The Sushi Crawl

Some people go on pub crawls. In Wellington, well, we went on a bit of a sushi binge. I guess we found ourselves starved of good Japanese food in recent weeks, so this was the inevitable result. The plan was actually to have some 'starters' at one place (called Wasabi, owned and run by a Malaysian, with excellent soft shell crab hand rolls), then visit the local supermarket for some world-famous Bluff Oysters and some beautiful NZ beef or lamb for a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately said supermarket had no oysters, nor did the beef or lamb look particularly inspiring. So off we went to another sushi bar (this one was called Catch) for Part Two of our dinner. And while we're on the subject of crawling, Wellington sushi trains go exceptionally fast! If you look at a plate and hesitate, it'll already have passed you by. Suppose that's good for developing decisiveness...

Windy Weather in Wellington

I thought Chicago was the Windy City, but Wellington was just as bad! Gale force winds aside, we both loved it there, it was probably our favourite part of New Zealand. Well, fave part of North Island anyway. The host at our B&B laughed when I asked if we could borrow an umbrella. I guess she had visions of me doing the Mary Poppins thing and getting blown away across the ocean. Fortunately we had one lovely clear day to explore, and we made the most of it. We loved the Wellington vibes, and the Japanese food too. But that's another story...

Beaches and Vineyards

Napier's a pretty cool place, not just because of Bay Bach. After an earthquake destroyed the whole town in 1931, everything was rebuilt in the Art Deco style which was all the rage at that time. You'll also find lovely beaches and numerous wineries, including Black Barn, Mission Estate and Te Mata. Too bad we only scheduled one night there, one more would have been nice.

Bay Bach in Napier

We found ourselves a beautiful bed and breakfast place in a beautiful town. Jill and Iain have created a stylish, inspiring, eco-friendly residence in the Hawkes Bay area, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly there. They were really good hosts and also made the perfect dinner recommendation; Provedore in Ahuriri which was one of the best meals we had in NZ. Thanks for the wonderful stay, guys, and if we ever build our own home, we'll be thinking of Bay Bach...

Not the Tongariro Crossing

We had planned to do the Tongariro Crossing, which is reputed to be one of New Zealand's best one day walks, but didn't end up doing it. So we ended up doing Tongariro Lite instead! It was a two hour walk to Taranaki Falls and back, still within Tongariro National Park, but much less intense. And because we had prepared for the Crossing, we were really well-equipped, with trekking boots, daypacks, a Subway sandwich each for lunch, lots and lots of water, protein bars, nuts and more. Kinda like killing a fly with a shotgun... Babes even found the time to answer a couple of work-related calls from good old NAB in Melbourne.

Bubs and Babes in Rotorua

We're back! Spent 10 wonderful days in New Zealand, but now it's back to reality. I was going to start this post with a comment about how Rotorua stinks, but I guess that would be too obvious. Anyway, we spent one night there, and enjoyed the geyser and Maori thing at Te Puia. Food-wise, we tried the traditional 'hangi' meal but were decidedly underwhelmed...

Bubs and Babes are off on holiday!

We're off to New Zealand, for the first time in our lives. This trip never happened when we were living in Singapore as we were waiting for when we moved to Melbourne. And so we depart tomorrow on NZ8 at 12 noon, courtesy of Krisflyer. That means no posts for a while; it's fun and all to say we'll post something from every town we visit, but you and I both know that's not gonna happen... so until we return, Happy Easter everyone!

Matteo's, finally

We drive past Matteo's on our way to work every morning, and we've heard good things from a number of people. So we finally made our way there (with the lovely Kaz), taking advantage of The Age's Food and Wine Festival Express Lunch deals to indulge. $30 got us two courses plus wine and coffee, which is a pretty good deal for a place like this. Good deal aside, the food was pretty good, and so was the service. While it doesn't hurt that parking is not a problem at all. Simple pleasures lah. We'll be back. (Picture reproduced from www.yourrestaurants.com.au)

Eighty Minutes by Car

We enjoyed a leisurely Saturday lunch in the Mornington Peninsula, taking a pleasant drive down (and getting slightly lost on the way) to a lovely winery called Ten Minutes by Tractor. (The name comes from the fact that their three vineyards are all ten minutes apart by tractor. Likewise, our humble Thornbury townhouse will hereon be known as Ninety Seconds on Foot.) Anyway, I say "leisurely Saturday" but In hindsight, one of us (who shall remain unnamed to avoid embarassing her) took things a little too leisurely, and Bubs ended up twenty minutes late for his Mandarin class. I suppose that's probably a good measure of how good the food was, like the pork belly pictured here. And sorry you're not in either shot, Andrew, but we thoroughly enjoyed your company anyway.