Author: Crofton77

There's so much to see and do on the way to Queenstown.
There are boutique wineries and cheese places, towns and hamlets to visit and even a museum!
The Wanaka Transport and Toy Museum to be precise. This place is amazing!!!
There are so many different things to see like three humongous great hangars of 'stuff' and then all the toys are in the main building. Have to say I was not impressed with the small Star Trek exhibit but then you can't have everything. The cars were amazing, they even had an Austin A40 Countryman – the first car we owned in Australia!!!

We spent quite a while here enjoying the trip down memory lane!

Queenstown is beautiful. It has everything for everyone. Breath taking scenery, shopping, quiet retreats and adrenaline junkie fixes. HR and I could retire here, when we win the lotto that is.

Queenstown sits on the shores of Lake Wakatipu set against the Southern Alps. Picturesque is trite when considering such a beautiful scene.

We stayed at the Heartland Hotel Queenstown and I wasn't impressed at all. The girl at reception was just short of rude and not very welcoming at all. I always feel that first impressions are important and have a huge impact on how your stay will go. The room was serviceable but directly opposite the kitchen of the restaurant so we were serenaded by the crash of crockery and cutlery as well as the chefs/staff yelling at each other over the cacophony. We were booked in for two nights and this noise was constant.

After checking in we went down the hill to check out the shopping. Walking back up the hill was almost as much fun as the Fox Glacier Terminal walk!!! Talk about steep!
We found a delightful ice cream shop on the corner near the water and walked around the beautiful gardens.
Back at the hotel we did some laundry and ordered room service for dinner. We shared some Buffalo wings, wedges and prawn twisters.
We also decided that what we had planned for our stay, an hour at the Onsen Hot Pools, was not enough so we looked at what else was available. We weren't interested in the speed boats and bunjee jumping. After a little effort on the google-ator we found a trip on the TSS Earnslaw across the lake to Walter Peak for lunch.
After a troubled night's sleep, the noise remember, we set off down the hill looking for breakfast before our cruise.
On the way down town we stopped at the Queenstown Information Centre and booked a gondola rid to the top of the mountain and decided dinner would be nice too!!

We booked into the cruise at the terminal and settled for the cafe around the corner from the boarding area for a spot of tea and toast. The Public Kitchen and Bar served a lovely cup of tea and  really special cheese rolls. The views were gorgeous.

Boarding the TSS Earnslaw was efficiently completed and our journey began.
The TSS Earnslaw is the only coal powered steam ship in the Southern Hemisphere and she is in beautiful condition – all original. There's even an actual stoker shovelling coal!! The sound and feel of the engines was almost comforting, even with the noise of the other passengers ( a full load I believe). The Captain gave commentary on the rise across. the scenery was such that there are no superlatives that would even come close to being adequate to describe it.

At Walter Peak we disembarked and wandered over to the restaurant. Now we had booked for the BBQ lunch and really had no idea what to expect….a veritable FEAST is what we got.

A splendid room set with so many choices for entree, cheeses, salads, vegetables, breads and over to the left a dessert bar to tempt the most jaded taste! But we had come for BBQ and BBQ we got! Chicken, pork, beef and lamb all beautifully prepared and succulent to the taste. New Zealand meat has a sweeter taste than Australian.
HR had a beer and I had a glass of bubbles and we literally tried everything. We were stuffed. Then we went back for seconds……..
After lunch we waddled around the gardens and then watched a sheep dog exhibition followed by a shearing display.
The trip back on the TSS Earnslaw was not as noisy as the trip out.

We lumbered back up hell hill to the hotel and rested for a little before toddling off again for the gondola ride and dinner.

I love this gondola it scared the crap out of me as it took off I swear we were going to  hit the mountain!! On reflection we should have done the luge rides as well…next time.

March in Australia is still very warm. March in NZ is cooler and damper but at no time did we feel really cold Thankfully the rain confined itself to the days we were driving except at Franz Josef..

The roads in New Zealand's South Island are pretty good. Lots of road repairs going on in a timely manner and not impacting travel times too much. Mostly one lane either way with odd little slow bays and some overtaking lanes. The traffic is not heavy and….get this… if a vehicle is slow and holding up traffic they will find a safe place to pull over and let that traffic pass them!!!!!
After playing dodgem cars on the Warrego Highway for 18 years I was astounded by this courtesy!!!

The trip to Nelson was, once again, through some gorgeous scenery and uneventful.  We stopped by Picton for breakfast at the Seabreeze Cafe an Bar. While we watched the Picton ferry ply its trade to the North Island we ate divine French Toast with streaky bacon, banana and maple syrup (me) and Wairau Valley Free Range Eggs and streaky bacon (HR). Delicious food with awesome views.

After a stroll down the main street we continued our journey to Nelson.

