More Guests for Becky (Sep. 20 - 21)

Pre-script: We’ve been meaning to get some of these posts up for awhile now, but internet access isn’t always constant in NZ, you know how it is. For more details of our trip with Don and Linda, click here .

On Thursday morning, after months of planning and back-and-forth emails and calls confirming various travel details, we welcomed Becky’s mom Linda and her dance partner/friend/(someone think of a good term to describe middle-aged boyfriend), Don into NZ at the Christchurch airport. After about 26 hours of flying from the east coast of the States, they were happy to finally arrive at their destination, though they looked no worse for the wear. Having picked up and dropped off people on five trips so far, we’re getting to be old pros at the Chch airport, though that doesn’t mean I managed to park in the best lot. However, I am getting closer, so if anyone else wants to visit, I promise to park in the most favorable lot next time, in case that might sway your opinion.

Linda and Don are all smiles as they arrive in Chch

Luckily for L&D the weather over the South Island cleared up in time for their arrival, affording them great views of the Southern Alps from the sky as they flew in to Chch. We’re getting to think we should’ve flown out of Chch at some point to get such a view of the South Island, as it sounds lovely. Our lot is so tough… Anyway, congrats to Don, as this is his first time out of the country, and he had to finally get his passport to make this trip. I guess if you’re going to wait this long to come overseas, it’s good to do it in style and fly all away around the world. Good on ya, Don.

Also fortunate for our visitors is that they weren’t very jet-lagged, having slept a good portion of the LA-Auckland leg of their flight, as we had a good drive planned for the day of their arrival. Since they’ve come to visit while we we’re still on the South Island and we’ve frankly driven around the southern circuit enough by this point, we’ve planned an itinerary to take them around the northern part of the South Island. And so on the first of their 12 days in NZ, we had a drive along the east coast planned, up to Kaikoura, just a few hours north of Chch.

Along the way to Kaikoura, we made a few stops, dropping by Kieran at the Brew Moon as he was brewing up a batch of his black beer, and then out to Gore Bay, a prototypical NZ beach – secluded, empty, full of cliffs, and largely undeveloped. Out in Kaikoura, the weather was again cloudy for us. We’ve driven through Kaikoura 4 or 5 times now, and all but one time it was cloudy, which is really too bad because the town is really something when the weather is favorable. Unfortunately, we can’t believe that that happens much of the time there. Still, we managed to take in a walk and see a few seals (mostly sleeping, but still) along the way before dinner. All in all, a pretty full first day for our new arrivals.

Don is king of the world at Gore Bay

On the next day we headed out of Kaikoura since there wasn’t much we wanted to do there. To wit, most of the activities in Kaikoura revolve around whale-watching (which is expensive here, causes Becky and Linda sea-sickness, and which they’ve done back home), or lobster eating (which is also quite pricey and which Don doesn’t enjoy at all). So heading north towards Blenheim really made the most sense.

On the way out of Kaikoura the weather really improved, allowing us to see the snow-covered mountains to the west and the sea stretching forever on the eastern horizon. This gave Don an opportunity to make good use of his new video camera. He has since filmed heaps of tape; hopefully he gets a good editing program or his friends and family are in for a long evening at some point in the near future, hehe. After a few hours on the road, twisting and turning through the mountains we made it into Blenheim.

With a good afternoon to kill in Blenheim we went and did the Wairau Lagoon walk, recommended by Becky’s 202 Great Day Walks in New Zealand book. It was a nice little walk which lived up to its billing of “elegant flatness”, though I don’t believe the book mentioned the charming sewage treatment plant on either side of the park’s carpark. Still nice overall, though. After the walk we stopped by to see the guys at Renaissance, where Brian showed us his new flash bottling and labeling machines and insisted we take a box of beer along, which I agreed to only so that we could show Linda the beer we’ve been selling. Yeah, that’s the ticket, for Linda.

