Week 4 - Wine Tasting in Waipara

We kept it local this past week and spent time around Christchurch. Kids had a normal week of school and we had some nice weather! Saturday was the only rainy and cool day, which we easily filled with some indoor pool time! 

Monday:

We biked to Hagley Park Cafe for lunch and soaked up the abundant flowers around the park.

Tuesday

Jay and I checked out the University Club - only open to faculty. It has beautiful grounds and full bar. We met a really lovely bar tender, Henrietta, who is going on a college exchange next school year and will be living in Montana. She was great and gave us a private tour of the club! 

Can you believe I'm a member of this exclusive club?

Wednesday

Kids and I hiked Sign of the Takahe to Sign of the Kiwi (4 mile round trip hike in port hills) with an ice cream reward at the top! We've been listening to "The Ringer" podcast that discusses each of Taylor's albums...we listened to the one about Fearless on this hike :) 

Thursday

We biked to dinner - our first sushi experience in NZ. We found an area about 5 minutes away that has loads of Asian shops, restaurants, markets, etc. Dinner was delicious - they had a pretty limited sushi menu, but the salmon blew us away. No tuna on the menu, which was different. Kids both got California rolls, and Jay and I shared assorted Nigiri, Sashimi and a spicy salmon roll. Finn and Jay were still hungry after all that, who's surprised, so they shared a fried chix sushi roll. It was different (gross) and not something I'd order again. I think it's safe to say sushi is best left for what it was intended for-fish! 

Friday

I surprised the kids with a trip to the Christchurch Adrenalin Forest. It might have been too much surprise and adrenaline for Finn - lol. We drove about 25 min. to Spencerville to get to the park. The adrenaline forest is essentially a high ropes course in a forest that's along the beach. The guide gave us a quick tutorial on how to clip our selves on the lines and use our trolley to zip when we got to a zipline. Then we could choose whatever courses we wanted to do and go at our own pace - which I loved! All three of us successfully completed course 1b, and 2, but when we attempted course 4 things turned south for Finn. 

It was a higher course with more challenges. Let's just say there was lots of overreacting and screaming and tears from Finn. When the fear takes over Finn, there's nothing like his reactions (as many of you reading this probably know). I was having flashbacks to when we were skiing last winter and followed Jason into some tree runs off the top of Panoramic...Finn had an epic freak out at one point and shouted, "I didn't know Jason was going to try and kill me today!!" hahaha. Anyways, I talked Finn through some of the scarier parts on the ropes course and tried to remain cool and patient, which I accomplished about 70% of the time. Maggie, of course, killed it at the adrenaline forest and was scurrying around the course like a little squirrel. 

Friday evening was our first social outing for beers with Jay's office mate, Wylie, and his family.  Our families met at the University of Canterbury Club (UCC). It was so nice to socialize with other adults who are having a similar experience. Wylie is also an Erskine fellow and he is on a sabbatical. They are living a parallel life to us and going to Toulouse next! They'll be there December 1 - March 1, so we'll overlap for a month with them. They were very nice and easy to talk to, and they have an adorable two year old, Mara. Maggie and Finn found another brother and sister at the club and played with them the entire time we were there. They ran around in the gardens and near the stream, then played hide and seek in and out of the homestead at the club. It was really nice for them to interact and play with other kids! 

The Ilam gardens next to the UCC - my new favorite place to take my daily walk! 

 
getting ready to play hide n seek

 

Saturday

Lots of rain and a cool day - we hit an indoor rec center with a great pool and hydroslide for the kids. Jay and I worked in the cafe. We love how everywhere we take the kids, there's always a nice cafe for us to hang in. 

The slide starts and ends in the indoor pool

Sunday - WINE day

The main event! We drove north to Waipara, a wine region about 45 min. away, to do some wine tasting! The first place we went to was called Black Estates. We drove up a gravel road past several vines and ended at a black farmhouse (the tasting room and restaurant). Grazing sheep roamed next to us on a hillside where we parked the car. Jay and I got a tasting here of six wines--three whites and three reds. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were our faves and we bought a couple of bottles to take home. I forgot how impressive the wine making process can be and how there are so many variables to making the wine, from the soil to the age of the grapes to the climate. This winery had three different vineyards on their land that all yield different tasting wine even though they are so close to each other! 

I smell cherries with hints of vanilla and smoke 

Pegasus Bay: The next winery was amazing!! Pegasus Bay is absolutely beautiful! 

I think the pictures can do it better justice than I can describe it

First, enter the delicatessen where you pick all your goodies...

Next, have the winery prep your food in a glorious picnic basket, don't forget to order some wine...

Grab a picnic blanket, sunhat, sunscreen, or a wool blanket on your way outside...

Finally, pick the perfect spot to drink and eat...

ENJOY!!

Kids had fun rolling down the hillside and running back up over and over and over and over!

The winery gave the kids raw meat to feed the eels in the lake - you could feed them right off the fork. I tried to be brave and do it, but once I saw that eel actually pop its head out, I wussed out big time! 

Some snapshots of the Japanese Garden at Pegasus Bay