Wednesday, November 29th
Just woke up from our first sleep in New Zealand. The birds are all singing. Songs I haven’t heard in my whole life. The air is fresh and crisp with a smell that is sweet yet so foreign my senses are in disbelief. The land is lush, so many different colors and textures. We really are living in a fairy tale.
We are in Akaroa, New Zealand – this cozy town is located in an ancient volcanic crater (see National Geographic photo below, so cool!). The meaning of Akaroa is “long harbor” in the language of the Maori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand.
The drive through the rolling hills was climactic. Initially, leaving the Christchurch Airport, we both had to pull together to concentrate on the roads. We continued telling ourselves left lane, left lane. On turns, again, left lane, left lane. We were anxious to get to our destination and finally (after 40+ hours of travel time) to take showers, to brush our teeth. As we got further away from the city and traffic our tension started to dissolve away. The scenery began to develop into something much, much more beautiful.
Both Adam and I were in awe with the views. At times it seemed enchanting. We pulled over to take a picture, one of our first “scenic” photos. It’s a little funny because we both agree I seem to be superimposed on a fake backdrop – but au contraire…this is real. This is New Zealand.
After about a two hour drive we finally reached our destination, the Akaroa Coastal Studio. I’m not sure I’ve ever said so many “wows” in one day. This place was down a long winding road, then to get down to the studio from the main road we had to put the car in low gear the downgrade was so steep. This diamond in the rough was cliff side, overlooking the harbor.
Our wonderful hosts, John and Jenny, even had a Jacuzzi for our use that was felt like an infiniti pool. To get to it, we walked down a stone path along the cliff. As we sat in the tub, we were finally able to let go – we both just looked at each other, in delirium. The amount of energy we had expended to get to this point…well, we were done. Sitting here though, we knew it was worth it.
Earlier in the evening, before our final hottubbing, we went down to the small town and had a bite to eat at Bully Hayes (at the recommendation of our host John). What a great recommendation it was. We split an entrée, it was a lamb loin – slow cooked sous vide herb infused rump of lamb served with a warm pumpkin salad with sumac, spinach, red onion, pumpkin seeds and goats cheese, drizzled with white balsamic dressing. It was heavenly. Paired with a side of smoked chicken and corn risotto – with crispy belly bacon and roasted sweetcorn cooked into a creamy risotto of carnaroli rice topped with parmesan cheese – we were on cloud 9. We entered a food coma. This was about 3am our time. We were done, done, done. We couldn’t even finish our beers (this never happens, lol). Time. For. Bed.
