Good morning my love,

Yesterday was just a great day, a perfect one which I will never forget, happily. Walking down the street for some breakfast knowing I will be drinking most of the day, I thought those vegetable biscuits would be perfect.

After a short wait, I was picked up by Hans (from Hungary, he has been here for about 41 years) and never looked back. With me on my tour, I was so lucky, that it was only one other couple on this tour.. Just the 3 of us. Andy and Lorraine from just outside of London.

It was an amazing story that Napier used to be an island and in the earthquake, the land was lifted 7 -8 feet up… creating the area where we were driving at that time.

The tour was amazing, we drove through the town where we received a bit of history, then we were set to Mission Estates, one of the oldest wineries here… The host (Guy) was cool as well, from outside of London not too far from where Lorreine and Andy where from they went into a wonderful conversation which I kinda was lost in translation. Lorraine, bless her heart, realized and made sure I felt part of the conversation… The wine there was great, every one tasted wonderful and when we were told that we would be back here for lunch to eat on the garden so I thought I would not buy anything now and will buy during lunch time.

Our next winery was The Church Road, the second oldest and largest winery in the area. Here we were treated with a museum tour looking at the history of the wine making here and how it was completed before all the technology… The wine was definitely different than Mission, really good in some of the makes and ok in the others. Every one has such a different tastes buds, Lorraine and I realized we have very similar and are loving the same wines… I bought one wine to bring home and we were off to the next wineries.

The next four wineries were all boutique ones which not as much inventory and definitely great tastes. Askerne was 12 tastings – holy momma.. They also had these signs, which normally I ignore cause they are so common, but one caught my eye which I just couldn’t help myself.

Most the wines were made so well, the blending and the purity of these wines are difficult to describe. After leaving with two bottles to bring home, we went to lunch at Missions Estates.

I had paid for a platter which was great, not heavy and tasted fantastic, I did have to pay for my wine glass at lunch but that was no big deal. We drank the Cabernet Franc. It was delicious and so very nice to eat lunch with my new found friends, getting to know them and listening about three journey together. It was also great and strange to share my story, what I hold dear and how I came to be here.

The next boutique winery was Brookfield’s… John the host was hilarious, had a sense of humor which I can see many people enjoy. He has been doing this for over 20 something years and to the point where we were all sitting as if we were in his living room, he had me pour for us as he somewhat but not really described the wine… Most of the time he asked about why people say the wine is dry when wine is wet… Why you want to smell the cork and taste the wine… why some of the labels are red, some are white and some are gold.. That their main export is China so the red and gold are the ones mostly bought cause of the color of the labels. He was entertaining and lovely.

Ash Ridge which had great wines just not enough to want buy any and I was thinking already of how many I have already bought.

The last winery where we also had another snack which I have to say had the best duck pate I have had in so long. They also had this butter that they called burnt butter… it was light and whipped and delicious… The bread was freshly made and it went fantastic with all the food. Oh and the wine, was amazing, deciding which ones to take home was the hardest, I was able to take a couple picture of the vineyards.

After such a wonderful day and trading contact information, I was so happy and tired. But sitting most of the day, I wanted to take another walk and needed to eat dinner. I went to Emporium again to see the cute bartender and think about where I wanted to have dinner…

I ended up talking and meeting these two amazing ladies (Catherine and Anita). Catherine lives in England and Anita in Rotorua (New Zealand). They were kind enough to invite me to join them dinner and I did. Talking to them was great… Between talking with Lorraine and Andy and now with Catherine and Anita, it was very talking day and I was grateful and blessed to have met these 4 wonderful people.

And now it is morning the next day and I have to get packing as today I return my car and enjoy Wellington for the next couple days.

Love you always,

Me