reviews was meant to be good. We weren’t disappointed, the scrambled eggs and slightly smoky bacon were delicious!

The bacon and egg breakfast at the Tophouse historical inn was delicious

Our rental car is a relocation deal, which means we basically got a free rental car to drive from Queenstown to Picton in 48hr. There was also a free tank of fuel thrown in, so we’ve been trying to calculate the exact amount of petrol needed to get us to our destination in Picton. Yesterday we put in 12 litres, which *should* just about be enough, but we decided to take todays drive very steadily to conserve fuel (and keep our fingers very firmly crossed!)

As we passed a petrol station in Blenheim, we debated whether to top up with a couple of litres, but decided against it – according to the fuel gauge on the dashboard, we had enough to do 47km with just over 20km of the journey remaining. A few minutes later, however, the fuel gauge suddenly dropped to zero! It was a little alarming, but fortunately we’d not gone far so decided to backtrack to the petrol station and top up with the minimum 2 litres. The fuel gauge still read zero after we’d topped up, but at least now we were 100% confident we could get to Picton without running out!

The road into Picton passes by several wineries. A lot of them don’t open until much later in the morning (or are closed completely on Mondays), but Forrest Wines happened to be open. We stopped by for a wine tasting (well I did a tasting, and Pete had an occasional sip as he was driving), which comprised 7 different wines for $12 (about £6). Unusually for a wine tasting, all the wines were brought out in one go. This meant you could go back and forth between them, but I felt there was also less detailed explanation given than at some other wineries we’ve visited. The wines were pleasant enough but none particularly stood out so we didn’t end up buying a bottle.

We stopped off at Forrest Wines for a tasting

From the winery, it was only a short drive to the Sequoia Lodge Backpackers, where we were staying for the night. The rooms there are very basic and quite small, but it was very cheap for a good location so we felt it was good value. It was too early to check in, but we were able to drop our bags off. We then drove to the ferry terminal to drop off the hire car.

After dropping the car, we had a wander around Picton Harbour. We debated whether to go into the Edwin Fox museum, but we could see the ship from the outside and it didn’t look to be enough to justify the $15 per person entrance fee.

We didn’t go inside the Edwin Fox museum as we weren’t convinced it was worth the $15 entry fee

We walked around the harbour towards the town centre, and came across a small arts and crafts market just by the waterfront. We were a bit disappointed to find there were no food stalls within the market though (we’re very into street food!).

It was quite a grey day in Picton, but it was still pleasant walking along the waterfront

Instead, we grabbed a steak and blue cheese pie from Picton Village Bakery and sat on a bench outside to enjoy it. The filling had an excellent flavour, but I felt it could do with a bit more meat and the pastry wasn’t the crispest ever.

The pie from Picton Village Bakery was decent, but definitely not the best we’ve had

We then had a walk around the town centre, which was relatively small but very picturesque. By this time it had also started to spit with rain, so we headed back to our hostel to check in and then do some laundry.

Picton town centre is relatively small but quite picturesque

This also gave us a bit of time to plan some more of our trip (we’ve only booked a couple of nights beyond Picton).

We ate dinner at the Waitohi Sports Bar, and ordered a sharing plate platter. The freshly baked bread with herbs and garlic butter was amazing, but most of the rest was typical fried food (the fish bites were very good, but the chicken, calamari, and prawns were all quite average).

The food at Waitohi Sports Bar was ok overall, with amazing warm bread but fairly average fried food

After dinner we headed back to the hostel and watched an episode of Stranger Things on Netflix before bed.