Andrew and Becky enjoy the elegant flatness at Wairau Lagoon

A few weeks ago when Becky was planning the itinerary she emailed Chris and Martin, the couple we Couchsurfed with in Blenheim in late June, and asked them if they’d like to get together for a coffee when we were in town. They replied by saying why didn’t we all just come to stay the night? Eager to show L&D the wonders of CSing, we took them up on the offer, and arrived late in the afternoon. In yet another gracious turn Chris prepared a proper Kiwi dinner for all of us with a lamb roast followed by pavlova for dessert. Just heavenly.

Chris puts the finishing touches on a delicious pavlova

A good part of the reason that we headed towards Blenheim with L&D so quickly was that they’d wanted to see a rugby match while they were in the country, and that Friday’s Tasman-Canterbury match in the Air New Zealand Cup series was the only one that really worked with the itinerary that Becky was working on. After our huge meal we headed to the match, and it was a real cracker. Since the teams are rival clubs (both feed the Crusaders, Chch’s professional team), Lansdowne Park was just about packed, and the local Makos (“Go the Makos!”) came out really firing against a much bigger and talented Canterbury side, even taking a lead into halftime. Unfortunately for the locals Canterbury exercised its muscle in the second half and took home an unconvincing win. Still, a great night for rugby, and we were glad to get to a provincial match out in the country, far from the glamour stadiums and more antiseptic atmosphere of the bigger cities. After another full day, we started the drive back to Chris and Martin’s, where everyone passed out nearly as soon as we were home. I foresee a busy 10 more days ahead.

Go The Makos!

Please Hanmer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em (Feb. 21 – 23)

Leaving Blenheim, we decided to head down the east coast of the country towards Christchurch. In the spirit of not rushing through the country, we stopped first in Kaikoura, which seems to be a major destination for most tourists coming through NZ, and based on the number of hostels found in such a small town, backpackers as well. As we left Blenheim, the dry hills and relentlessly sunny skies quickly gave way to a coast road shrouded in fog and bounded closely by a dark blue sea and steep green mountains.

"You lookin' at me?"

Kaikoura is a small, seasonal seaside resort town, and is a major center for whale and dolphin-watching tours. It also seems to be Crayfish Central in NZ, with heaps of stands and restaurants schlepping the little buggers at wildly expensive prices. A typical crayfish dinner runs about NZ$70 (equivalent to a $50 lobster dinner in the States), so yeah, we decided to skip that local delicacy. Like Paihia, another tourist trap-type town, we weren’t totally charmed by Kaikoura, especially since it was a bit gritty in places. Our backpackers there would probably be best described as South Pacific/Barton Fink style accommodations, with a screeching train running by several times a night right past our window. Other than that, it was marvelous!

Becky's attempt at an artistic photograph

It wasn’t all bad in Kaikoura though, as I got a chance to practice my selling techniques, and we did a cool shoreline walk outside of town. Re: selling beer, I approached a couple cafés that advertised ‘boutique beers’ and basically stopped in, found their bar managers, dropped off a few samples and information, and that was it. Having never really done cold calls before, I was a bit nervous on the first one, but it went pretty smoothly, so that seemed alright. The second went even better, so bully for me I suppose.

Andrew's attempt at an artistic photograph

As you can see from some of our pictures, great weather didn’t follow us from Blenheim, but we still made a go of it. As you can see, I’m wearing pants for the first time in weeks. Pants and a polo shirt was pretty much the only concession to professionalism I could make given my backpackers’ wardrobe. Even that outfit doesn’t look that great, since it’s been rolled up in my bag for a good six weeks now. Sorry, Brian and Andy, I’m trying to look like a pro, but it ain’t easy!

And you want to be my Renaissance Beer salesman?

Kaikoura, we headed southwest inland to Hanmer Springs. Leaving Kaikoura, it gets even more rural, even for NZ, which is saying something. Mountain highways with few cars on the road and even fewer visible houses were the rule along this stretch, though once we got to Hanmer, it was much more developed. Even with that, it was a picturesque and sleepy little town set in the mountains with not much happening. I soon found out why Becky was so keen to go to Hanmer: a hot springs park. If you could be addicted to lounging in hot water, she would absolutely have it. But since she’s a good sport about going to every little brewery in the country, I of course acquiesced, and so we went and had a good soak that evening. Navigating, after all, is tiring work, hehe.

