Back on the road again - part 1.

After leaving Wanaka I was back in Springfield with Frances for a few days, to take the car 'Barry the box' back and just to get the next leg of my journey sorted. Those few days with Frances were lovely, catching up and just having a wee bit of space alone in which I was allowed to be a bit sad and emotional about leaving Wanaka.

On Saturday morning I said goodbye to Frances and Graeme (and Barry-the-box) and picked up a rental car at Christchurch airport which I drove up to Blenheim where I stayed with a friend for the night. 

On Sunday I drove up towards Nelson, and on the way I picked up a lovely hitchhiker (as I offer do, and as is the norm here in NZ. It's better than three hours of lonely driving) and what an interesting guy. Jeff, a French Canadian wine connoisseur and food enthusiast, was traveling to explore and taste wines across the southern hemisphere, we had some great conversation and idea bouncing. When I mentioned that I'd fancied doing some wine tasting while I was in this iconic NZ wine region, he suggested that since I had a car if maybe we could do one together, and since compared to me he was a total expert I thought why not, it's always cool to see an expert at work.

 What an great decision, I learnt so much this afternoon, tasted some FANTASTIC wines, and had a laugh, AND I got two FREE wine tasting cause this guy was such a great network opportunity for these vineyards! 

Two very different celler-door experiences, apparently that's  what it's  called when the tasting room is in the vineyard/onsite. Neudorf was quite small but commercial and obviously had a fair bit of money by the looks of their tasting room and bar area which overlooked the vineyards. Himmelsfeld was a far far smaller business run by one woman, an ex nurse, on her 5 acre property. She specialises in aged wines and woewee!! Never have I tried such interesting flavoured wines before! The 2007 Reisling was my favourite but slightly out of my price range. 

 I also think I made another new friend which is cool too. Haha moral of the story, trust your gut and always keep an open mind and expect the best in people as you'll usually be rewarded :)

    

  

On Monday morning I drove the car back to the definition in Picton and border the ferry for Wellington. Unfortunately it was pouring rain all day and was dark by the time I'd made the 3 hour ferry crossing. I got to the airport and picked up my second transfer car, a much nicer newer Suzuki Swift (which I didn't want to say goodbye to!!) I drove north about an hour to Plimmerton to stay the night with a friend of a friend who was wet kind to invite me into her family home. Thsnks Emma, and Wendy for putting us in touch! I arrived to a lovely plate of fish pie and veggies which had been kept warm for me. :) 

Unfortunately the drive up north over the next couple of days was equally wet and stormy, apparently I'd timed my travels with a big storm that was passing over NZ.  This mesnt s day of driving constantly in the rain (6/7 hours a day), yucky. I stopped in New Plymouth which I could have probably enjoyed had the rain desisted. I managed to get out for a quick walk in the morning through the gardens. 

The next day I drove up to Hamilton (another day of pouring rain all day!). There wasn't much to see or do in Hamilton that afternoon other than walking around, and in the process I noticed a closed museum that I checked out the next day. 

   

Since I had to have the car back in Auckland by the Thursday, I made for the airport about mid afternoon, dropped the car at the depo and headed into Auckland city by bus. It was definitely weird being back in the city having not been here since my first week in New Zealand last August. As it was still raining I just went straight to my shitty hostel and had a nap; four days of driving finally caught up and I was knackered!!