Usually at this time of the year you would find us on foreign adventures. This is the time where we take off from Aotearoa to somewhere new. Alas this year our passports were shackled by COVID and the limits that is has placed on the World. Lance had suggested a few of our favourite New Zealand haunts but I whined to him that I wanted to go somewhere new like we always do at this time of year.
And that is why I am nestled in puffy white sheets in a boutique hotel in Martinborough.
Martinborough is located abut an hour north east of Wellington in the Wairarapa region. I had no idea where it was or anything about it, and felt ever so slightly stupid when every time I mentioned this holiday destination people replied “Oh I love Martinborough, you will love the wine and the shopping”. It appears to be a best kept secret, but not for much longer.
The flight from Wellington went smoothly, well as smoothly as any flight is when you are landing in Wellington which is notoriously bumpy. Our car hire company was not manned and unbeknown to us we had to walk ‘quote’ a short 350 metres. In reality it was 800 metres which in the scheme of things is not far at all. However it would have been nice to have been informed. Feedback will ensue.
Once we were out of Wellington Central we enjoyed the beautiful scenery that New Zealand offers pretty much at every turn. The day was a little bleary but without rain and the climb up the Remutaka Range was breathtaking.
Arriving in Martinborough we found our way to the Martinborough Hotel which is located in the town square. This hotel was built in 1882. Now I know that overseas readers may be thinking that is fairly modern, but in New Zealand it is pretty old. Our room is in a side building known as the ‘Petit Hotel’ and has an olde world charm about it. Our room is upstairs with lovely old sash windows and an adequate balcony with views over the valley.My only concern is that the shower is above the beautiful claw foot bath and it has only a rain forest shower head. Now I know many of you love these but I always feel like I am about to drown, and I don’t always want to get my hair wet. Even with my trusty shower cap the water still manages to find it’s way in.
Before leaving we had our usual packing debate over which suitcases we should take. Lance’s view is that we take as smaller bag as possible and mine is that we need space in case we buy stuff. I say in case but I really mean ‘when I buy stuff’. Anyway we took seperate cases, mine being that larger version with plenty of space, and on arriving I found that I had packed all of our spare packing cells in stead of putting them back in the cupboard! At least they don’t weigh much.
Dinner had been booked at the Hotel and when we got downstairs it was pumping. We were very lucky to nab a couple of seats at the bar to imbibe before dinner. I don’t know how many were visitors to the town and how many were local, but it was a mixed bunch with a nice atmosphere.
Of course we ordered way too much for dinner, everything looked so good that we didn’t want to miss out. Lance started with whitebait fritters which he said were great. He even ate all of the salad! I had snapper ceviche which was also lovely and a nice light start to the meal.
Lance had already drooled over the menu before we left Auckland and had pretty much decided that he needed the sausages in mash. I chose the mushroom risotto and it really was great. I have been disappointed with mushroom risotto many times but this had so much flavour with big slices of meaty mushrooms lording over the rest. Why on earth we got fries, beans with shaved parmesan and a caprese salad I’ll never know. We struggled to finish our mains and my risotto was entree size! We didn’t even have desert which is a very rare occurrence for me.
After a wander around the square we sank into our bed and slept like babies.
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