3/14 - Napier Wine

This morning I said a leisurely goodbye to Johanna, which included helping her catch and clip the wings on her 5 chickens. It has been really interesting staying with Johanna. She has been so kind, while at the same time she strikes me as rather gruff. We talked about her grandchildren, and she stated that while she wanted to love them all equally, she found that she just really didn't like one of them - her grandson - because "he's completely wild. She mostly blamed her son for this, and the lack of clear boundaries he and hos wife give the boy. In some ways, her gruff and diagnostic approach applied to her family reminds me of other nurses I have met in my career. It makes me wonder if this is all that nurses have in common.

After saying goodbye, I drove Austin up to Taupo, a town on my way over to the east coast city of Napier. Napier had a really big earthquake back in 1931 which leveled its downtown. When it was re-built it primarily engaged the popular style of the time - art deco. Its buildings then are now low-rise and charming with art deco facades with lightning bolts and stars on them. Before walking around the town much, I signed myself up for the other thing Napier is famous for: its wine tours! I took a half day tour of four wineries, getting driven about by a really cute kiwi named Sasha (pictured below). I think I must have tried 40 wines, including some that I'd never heard of, e.g. Gewertsgemuller, and discovered that of the various whites I tried, I most enjoyed several Chardonnays, which were smooth, rich, and buttery. Sadly, many of the wineries in NZ are smaller, and do not distribute overseas.

At the end of the tour, we had a cheese plate, accompanied by fresh figs, that had just ripened at the third winery we visited. Yum!

After getting back, I took a walk around the town and made plans for the next day. I'm limited by having to return to Auckland for my flight down to Christchurch on the south island. If I had it go do over, I wouldn't have bought a plane ticket to Christchurch, instead paying extra for a ferry ticket to the south island from Wellington. The car would have cost a bit more, dropping off at a different city from pick up, but it would have given me more freedom to go to the souls island earlier. Also, the ferry is supposed to be beautiful. Oh well. Next time!

Instead, I chose to drive a bit north to another one of NZ's "Great Walks", the Waikaramoana Lake Track. Here's to hoping that it lives up to its hype.