Auckland and wine country

Day at sea –

Did absolutely nothing! Truly……wandered around the ship and took in a treatment at the spa – body scrub with back, neck and foot massage. Then had to get dressed for dinner….really taxing day.

But I do get up relatively early since dad gets up – so I still feel a bit tired. With two days at sea coming up, I think I’ll be able to catch up on rest.



Last day in NZ

Docked in Auckland today – ANZAC day today so there will be parades with their rememberance today. We are off on a full day on the Matakana Wine Trail. There are about 80 of the ‘cruisers’ on this tour and it’s a lovely day to go out into the countryside. Plus we haven’t seen any of the countryside from land as we have spent our days wandering the cities. So won’t get a chance to experience Auckland this time – but surely going try some the wines of the region!

Matakana is one hour north of Auckland so it’s pretty easy access. First stop is Ascension vineyard and café. It’s actually pretty busy since it’s a national holiday and all cafes add an extra 15% onto the bill since it is a holiday. Supposedly it helps to pay for the wages for the day since employees get time and half – or at least that was what we were told.

It was a very informal wine tasting and no tour given of the facilities which I was surprised about. Just getting everyone into a large room and we tasted four wines and the port. Nothing particularly special really - a pinot gris, a chardonnay, rose and a cab merlot mix. The port was the most interesting and we’ve purchased a little bottle to partake during this ‘epic voyage’.

The landscape was beautiful around the countryside. Very green and lush.

Then off to a ceramic shop which sold beautiful pieces, but so heavy that I couldn’t purchase anything. One plate must have weighed seven pounds – easily. But the designs were beautiful. The shop was call Duncan & James. The website is:

Then on to an old fashioned museum with very old kauri trees outside. The oldest one was 800 years old and it was majestic and very impressive. There was another one that was 600 years old, but when compared next to the other one, it looked so young in comparison. It was wonderful to touch something that has been alive for so long and very humbling.

Then on to the next vineyard – Ransom Wines. The setting was more beautiful than the last vineyard and they served local cheeses with the wines. We tried five wines – another pinot gris, chardonnay, rose, claret and cab mix – and the cheeses were lovely with the wines. A very good cheddar….yum! the display of the cheeses was on a board created from the oak barrels – very elegant. Yet another thing that would have been great, but not practical in terms of weight and space.
Then back to the ship. We made reservations at one of the two speciality restaurants on board that you have to pay extra for….we went to the Italian one which wasn’t bad. I couldn’t eat all the food – especially after the rich day of wine tasting. But it was good to not have to be ‘on’ for our usual table of nine people. We have a nice group of diners at our table but 28 days of eating together….sometimes a break is needed.