Thursday, February 12, 2009
Today we say goodbye to the North Island. In reflection, it was laid back. Everyone thought we had packed too much into the planning, but it turned out just fine. We had plenty of time to fill in with ad-hoc side trips and take things in at a leisurely pace. As we reflected, another day in Hawkes Bay (Napier or Hastings) would have been good. Taupo was great with the volcanic lake, hot springs, Huka Falls and cool city centre. Rotorua was no where as smelly as forecasted, and our afternoon of Zorb, dining al fresco at Seismic Gastrobar, watching kayakers at Tutea’s Falls made for good experiences. So, subtracting a day in Martinborough and adding back a day in Hawkes Bay would have worked.
We headed down to Wellington to take the ferry over to the south island. We arranged for a few hours in order to take in the Wellington city centre, but the weather went from light drizzle to constant rain. After walking for several blocks, we took refuge in a corner café and had some snacks. Mike had a huge Semosa for breakfast, which caused us to learn that Mike and curry do not mix well according to Rita. Losing most of the morning to rain we headed to the ferry terminal, which was a small adventure onto itself. We searched most of downtown Wellington until we finally found a gas station. Once we completed this task, we finally made it to the ferry terminal.
After checking in and waiting for what felt like hours, the ferry arrived back from the south island and unloaded. When we were finally allowed to board, a chaotic mass of cranky people all attempted to board the vessel simultaneously. Once aboard we followed a line of people up to the second deck. Now chaos. As people arrived on the upper deck there appeared to be confusion and disappointment. There was very little up here other than a small atrium with two small tables, a cubby with a few small desks (like contractor cubes), two doors that went to observation decks, a door that went to the executive lounge and another door that went to a “trucker” lounge. People were discombobulated and began fumbling their way back down the stairs through the line of people. Troy’s like, “what’s wrong with this spot?” We were fortunate in that in all this chaos no-one went to occupy the table and chairs, and we were lucky enough to grab a small, round table with 4 quite comfortable chairs in a somewhat small, private area of the boat.
We settled into this bounty with our carry-on and watched as more people came up the stairs and went back down the stairs. The atrium had a glass ceiling and the observation decks were steps away from our table. We finally set sail and were on our way to what we knew would be a very different adventure in the south island. Rain and fog precluded us from enjoying the scenes so we opened our chilly bag carry-on and proceed to eat cheese, chocolate and drink wine. The trip is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 hours, but all we know for sure is 4 people can down 3 bottles of wine while traveling between the North and South islands .
After the boat trip, we picked up the car and headed to our hotel, the Marlborough Vintners’ Hotel (MVH). The rooms were very large and nicely appointed. Upon arrival, the weather continued to be rainy and cold, which was quite unexpected and quite uncharacteristic for summer. I couldn’t figure out how to work the ventilation system and how to change from air conditioning to heat. Luckily, we had heated mattress pads in the bedroom.
For dinner we went to Herzog Winery’ Restaurant. We were greeted wonderfully with an aperitif and some mixed nuts. The host that greeted us then explained the menu including a 3 or 5 course prix fix menu. Although Troy thought better of it, he went along with Rita and Mike and me and had the 5-course dinner with wine parings. The wine and food were outstanding! Unfortunately, the evening turned sour for Troy as the third course had already put him over the top. This was probably not the best of nights to go here considering all of the wine we drank on the boat and then the amount of wine we had to drink with the menu pairings. Rita and I were having a blast and became quite boisterous. Upon departing a gentleman stopped us as we exited the dining room. Having overheard much of the girls’ discussion, he paused to say he overheard the talk about our lot in Sea Ranch and that we were from Wisconsin. Turns out he lives in Sea Ranch and was originally from Whitefish Bay, WI. How small can this world be?
