June 24, 2017 - Takaka to Nelson

The plan is to be on the road by nine and at the Saturday Nelson Market by eleven.  That would give us a couple of hours and that should be enough time.  Best laid plans…We are packed and ready for breakfast by eight;  but Marie and Serge are so entertaining that we don’e leave until 9:45!  One of the stories they share is about a Frenchman they had staying with them.  He spoke almost no English and one day he went to the beach.  He was very excited because he saw two seals on the sand and he wanted to share his discovery with two young girls that were walking toward him.  Unfortunately the word for seal in French sounds like “f…k” so he said to the girls, “You!!!  Two f…ks on the beach!!”  He couldn’t figure out why they took off away from him!

They also told us about the time that one of their spa clients was meeting with his mistress when his wife came for a soak!!  They can’t share their stories with any of the locals because Takaka is such a small town!  They told us, though, about when one of the ladies left her undies on the office counter!  And just yesterday Marie found a pair of men’s underwear in the driveway!  She threw them away and later in the day the owner called and asked for them back!!  She had to go digging through the trash!

 Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that we aren’t going to make the market, so we’re looking for alternatives for today.  We follow a couple of winery signs along the drive down SH 60;  but they are all closed.  We give it one more try and lo and behold, we strike it lucky!!  Seifried’s is open for a conference and their tasting room is open as well.  We’re the only ones there and the welcoming German lady lets us sample five wines without asking for a fee!  Of course, we did buy a bottle of her Sweet Agnes Riesling, so she made out all right.  There is a tour guide who arrives with two young women and he and our lady discuss who might be open today and they decide on three more wineries for us as we work our way south, even giving us a map! 

 

Look how enormous those trees are!

Ruby Bay

The next two wineries, Te Mania and Richmond Plains, actually share a tasting room, so we get more bang for our buck!  And Roy encourages us to share our tastes, so as to save money!  It turns out we buy a bottle of Richmond’s Syrah, so our tasting is free here, too!

There’s a little café on the corner called The Grape Escape and Roy says it very nice.  He suggests that we order and tell them we’re going to the craft store next.  When we get back, our meals will be ready!  The menu is very intriguing and we decide to order two different dishes and split them.  We order and I go shopping next door.  The artist who made my purchase is actually there in the store! 

When I return, the food has just arrived!  We are having the boneless chicken roulade (wrapped in bacon, stuffed with pistachio nuts and herbs, served on a bed of puy lentil and vegetable ragout) and venison pie (wild venison, slow cooked with bacon, onions, herbs, juniper berries, and encased in pastry served with salad, sautéed potatoes and Cumberland sauce). 

 Down the road we look for Waimea Winery and find that it’s moved 500 meters down the road into temporary quarters.  By this point we don’t need to indulge much more!  We opt for the three tastes for five dollars and try a Riesling, a Gewurtztraminer and Trev’s Red.  They are all nice;  but we won’t be in country long enough to drink another bottle! 

We’re serious now about getting to Nelson and finding our lodging in the daylight!  Turns out that’s not hard at all!  And we’re right across the street from the beach. Michael checks us in.  There aren’t many people staying here and he’s really been missing people!  He keeps up a running patter of laugh lines and teases us about everything. 

Our room has a lovely, large ensuite and a fridge and kettle and TV.  We have our cheese and red wine for dinner and watch Master Chef, after the evening news  It is so nice to not have to hear anything about the US!  Bedtime comes quickly!