Championship Sheep Shearing - say that fast 3 times!

In spite of the great room, we both had a sketchy night sleep and so were less than energetic heading in to Nelson. Our first stop was WOW, museum of wearable arts and classic cars. Really. A strange concept, it seemed to us. We weren’t too chuffed with the wearable art but the cars were fantastic. The giant finned caddies of the 50’s were my favorites but every vehicle in the place was immaculate and in perfect condition, with some interesting pedigrees, like the Caddie owned by a film director who drove it for years as his only car. When he died, his wife kept it in storage for 20 years until selling it to a collector.

Downtown, food perked us up a bit, then we took in the local sites, did a bit of shopping, then hiked up a “mountain” to the centre of New Zealand (see picture). Had some fun taking pictures of a couple of old girls who had forgotten their cameras. Geoff sent them via email so they would have proof that they had actually been there.

Left the south island on a rough sea crossing to Wellington. The swells were more than I like to see looking out a ferry window but we made it safely. Miles of twisting roads on the edge of precipices brought us to the town of Greytown. Our destination was Masterton but because of aforementioned sheep shearing finals, all rooms were booked, so Greytown is where we stayed. Instead of a place as dismal as the name suggests, we found the town to be lovely, well kept and amply supplied with good places to eat and stay. We had a fantastic meal at Wakelin House (click to see the menu) and engaged the proprietor in a chat that soon had me asking if we had fallen into a Monty Python skit. It turns out he was a transplanted Brit who came to NZ for the love of a woman, and took over this heritage home transformed into an upscale restaurant. We had the best meal of our trip; Geoff had alpaca (yes, alpaca), I had gurnard—the fish of the day. We were at that point fully immersed in wine country so all aspects of the meal were great! (Ed. note: Especially the fantastic bottle of Hudson Pinot Noir – I’m sure you would spend $40-$50 on it in a BC liquor store – it was $39 NZ ($33 Cdn) in the restaurant.)

We followed up today with a full day: took in a half hour of the Golden Shears World Championship Sheep Shearing event in Masterton, (Ed. note: The shearer in the photo is Pauline Bolay from Canada - she won her heat) then travelled an hour and a half down the road to Dunneverke and played golf at the local course. Cheap, cheerful and fun! Another hour and a half and we were in Napier in Hawkes Bay. Geoff easily navigated us through many narrow and circuitous roadways to our B & B, A Room With A View (Ed note: click on the name to see the B and B.). What a view it is! Windows on two sides show us the harbour and half the town, very cozy and nice. Unfortunately, we our once again experiencing terrible weather. Everyone has commented on what a terrible summer it has been, although we have been lucky in that often the worst of it has fallen at night. Tonight, for instance, it is raining buckets. The forecast is grim, though, so it is probable that our entire site-seeing adventure tomorrow will be shrouded in cloud. If the rain is only dripping and not blowing sideways, we will be happy. Napier bills itself as the Art Deco capital of the world. We will see what that is about tomorrow.

So, we have tried many NZ specialties: whitebait fritters, muscle fritters, Blue cod fish and chips, mashed kumera (like yams), green-lipped muscles, lamb pie, lamb liver, leg of lamb roast, lamb chops, and Tip Top ice cream. Lots of Tip Top ice cream (Ed. note: Not nearly enough). Lots of sauvignon blanc, merlot and pinot noir. Went to Speight’s Ale House tonight (Speight’s is the oldest brewery in NZ) and had some good beer as well.

Things we have observed about Kiwis: they seem to be a law-abiding folk. We haven’t witnessed any examples of road rage except for the woman who was a little choked with me when I accidentally cut her off, and we notice that they obey the speed limit. If anything, they seem to drive under the speed limit. All the highways have various signs against drinking and driving but also about resting, driving fresh and not taking chances, and people seem to take it to heart. Kiwis also seem to us to get as involved with us as we want. If we are friendly, they are friendly but they won’t intrude into a conversation or impose themselves in any way. Also, they do not like Aussies. Not exactly sure why but we have picked up a few negative comments here and there. Back-packing is huge here; so is anything done in the outdoors. We’ve tried to appreciate the cyclists who we’ve seen on some lonely stretch of road with miles between any place to stay—it just doesn’t look like that much fun. Can’t you just hear it—“It’ll be great! We’ll cycle along the ocean for most of it, camp on the beach; it’ll be romantic!” It seems like a great idea until the rain sets in, then you’d never convince me that they are having anything like fun. Still, we’ve seen lots and lots of cyclists in places I’d be peddling just to get out of! Possibly, we are just too old and cranky.