Month: February 2013

February 2013

Just inland from Kerikeri is the Marsden Estate, the biggest and fanciest winery in the Northland area.  The tasting area and shop share the estate building with a fine restaurant, and outside are beautifully manicured grounds with seating alcoves where you can enjoy a glass of wine and admire the scenery.

After strolling around the grounds, we went inside so I could do a wine tasting (Rich opted out today).  They had a beautiful tasting area set up, and you could taste as many wines as you wanted with no fee, which is generous in that they make a lot of different wines.  But tasting fees have never been relevant to me anyway in that there are always at least one or two wines amid the “that’s good” and “very nice” that get the response: “that one’s coming home with us!”  I’m not sure we’ve ever left a winery with fewer than 2 bottles.

So it was a surprise as I tasted wine after wine that nothing was standing out—I’ve never had this happen.  It’s not that the wines weren’t good; they were fine.  But wines from wineries tend to start at $18USD, so for that price “good” isn’t good enough,  I want special!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t finding anything special and started to wonder how I could exit gracefully without buying anything.  I wasn’t obligated, but I couldn’t help it; I felt guilty. Then I spotted a nice-looking rose on sale for about $10USD and bought that.

We never did get back to try the restaurant, but I hear it’s very good.  I won’t ever be wine shopping here (the rose was nice but not special), but it’s such a pretty setting that I’d go back to have a glass of wine by the pond. –Cyndi

On any given walk through New Zealand forest, whether it’s native brush, pine, or sub-tropical, you will probably see these birds.

They are small birds about the size of a sparrow, and they are in near-constant movement, flitting about like butterflies. Their most striking feature is their tails, which they spread out like small fans when they land, probably for balance or for show.

It seems when we humans walk on a path, we stir up small insects that these birds like to eat. The result is the charming sight of these beautiful little birds flitting about as you walk and making their little fans as they land on nearby branches.

Watching them is wonderful, but trying to get a good snapshot is maddening. It took us two seasons and many blurry pictures to finally catch one with its tail fanned out.  Here they are, our favorite (and only decent) fantail photos. –Cyndi

February 22, 2013

I must apologize that I lag so behind with the posts, but cruising can be a surprisingly time-consuming activity and blog posting always has to come second to seeing and doing. In the past I have declined sundowner  invitations in favor of working on the blog, but I’ve come to realize it’s a shame to miss out on the now in favor of writing about things that have already happened. (And I won’t even go into the friend who opted out of an amazing waterfall excursion in order to update his blog.)

I do keep a journal and take a lot of photos; so when the time comes to write a post I have a good record of the place and events.

I will admit I kind of like being behind for a couple of reasons. The first is that in going through our pictures (and re-reading my journal), I’ll be reminded of things I’d forgotten about, often delightful things, and it’s fun for both of us to re-live them in making the blog post.

The second is in knowing what’s going to happen, I can write about things that seemed small at the time but turned out to be important, and leave out “big deals” that were long-forgotten a day later and irrelevant. The blog then becomes less of a journal and more of a story.-Cyndi

December – March, 2013 and April 28, 2013

One all to frequent Northland sight is dead possums along the roadside.  There are a lot of them here, and apparently they have no talent for crossing the highway in a timely manner.  We soon found out no one sheds any tears over this as possums are not native to New Zealand.  Somehow they came over from Australia, and their introduction (along with stouts, rats and weasels) was a disaster for a few species of native birds, some of which remain only on offshore islands.  The parklands all have programs to trap and eliminate these animals, but they still roam freely in the countryside.  From the looks of the numbers alongside the road come morning, it doesn’t look like they’ll be eradicated anytime soon.

One thing we noticed about these possums is that they, unlike North American possums, are beautiful animals.  I wanted a picture of one, but that was unlikely as they are nocturnal and shy.  I got the idea that maybe I could find one in good shape along the road and get a picture of that.  After all, most of them don’t actually get squashed.  And so our quest began to find the attractive “squashed” possum.  For weeks we’d drive and whenever I saw a possum coming up I’d say, “Squashed possum,” and then give my verdict on it as we passed.  Unfortunately it was always, “Squashed possum . . . unattractive.”  Unattractive meant we’d drive on.  Our holy grail was the attractive squashed possum.

Time came and went and we never found an attractive one.  We went cruising down the coast, ending up far south in Tauranga, south of Auckland, along with our car brought down by our friend Robin.  We gave up on the possum picture.  But then in April, we went back north for a cruising seminar in Opua and spent the night.  The next morning as we headed south, I could see a possum fast approaching.  “Squashed possum . . . . . Attractive!”  Rich whipped a quick U turn on the highway and we zoomed back to see that indeed we had found what we’d sought for so long, the attractive squashed (actually not squashed) possum.

We must have looked very strange, our car parked on the side of the highway, taking photographs of a dead possum.  I can imagine the Kiwis shaking their heads at some of the crazy things tourists do.  We got our photos and now can show that those Australian possums are very cute, even if they are better off remaining in Australia. –Cyndi

February 21, 2013

One neat thing about New Zealand is that on any given road trip you’re likely to stumble on some wonderful little cafe in the middle of nowhere.

On the drive from Auckland to the Bay of Plenty, that cafe is Woodturner’s Cafe.  It’s a lovely little place out in the countryside, in the farmlands of Waikato.  Their remote location does not stop them from having excellent coffee drinks, bakery goodies and great food in general.  (In fact they serve surprisingly great smoked salmon.)

It’s right on the highway and easy to spot.  Even if you’re not hungry, it’s worth stopping in for a coffee drink and to see the place. –Cyndi