Martinborough NZ 10 January 2021

 After a lovely sleep in, we wandered across the road to the Village Cafe and Bar for breakfast. As we had been stuffing ourselves silly we decided on a light breakfast. Lance chose a cheese scone which came hot with butter and me some granola with yogurt and stewed local apricots. It was really lovely and we decided that we would come again tomorrow before we take off for Wellington. Postscript: their site said they opened at 8am however when we got there they said that they didn't open until 9am so no second visit for us.

Today's adventures would take us back to Greytown for a spot of shopping and that is just what we did.  Lance said that he would not wander with me and would have a look around then sit and people watch. This aligned perfectly with my needs and we set off down the main road separately. Greytown is an old country town where the main street has it all. It is Wairarapa's oldest town (est.1854) and is lined with quaint wooden Victorian buildings. These buildings now house cafes, restaurants, craft, homeware, and boutique clothing. Unusual for us but Lance had made two purchases before I had given my credit card an airing. Although one of his purchases was for me. I had a lovely time popping in and out of stores and managed quite a little haul by the time I met up with Lance two hours later. Whilst he had been waiting he had been chatting to another patient husband who told him that the pub at Ahiarue did a good lunch, so off we went to the Gladstone Inn at Ahiaruhe, a lovely old pub that celebrated 150 years in 2020 and sits alongside the Ruamahanga River. Often when you order a steak or a burger they say that they come with hand-cut chips. And often you are disappointed because they are just extra-large processed frozen chips.  However, the hand-cut chips at the Gladstone were very real and almost qualified as roast potatoes they were so large. They also had live music out on the deck alongside the water, unfortunately, it was full, but we could still enjoy the music where we were seated, just inside the door.

On the drive back to Martinborough Lance spied the sign for Aotearoa Stonehenge. Lance suggested we take a detour and visit it. This in itself is quite an unusual phenomenon. I had seen this advertised and did question what sort of kook would build a Stonehenge in New Zealand. If I hadn't been stuffed full of burger and enormous chips I would have had to have eaten my words.

The center was quite rustic, but it was professional. We paid and went in to view the informative video. I was really interested and felt a bit worried that Lance would be bored and suggest that we leave. But it was not to be. I felt myself tense up as he leaned over to tell me something, and I was completely wrong!

"Interesting isn't it" he murmured.

After the video, we wandered out and down the garden path to the main structure. The video is an essential prerequisite as we now had all sorts of information to wonder about as we checked out the mini Stonehenge.

I would rate this as a 'worth a stop and payment' place, but not an essential destination.

Back in Martinborough, we settled for dinner at Crouching Tiger. This 'pan Asian restaurant which is located on our doorstep, so much so that we walk through the courtyard of the Crouching Tiger to get to our front door.

The food was great with service to match. This is definitely a good place to eat if you are in Martinborough.

Three nights was enough for us to experience Martinborough and its environs. I feel that this is a place that we will return, either on a tiki tour around the North Island of New Zealand or for a short break.  It is probably not a place to take kids for more than a stopover, but certainly great for us middle-ish aged food, wine, and shopping types.

Martinborough NZ - Day 2 9 January 2021

 We awoke after both having a great sleep, which at our advancing years is not a regular event.

Martinborough is a slow starter and the two places that we had eyed up for breakfast did not open until 8:30am. By the time we arrived a few doors down the road to Cafe Medici there were already a couple of people standing outside waiting for it to open. This is always a good sign and proved to be a great indication of the quality of this eatery. We both chose the same breakfast, which is another unusual phenomena, and we hit the mark with Spanish eggs. The eggs had been lightly scrambled and piled onto crispy potatoes and then a load of tasty tomatoey stuff laden with chorizo was on top. I couldn’t finish mine, but it was delicious. And the coffee was great.

After a trip back to our room for some toileting we wandered around the shops for a bit. This village is definitely tailored to female shoppers.  In fact at one shop Lance had a chat with the blokes outside and it was unanimous that there should be some chairs and fishing magazines strategically placed for patiently waiting for spouses.

