Thursday, March 19, 2009

Marlborough Wine Festival then North Island and home

Got 1. 1 to go

Well, I have just spent the last 45 min. trying to upoad the last 2 photos and for some reason, Internet Explorer won't let me so you'll have to wait another day. I'll try to publish this now without editing it so please forgive the typos etc. Love to all and I'll try to complete this soon. John OH yeah, remember, start reading this from the last posting. Someday I'll get the order right. J
Erin left the 23rd of Feb. so Linda and I had 2 weeks together on Don Pedro in Whangarei before she left for a 6-7 week trip back to Seattle, Sidney, Saltspring etc. Since her departure, Dave(good friend of Pat's and new crew member for Fiji, Vanuatu and beyound) and I brought Don Pedro north to Opua(our landfall when we arrived in NZ) where we will be until mid May when we depart for Fiji. Dave is the guy relaxing, enjoying his birthday the day we returned north. I have added a wind generator lately that can be seen in the other photo.




There was a great Irish bar next to our hotel, Father Ted's. Brother, you were in our thoughts. This place would suit you fine.
After we saw Adam off, we returned to Whangarei to move back onto Don Pedro and spend Erin's last 3 days at the beach, saying goodbye to Pat and spending as much time together as we could. It will be a long time till we see together again. We spent a day trying to surf,(Pat did OK) enjoying the sun, sand, waves and cold beer.




From Napier we went to Lake Taupo which I descibed earlier when Kristy and I visted it. We spent a lovely day swimming in the wonderfully warm fresh water, enjoying our lakeside motel with a great view and bar B Q area. Almost all the motels in this country have complete kitchens and mutual Bar BQ areas where you not only can grill your steaks etc but have the chance to meet other travellers. The next day we returned to Auckland to spend Adam's last night before he headed off to Melbourne Australia in search of work and a new adventure. I just got an email fom Linda saying he is going thru a trial period at the Silk Road, one of Melbourne's top restaurants. It has a great website if you want to check it out. Hope you get the job!! I had to include a photo of Adam's idea of organised unpacking and arranging of the contents of his suitcase. He finds it easier to find things if he lays them all out in the hallway of our room. Sorry, Ads, had to do it!!





Well, after Erin had personally overseen the loading of the buses(ask her!), we headed back to our hotel to recuperate. A GREAT time was had by all. We then returned to the north Island the next day for a vist to the Te Papa Museum in Wellington where there was an Impressionest Exibition of Monet and some of his comtempories. It is the National Museum of New Zealand and was not to be missed. On to Napier in the Hawkes Bay wine region for a day of more tasting and enjoying the art deco buildings that Napier is known for. Adam and Linda had to make a pilgramege to the Kim Crawford winery to pay homage to their grapes...a. good stopover.







Greetings,
When I last left off, we were departing Queenstown, our southernmost stop. Now we headed north along the east coast to Akaroa, the site of an early French enclave where the road signs are still en Francais. It is in the natural "bowl" of an old volcanic crater(the photo of of the sloping hills and sheep with the water in the background). After a delightful day and scruptous meal, we headed north again for Blenhem and the Marlborough Wine Festival. The day dawned(never saw it) cloudy but by the time we hit the Festival, the sun was out and the weather could not have been better. We received our souvenier issue wine glass and it's "around the neck holder". Great thing, you never loose it and its always right under your nose. Everybody should have one. There were approx. 30 wineries(we tried to taste them all-lost count!), great food and fantastic live music with some of New Zealand's top bands and individual entertainers. No details will be issued about the eventual state of the 4 of us and we need to protect what reputations we have left-Linda behaved herself, Adam and me too....however!!! We all had a memorable, wonderful day..youtoo, Erin.