A Risotto Kind of Day

Shawn went scuba diving today, so I'll leave the fish tales to him. I walked about town and enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the wharf at 36 degrees. (I'm guessing that's our latitude. If I remember my 6th grade teacher correctly, longitude is the long vertical lines on the globe and latitude is the circles. Feel free to correct me.)

Pumpkin Risotto with Cashews and Fried Kale

Maori long boats getting ready for the Treaty Day celebration

In the afternoon we headed further north to Doubtful Bay. We have a cute little apartment right on the beach. The big, beautiful house next door is the owner's. He pulled a Tom Sawyer on Shawn and had him help reel in the fishing line.

The owner's lovely house on the left

Shawn reeling in the fishing line

New Zealanders are always ready to help you to your next destination

I swear I'm not making this up, but we had dinner at the Waterfront Cafe. I get it, New Zealand is an island and there's lots of water frontage, but there must be some more creative names for restaurants. Hell, name the restaurant after your dog if you can't come up with anything better.

Seafood Risotto - and it was packed with fresh seafood

Daily Ratings:
36 degrees - 4 Kiwis
Waterfront Cafe - 4 Kiwis
Golden Sand Beachfront Accommodations - 3.5 Kiwis mostly for the beach and laundry facilities

Gelato flavor: rum raisin
Steps taken = 7,184 (the last thousand on the beach outside my door)

Comments

Unknown said…

There are fish in New Zealand waters, there are also wrecks of ships in Russell. I got to see both.

February 7, 2016 at 9:35 PM

More Islands Please

As predicted, we woke up to a rainy morning, but with our handy list of wet weather activities we ventured out into the rain decked out in our quick-dry clothing, hats, umbrella for Shawn and raincoat for me. Because the north island just isn't enough island for us, we once again found ourselves on a ferry headed to the island of Russell. How often do you see a yacht with a helicopter on it? We strolled in the rain along the waterfront to the Russell Museum to learn about the Maori and European history of New Zealand. The museum includes a one-fifth scale model of Cook's ship Endeavour. The rigging is pretty amazing with numerous wooden pulleys. Next we headed to the Pompallier Mission (1841). While waiting for our tour to begin, we strolled the gardens in the rain. We were on the only brave souls, but it was worth the climb up the soggy hill. I think agapanthus are a weed here. They are everywhere...little ones grow along ...

Sounds Like a Fiord

At 7:00 AM we were standing in the rain waiting for our bus to Manapouri and our final destination of Doubtful Sound in the Fiordlands. We switched to a ferry to cross the lake, and then back to a bus to finally reach Doubtful Sound. The sound got its name when catain Cook got close to its entrance in 1770. Fearing he would not be able to sail his ship Endeavor back out, he noted that it was Doubtful. We travelled through the fiords for 3 hours. The rain was a curse and a blessing. There are only a handful of permanent waterfalls in the sound, but when it rains there are waterfalls everywhere. If it had stopped raining (which it did not), our guide said the waterfalls would be gone within 4 hours. So we had low visibility with the rain and mist but lots of waterfall sightings. The pictures do not do justice to the beauty and vastness of the fiords. You'll just have to trust us, or better yet plan a trip! We g...

Kristin Laura

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