I did not buy much at all as I am waiting to see what they have in Greytown tomorrow. When I say shops I don’t mean a whole lot of them. There are a few homeward and ladies clothes, bags and jewellery places a couple of grocers and a great looking butcher amounts to a few other bits and pieces. But a very nice place to wander. The village is set around a large square of lawn and trees and this has conveniently placed crossings to all sides of the quadrangle.

Hitting the road just after ten we thought we would check out a few wineries. I had called Poppies vineyard as it had been recommended for lunch. Bad luck, they were full today and tomorrow, but we intended to stop for a tasting.

Turning down the drive of Haythornwaite wines we took a right turn, thinking this was the vineyard, and had to stop for an elderly Chinese man who was tending the driveway. We could see a beautiful homestead at the end of the drive, and were feeling nervous that this may be the residence and not the cellar door. It was a relief to spot a flag with OPEN on it and we parked next to the vines and entered the house. The man from the drive arrived and chatted to us about the house which had been moved in pieces from Wellington 21 years ago. We had some tasting and offered to pay the price that was on the board for a tasting but he waved us off. After a quick visit to the toilet, which by the way was spotless, we made our way back down the drive only to find that this was a little boutique vineyard called Vynfields and not Haythornewaite at all. They also serve food and we were tempted by the dumplings as I am sure they would be authentic. But may need to save that for another trip.

Back on the road we passed people on side by side tandem bikes and then a four seater bike.  Martinborough is well known for hiring bikes to go on a tour of the vineyards. 

Poppies was next on the list and was just down the road. It was quite busy when we entered and we were greeted on entry and directed to where Poppy was doing a tasting. Poppy and her husband Shane were both at the helm each sharing their passion for their wine. Poppy was very passionate and took us through the steps of winemaking, right down to how many leaves are left around a bunch of grapes to get the best result. They only sell at the cellar door and appear to be very popular. As I was paying for the case that was to be sent home to Auckland (come on, I had to help them out) Lance was chatting to Shane and mentioned that we couldn’t get in to eat. No problem! A table was set and lunch ensued with a glass of their gorgeous rose. Lance is not drinking, but even his lemonade was different and delicious. At Poppies they don’t have a menu and their platters are adjusted to the seasons and what wine you have chosen to drink, so I guess I set the tone.

In the banter that had occurred during the tasting we found that Shane is also a chef and he explained the platter to us in a way that had our mouths watering.

The salmon came with the most Devine coconut cream dressing, And the spicy Indian relish it compliment the frittata ended up on almost everything that it ate. I loved how they piled it up so I didn’t have to be mean with it. Cold pork belly had some preserved apricots snuggled up next to it. What a surprise when I bit into one and it had a beautiful fresh coconut flavour through it. It almost tasted like a cocktail. We ended by sharing a lemon coconut tart and Shane brought out a glass of late harvest desert wine for me ‘on the house’. Now any of you who know us know that we do a lot of eating out and this has never ever occurred before. Of course I had to drink it.

Clutching our bellies we waddled out to the car park and were amazed by the amount of bicycles leaning up against the wall. There had to be 35 bikes. I just wonder how they are wobbling back home at the end of the day?

Toilet report! - The toilets here were photo worthy but I left my phone at the table - bugger! Entry is by big double doors and the furniture is large romantic French country.

Replete we hit the road and headed out to Lake Ferry which we thought was the lake, however it is the name of the small village on the shores of Lake Onoke. Confusing huh? At the end of the 30 minute drive we found a rugged beach that had a bar (not the drinking sort although there was a pub) or spit that divided the lake from the sea. There were loads of people fishing and I got out for a quick and blustery walk.

Back in town Lance had a rest and I nipped over the square to the museum. This entry by koha (donation) and was fascinating. It was set up like a house crammed with stuff and only a couple of rooms had roped off barriers. I would hate to take poorly behaved children in there. I poked around and smiled at some of the things that brought back memories or that I still have tucked away at home.

Lance had booked us into a restaurant a 17 minute drive away in Greytown called Pinocchio. Click here to read my review. This was a great meal and worth the drive, especially because I had Lance as my sober driver!

Martinborough - 8 January 2021

 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.