HR and I are not huge fans of Nelson it just didn't 'feel' right for us.We did a little shopping and bought some pastries for lunch then moseyed on over to that night's accommodation.

We stayed at the Grand Mercure Nelson Monarco and received an upgrade on arrival. A visually appealing set up looked like a typical English Green surrounded by houses.

The rooms were very comfortable and beautifully appointed comprising a sitting room, kitchenette, huge bedroom and spacious bathroom.

So from Kaikoura it was off to Blenheim – winery country! A beautiful scenic meander that took a little longer than we thought courtesy of the earthquake. Here we stayed at the Scenic Hotel Marlborough. A well situated hotel with lovely rooms and the wonderful Mondrians restaurant.

After checking into the Hotel we wandered off to have a look at Blenheim. A beautiful town with gorgeous gardens set out on an easy to navigate grid. There are no traffic lights in Blenheim, traffic control is via roundabouts. I think I could live in Blenheim, I really do.

After having a stroll round we dined at Mondrian's. What a lovely meal! I had the Seafood Chowder – Traditional style chowder with manuka smokes local fish king salmon and green lipped mussels, served with warm bread. What a delicious soup with so much warm bread. So good I had it again the next night. HR had 5 Spice Pork Belly – with orange ginger glaze, sesame parsnip mash and Asian slaw. To complete the meal we had the New Zealand Cheese Board – a selection of cheeses and died fruits with honeycomb an it was here that we were first introduced to Puhoi Cheese. Some of the most delicious cheeses I have ever tasted were on that platter including a smooth, soft creamy blue cheese that even HR enjoyed. In fact he enjoyed t so much he ate most of it. Who'd've thunk ? He who eats no blue cheese gorging himself on blue cheese!!!!!! A glass or two of  Vidal Estate Sauvignon Blanc to wash it all down with and voila!!!

A good night's sleep on a very comfy bed and it was time to do The Winery Tour!!!I have to say that the wineries included were well set up and very professional in their presentations.

We boarded a mini bus at 11:00 and with 12 others we trundled off to explore six of the finest wineries in the Marlborough Region.

We started at Spy Valley and after an informative spiel from the knowledgeable young lady looking after our group we commenced our tasting with a Pinot Gris 2016, the a Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Riesling Envoy 2012 and then a Pinot Noir 2014. I enjoyed the wines here they were fresh and fruity not too sweet and the red was most palatable. I generally don't like reds at all!!
I am in no way a wine buff but I would be happy to drink these wines regularly!!

Back into the bus and off to Framingham Winery .
Here we were escorted into a cellar for our tasting and it was very atmospheric with wine racks and barrels and historical memorabilia Again we tried , in no particular order, a Select Riesling 2016, Classic Riesling 2014, Pinot Gris 2015, Sauvingon Blanc 2015 and a Pinot Noir 2014. The whites were a little dryer for my taste but the Pinot Noir was really rather good!!!

Next stop was St Clair wines for more tasting and lunch. Seriously, the lunch was awesome but to my untrained palate the wines were vinegary. We dined at the Vineyard Kitchen and HR and I shared a platter A Celebration of Marlborough – with all produce sourced locally. Home made salmon gravlax, Marlborough mussels, Premium Game salami, home made wild game terrine,local olive, home made dip, garlic noir and home made bread. Every mouthful totally delicious!

So many delicious tastes and textures and some really good company!!

From here the wines start to get blurry lol

Giesens was the next port of call and we tried the usual assortment of wines none of which stood out to me. I wonder if that is because we got desensitised as we went along.

Allan Scott wines was the penultimate winery and as well as the usual suspects there were a couple of quirky little numbers including some experimental wines they were toying with.

Whitehaven wines was the last winery and honestly by now HR and I are totally wined out. We declined the tasting session and went to get ice cream at a little shop called Sweet Treats at The Vines Village.

Our final port of call on this delightful excursion was the Makana Confections Boutique Chocolate Factory……what a perfect conclusion to a wonderful tour. Of course we bought some 'samples' including Macadamia Orange Biscotti, a selection of truffles and Macadamia Butter Toffee Crunch. The butter toffee crunch was the pick of a fabulous bunch and it is totally addictive.

Finally we were dropped back at the hotel and after an hours 'rest' it was dinner time and off to Mondrian's we went. Seafood Chowder for moi and HR chose Honey Stung Chicken Salad – tender roasted chicken thigh with a honey, sweet chili and lime glaze served with seasonal dressed greens and steamed vegetables. Naturally we had cheese afterwards. No wine tonight I drank Scotch and HR was drinking Speights Beer (more about that in another blog).

After a full day we slept well and arose in a timely manner for our journey to Nelson……..

