Weeks 19-20: Claires family land and we hunt for kiwi!
Hi everyone, we finished work last Friday with mixed feelings. We are excited to be going travelling but enjoyed our time in Waikanae. We both got some lovely presents from our practices and hopefully will get some Kiwi visitors to Scotland!
Claires family arrived en masse and she was there to greet them all at the airport. Luckily for us the car we have is an estate so all four plus their cases just managed to fit in! Meanwhile, I was stuck in Otaki although I did go for a few beers with my supervisor so we could complete the final NZ medical council paperwork. Anyway, I met up with them in Wellington the following day as they had gone to see the Scottish in NZ exhibit at Te Papa. Strangely or coincidentally, it was the museums 10th anniversary so they had a pipe band playing outside. Just cant seem to get away from the Scottish influence!
We all stayed with Pat and Celia McCarthy who were fantastic hosts! As you can see, they get on very well and Pat produced a feast for us all.
Then they kindly took us to the ferry terminal so we could nip over to Picton and visit some more wineries. Picton is a beautiful port town as you can see from the pics:
On our wine tour we visited Villa Maria, Framingham, the wine village and Drylands. Interestingly it wasnt all sauvignon blanc but they did some nice reislings and pinot noirs also.
From Wellington we headed in convoy back to Waikanae on the hunt for the elusive kiwi. Given that they are nocturnal creatures we had to go to Nga Manu bird reserve to find one. They have a great nocturnal viewing area set up. However, on our first way through we just couldnt see any (they have 2 adults and a chick). So determined to see one, we came back on our way out and I spotted one asleep. Although it was pretty dark I first saw its beak. In the picture the head is at the bottom but you may need some convincing!
Finally we all went to Martinborough for Claire’s dad’s 65th birthday party. We toured a few wineries and had a lovely lunch and dinner. Everyone had a great time before we parted company. They head North whilst we are heading to the South Island.
The blogs may become infrequent now that we’ll be on the move. We fly to Christchurch this evening then driving around the South Island for 11 days. We fly out to Oz and start our tour there at the beginning of March. Please take care and we’ll be in touch when we can…
Love Claire and Jason Xxx
posted Tuesday February 2008