Dispelling myths

A few people said to me before I left that going to NZ would be like stepping back in time. So far that definitely hasn't been the case. They've got all mod cons. Some also said that I may find the Kiwis (the people, not the birds) annoying. I've met a few now and they've all been lovely. I don't have a bad thing to say about either NZ or its people.

What people didn't tell me is that the food and coffee in New Zealand would be out of this world. Since arriving on Tuesday I haven't had one bad cup of coffee (and we're not talking Starbucks kinda coffee here. This is proper coffee, often served in glasses. Strong and extremely well made.) And if the quality of the food continues then this blog is at risk of becoming hard core food porn, although I'm conscious that the food on the camping trip may not be something I write home about quite so much. Wait and see...

Anyway, we set off from Wellington on Thursday morning. The sun was shining and Laura and I were both excited about our little road trip. We drove through the Hutt Valley and into the Wairarapa region in Laura's little Daewoo, affectionately known as 'the Woo'. The scenery was stunning. Lots of mountains and greenery. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Lunch was at the beautiful Murdoch James winery on the outskirts of Martinborough (http://www.murdochjames.co.nz/). It was one of the most delicious meals I've had for a long time. We started with warmed olives marinated in fennel seeds and a lovely glass of Pinot Gris. For mains I had pork belly on an Asian salad (cabbage, carrot, mint, coriander, almonds, tomatoes and roasted pineapple). We shared a trio of desserts - hazelnut creme brulee, berry sorbet and lavender panna cotta. It was all very delicious and very civilised.

This area is quite different to Wellington. The vineyards are on the plain with rolling hills behind them. There were fewer cicadas, much less wind, lots of Cabbage White butterflies and it was baking hot. Too hot to sit outside for lunch. Apparently it's quite unusual to have so many hot days in March so I feel very lucky. We were talking to the lady in the winery and she said that because the summer hadn't been great, there were fewer grapes on the vines. This is both good (the nutrients are divided among fewer grapes so each grape gets more and is therefore healthier), and bad (low yields). One vineyard owner she knows has decided not to harvest his grapes this year because it wouldn't be worth his while. That must be pretty devastating and financially crippling. I've never really considered the hard work that goes into producing wine, and the many variables involved. I just drink it. Shame on me.

After resisting a glass of Murdoch James delicious Pinot Noir in favour of saving ourselves for some tastings at other wineries, we were rather disappointed to find that every winery we went to was closed. Lack of customers one lady told us. So we picked up some nice cheese, smoked salmon and a good bottle of rose in Martinborough and checked into our cottage - Villino Toscana (http://villinocottages.co.nz/toscana.html) . It was very cute and admittedly was a little like stepping back in time, but in a good way. You'd pay a lot of money to achieve the same look back home but I think it had been done with a modern eye. The only thing that perturbed us was the discovery of a 'Crackling Fire' cd. A full 60 minutes of, wait for it... crackling fire noises. Except it sounded more like a towering inferno.

Martinborough, like many of the little towns we passed, reminds me of some of the American towns you see in Westerns. Most of the buildings are made of wood and the majority of people live in bungalows. There are no high rises and the streets are much wider than those in Europe. The shops all have little porch/veranda things and everywhere is immaculate. Yet, it's not really in an old-fashioned way, as you might expect. Maybe more retro-chic. Except I think the retro bit is unintentional sometimes. It makes a refreshing change from the narrow streets and taller buildings we are used to in Europe. I guess they've got slightly more space per capita to play with over here.

Laura and I had a game of petanque and sat in the sun, the silence punctuated every few minutes by the blast of the crow scarers keeping the birds away from the vines. I was also introduced to Cadbury's Marshmallow Eggs - kind of like a Creme Egg but bigger and made with marshmallow. Laura doesn't have a television so as a special treat for her we sat down and watched New Zealand's Best Home Baker (the cupcake competition) and Project Runway, before hitting the hay after a very relaxing day.