A few years ago HR and I thought we might like to go to New Zealand, specifically the South Island.
We thought we'd fly in, hire a car and drive around the island stopping in major towns and doing some fun things- wine tours, brewery tours, glacier walks etc.Life got in the way and we shelved the idea.

Last year we revisited the idea, engaged a travel consultant and created an itinerary, checked the cost and booked the trip for March 2017.

We flew into Christchurch on a sunny afternoon in March, breezed through Customs and went to pick up our hire car. The car is an older model fairly comfy but……..no aircon!!! not even a fan!! So we asked the young lady for another car and she sent us to the depot. At the depot the nice young man upgraded us to a newer car with working aircon. In the words of the Mini Brat it was an 'obnoxious as fuck piece of shit' Mitsubishi Lancer. It was a comfy little car that did the job asked of it.

We needed to get a few things from the shops on the way to the hotel so we navigated our way to Northlands shopping centre Christchurch to grab supplies. A very useful little centre indeed and prices weren't too bad either.

We stayed at the Heartland Hotel Cotswold a quaint hotel with a Tudor theme. A gorgeous set of rooms with a huge bathroom and extremely comfy beds. I do recommend this a a great place to stay.
We arrived a little too late to attend the restaurant so we ordered room service. What a delicious repast we had. I chose the Seafood Taster – Maple marinated scallop wrapped in NZ bacon with lemon pepper hollandaise. Salmon mousse with salmon jerky. Garlic and chilli fried calamari with garlic aioli. Beautiful bites of taste and texture and the salmon jerky was awesome.
HR had the Chicken Shnitzel Burger – Chicken, garlic roasted field mushrooms, apricot chutney, lettuce, tomato and Barry's Bay Havarti cheese in a Turkish bun. Hand cut fries and garlic aioli
Now mine was an entree size but HR's meal was a normal main – it was humongous!!! and the hand cut fries were bloody amazing!!

We had Barry's Bay Cheese Platter to finish with – A selection of local cheeses from Barry's Bay. Crackers, sliced apple, toasted nuts, and home grown quince paste. Our first taste of the local cheese. Now I am going to make special mention of blue cheese – HR loathes blue cheese but now and then I get him to taste some and this reinforces his loathing………for the nonce

We had a great nights sleep and were looking forward to a quick trip up the road to Kaikoura for the next leg of our South Island exploration. That was until I mentioned our destination to the concierge and he informed us that the road we wanted was out of commission due to the earthquake in late  
2016. What would have been a 90 minute trip became a 6 hour journey through some of the most magnificent scenery!!! Unfortunately the next stage of the journey, to Blenheim, should only have been a couple of hours but with the road closure this was going to be a 6  hour journey. This meant that the Whale Watching tour we had booked at Kaikoura was not going to happen as it finished at 1530 and then we would have six hours on unknown roads in the dark. The Tour company offered a refund which was pretty darned nice of them.
At Kaikoura we stayed at the Alpine Pacific Motel in a basic but comfy room and we went to Coopers Catch for fish and chips. The batter was light and crispy, the fish fresh and tasty and the chips…aah the chips a veritable symphony of fried potatoes!!

Another good night's sleep and we were off to Blenheim!!!! (see the upcoming blog The Land of the Long White Cloud – Blenheim)

Quick recap: HR and I are away for the weekend and so far so good (see To the Manor Born Blog).

It's Saturday morning and we've just had breakfast at Hampton Court. Up to now HR has been reasonably communicative. Seriously if HR didn't have shoulders he would NOT be able to communicate – shrugs once for yes and shrug twice for no.
Anyway, thus far, 0945, and all is well. 0955 and he has ignored me (reckons he didn't hear me, old mongrel is going deaf too it seems) and we get into the car cos we are off to Rutherglen, apparently its a food and wine zone. Only 45 minutes down the road so not all day in the car.

On the way out of Albury, down the main street and what do we see in the park? Oh YES a Triumph Rally! Heaps of the classic little cars of all models……

HR and I browsed the cars for a little while and I engaged a perfectly lovely Nanna in chat. HR was not very forthcoming about the cars when I got back to him.
After we looked at the lovely cars it was time to resume the trip to Rutherglen.