Seal on the beach

An Unexpected Renaissance (Feb. 20-21)

So the last few days we’ve been making our way down the east coast of the S. Island. We left Andrew’s house in Nelson on Monday for Blenheim, a sunny town on the northeastern tip of the S. Island that’s basically in the country’s most famed wine region: Marlborough. Blenheim is a ridiculously sunny, dry, and flat town, with sets of brown, arid mountains looming in the distance. It feels a lot like many towns out west in the States, only it makes some serious wine and is much nearer to the beach.

Montana Brancott Winery

Unfortunately Becky and I are about the furthest things from wine connoisseurs, so we felt like Star Wars fans at Trekkie convention; we heard everyone tell us how good the wine is and what a choice place it is do to winery tours, but it wasn’t quite enough to convert us to drinking lots of Sauvignon Blanc, nor to wearing Spock ears. (Note: I realize the analogy was cheesy, but I spent 5 minutes thinking of it, so I was damn sure was going to go all the way with it.)

Not that we aren’t trying to appreciate wine a bit more here. We’ve been trying to buy New Zealand wines every so often to drink with dinner, though I admit we’ve only bought the cheaper stuff, so maybe that’s part of the reason we haven’t had any religious wine experiences here so far? Although we did enjoy a bottle of Corban’s White Label Sauv Blanc, which was quite the deal at NZ$9 (less than US$7).

In the spirit of oenophilic exploration we even booked a tour at Montana Brancott, apparently one of NZ’s larger wineries, outside Blenheim. Our tour guide had to be one of the most preternaturally perky people we’ve ever seen; I do not have the personality to do that job, but good on her. As we toured the winery, we mused that it would be the kind of place that Miles, the main character in the film Sideways, would hate. We certainly didn’t hate the place, but didn’t like any of the wines in the tasting enough to buy a bottle. In any event, we felt that while in NZ we should tour a winery at some point, so we may now check it off our ‘life-experiences checklist.’ I’m only partially kidding.

In a more exciting (at least to me personally) side trip, we stopped by a brewery in Blenheim, Renaissance Brewing, which was actually just a few blocks from our hostel. We met the brewers, two brothers-in-law from San Diego who had each moved to NZ in the past several years. Andy, the head brewer, was a beermaker in California, and had also made wine in NZ, while Brian was formerly a mechanic before joining Andy to start their brewery. They actually bought an old, failed brewery, Marlborough Brewing, which was quite a small operation, but which tried to compete with the big boys…on price. You can probably guess how that went.

When they bought the brewery in September 2005, Andy got a look at the state of everything and was appalled at the way the previous brewers had made beer there, as they obviously didn’t know any better and had ended up with really crappy beer as a result. That and the hilariously misguided product strategy was pretty much the epitaph of Marlborough. Andy and Brian ended up spending months cleaning, repairing, and modifying equipment, and started bottling and kegging beer last year.

After talking with the guys for quite a bit, Becky and I did a tasting at the bar next door, and were really pretty impressed with the beer. Renaissance does an English Pale Ale, a Porter, and a Scotch Ale for bottling and sale. They also are producing an American Pale Ale and a Double IPA, but aren’t as quite as far along on production of them. We were especially impressed with their Scotch Ale, as it had lip-smacking flavor and a really rich body. Thinking about it right now makes me want one, mmm.

During our tasting, Brian asked what we were doing in NZ, and so we told him about our travel and work plans. After hearing about our backgrounds and our plans, he asked if we’d be interested in a flexible position introducing their beers to bars and stores along our travels, as they are a young brewery looking to get its product into many more locations. I thought it sounded like a great and fun idea, so before long we got Brian to give us a case of beer to give out as samples and some promotional material. I like the position as it’s flexible, will allow me to participate in something I really like, beer, and the beer is a product that is really easy to get behind, as it’s really damn good. Their even printing up business cards for me. Check back in a few months to see how I feel then I guess…