For the next 45 minutes I try to engage the curmudgeonly HR in conversation and get donuts, zip, zilch, nada, Sweet FA.
I get a little agitated as most women would under the circumstances. So when he asks ME a question I ignore him. I ignored him only one time, not multiples like he has me, oh no just once and he lights up like a Christmas tree, huffing and puffing like a freaking steam train!!!!!!!
So he asks again did I want to go to Brown Brother's winery (another 45 mins down the road, remember I didn't want to spend all bloody day in the car) and I tell him to please himself (with a few expletives for good measure) and remain totally silent for the whole time it takes to get there.
We duly arrive at the winery and he asks if we are getting out and I let him have it with both barrels!!
How on earth could he expect I would want to go into the winery ?
We sat in the car park for 30 minutes and 'discussed' the issues. Then we left.
By the time we left we had come to an accord.
We would revisit the winery next time we are in the region (Feb 17)
We would go and find some food (emotional outbursts make one very hungry)
We would enjoy the rest of the afternoon
and we did…..
We grabbed some schnitzel burgers from Schnitz and went to the Botanical Gardens in Albury for a picnic. It was lovely in the gardens, a tad breezy and the food was decent.
HR lived in the region when he was a youngster and he indicated it would be cool to have a wander down memory lane.
Off we went to Bandiana. We saw where he went to school and the vacant land where his house had stood.
On the way out we noticed a sign for the Bonegilla Migrant Experience and HR obligingly turned off the main road for me to have a look.
Now almost fifty years ago I arrived in Australia from the 'Mother' country and as Dad was joining the Royal Australian Air Force  we were promptly housed at the Smithfield Migrant Hostel in South Australia (recruit training was done at RAAF Base Edinburgh in the 'old' days). Visiting the Bonegilla Migrant Experience reminded me of the months we spent in that drab establishment before we were sent to Norlane Migrant Hostel when Dad had to go to Victoria for his category training after recruits.
Norlane had Nissan huts unlike the other two hostels that had barracks. While we had our own 'rooms' we used communal bathrooms and eating halls. It was very thought provoking wandering through the buildings and recalling things I hadn't thought of for many years.
The last port of call for the afternoon was the Hume Weir.

Awesome scenery!!!!! and apparently a popular place for Brides to have wedding shots taken.
By now it is time to go back to our fabulous hotel and get ready for dinner…
Dinner at Miss Amelie………

HR and I have been gallivanting about the countryside yet again.
I finished early on Friday and fled the Crypt with indecent haste, got home, packed a bag, grabbed a traveller and HR and off we went.

It's my birthday next week and we will both be working so we figured we'd take this weekend and go do some birthday type stuff.

I decided I wanted to go to Miss Amelie for dinner and that we should stay somewhere nearby so we could grab a cab and both be able to enjoy a drink with dinner. So Albury/Wodonga was our destination.
Three hours into a four hour drive I mentioned coffee to HR and we promptly pulled into Holbrook.
Now I may have mentioned J&B Cafe in Holbrook as being an excellent purveyor of Eggs Benedict and entirely drinkable tea and it is to this establishment we made a beeline only to find them closed.
So HR executed a quick U turn and we moseyed on in to the Holbrook Bakery.
Well what a bloody revelation!! They have almost any baked good you could desire and it all made on the premises.There are prize certificates proudly displayed in the window for their pies.
They have THE most divine Apple Crumble and the columbine donut thingy HR had  was filled with delicious custard and Chantilly cream and was very very very decadent.

Then HR spotted the Wagon Wheels. These Wagon Wheels are freaking ginormous!!!

We bought two for spares on the Sportage and trundled off to our weekend destination (The Wagon Wheels are delicious by the way).

We have stayed in various hotels throughout the Albury/Wodonga area and while they are all good clean places I wanted something different.  I decided to use the TripAdvisor app on my phone to have a look – and found the Albury Manor House.  What an awesome place! ” The Albury Manor House is a truly individual 4 star boutique establishment that offers character and warmth in an English Tudor Style”  Reception has two suits of armour, each a different knight. The restaurants are Elizabethan themed ( we had breakfast at Hampton Court) and the room we stayed in was called Queen Elizabeth I Suite.

A beautiful King size four poster in a huge room with comfy lounging chairs and a cute little tea table and chairs, beautiful bedside cabinets and credenza, and a generous size bathroom with a spa. A range of pillows was provided and even though HR and I bring our own pillows, HR used the hotel pillow and was well pleased. The bed was really comfortable. The best thing? The MOST sensible thing? The thing that really will have us coming back again? There were FOUR, yes FOUR, towels in the bathroom. The women get it……

 HR and I do not get up early when we travel and so it was almost nine before we chose to break our fast.
Breakfast at Hampton Court was a buffet affair and well provisioned. A choice of warm croissant, English muffins or toast with all the condiments one could wish for as well as yoghurt and fruits, cereals AND they even had my green tea with Jasmine.
Hampton Court overlooks the swimming pool and the sound of the water fall was very pleasant.
The Albury Manor hotel is a very popular wedding venue and they even have their own stretch limmo!! We decided that rather than share a dining room with pre wedding guests we would forage afar and eat in our room. Hopefully we can try some of the restaurants next time (February next year I have made an executive decision!) and of course Saturday night we went to Miss Amelie.

Stayed tuned for the next Blog where we discuss the discussion (screaming argument) outside Brown Brothers Winery and other interesting Saturday events…….