{"id":860,"date":"2024-02-05T22:28:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T09:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=860"},"modified":"2024-02-05T22:28:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T09:28:56","slug":"wineding-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/05\/wineding-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Win(e)ding down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

February 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a restless sleep in a hot, stuffy motel room, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Omaka Aviation Heritage Center<\/a>. The museum featured several original aircraft and artifacts from WWI and WWII. We took lots of pictures for our friend Jim, a Southwest Airlines pilot, who we\u2019re sure would want to spend the entire day here someday. It was an impressive museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the first models to land on water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fokker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From there, we headed to Cloudy Bay Vineyard<\/a> for a wine tasting and lunch. The wines we tasted were all Sauvignon blancs, and I liked them more than I thought I would (they are usually too dry for me). We had a light lunch at Jack\u2019s Raw Bar; Mitch enjoyed the Marlborough oysters and I thought the Ora King Salmon was delicious. The grounds were beautiful and nicely shaded as we experienced another hot day here in Blenheim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marlborough oysters with cucumber & green apple granita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Aging room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Panoramic Shot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Heading to our next destination, Wither Hills Vineyard<\/a>, Mitch realized he lost his sunglasses at Cloudy Bay when he took them off for a picture. Back we went to the grounds to look for them. Thankfully a nice family found them and turned them in to reception, so that crisis was quickly averted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wither Hills Vineyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Mitch first enjoyed a glass of Bladen<\/a>\u2019s Pinot Gris when we dined at a restaurant in Picton. We knew we had to visit the winery when we were in Blenheim and we loved our tasting experience. Blair and Deni (hence the name of the winery) are siblings who have taken over the business from their parents, who started the vineyard in 1989 with a dream of producing their own wine. Deni gave an awesome talk to 50+ people who were there for the tasting of six of Bladen\u2019s wines<\/a>. She was personable, funny and down to earth. My favorite of the six I tasted was The Sum of Us<\/a>, which is a co-fermentation of Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewurztraminer. Sounds super sweet, but it\u2019s nicely balanced, just like the Bladen family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bladen grapes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mitch read an article about Harvest<\/a>, a farm to table restaurant that was featured in Air NZ\u2019s in flight magazine. We pulled up to beautiful grounds and were excited to be seated outside as it was a lovely evening. We passed on the wine since we had our fill during the day and placed our dinner order. Delicious, complimentary sourdough bread was brought over with local olive oil, butter and a sun dried tomato spread. Our charred zucchini and beet salad arrived and it was excellent. Off to a good start. We ordered snapper and roasted vegetables from the on site garden for our main. And then we waited. And waited. An hour went by and it was now approaching 9 p.m. The couple at the table next to us called the manager over asking where their food was. Clearly there was a problem in the kitchen. Our patience was thinning, waiting for the rest of our meal. We spoke with the manager and was assured our food was coming. After another 10 minutes of waiting, we\u2019d had enough. We went to pay for what we ate, but they comped our salad. We came back to the hotel, I ate a chocolate covered mint and called it dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 5 After a restless sleep in a hot, stuffy motel room, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Omaka Aviation Heritage Center. The museum featured several original aircraft and artifacts from WWI and WWII. We took lots of pictures for our friend Jim, a Southwest Airlines pilot, who we\u2019re sure would want … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-new-zealand-south-island"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/img_5649-2-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11109,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/27\/one-more-night-rv-day-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":0},"title":"One More Night (RV Day 14)","author":"Victoria","date":"27 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 27 Mitch started singing this song in the luxurious RV shower last night and we can\u2019t get it out of our heads as we get ready to celebrate returning our massive motorhome to Wilderness Motorhomes. Their slogan is \u201cLeave the Ordinary Behind.\u201d I guess we just prefer the ordinary.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_5103-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13108,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/21\/new-zealand-is-as-close-as-we-will-get-to-life-on-another-planet\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":1},"title":"\u201cNew Zealand is as close as we will get to life on another planet.\u201d","author":"Victoria","date":"21 May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"May 21 As American Pulitzer Prize winning scientist, historian, and author Jared Diamond said, this place is other worldly! We have felt what he observed many times over throughout our time in this great country. Today, we spent the morning at Te Papa. What an extraordinary museum, this \u201ccontainer of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_1085-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_1085-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_1085-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_1085-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/img_1085-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10107,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/16\/the-time-you-enjoy-wasting-is-not-time-wasted-bertrand-russell\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":2},"title":"\u201cThe time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted.\u201d Bertrand Russell (RV (Day 3)","author":"Victoria","date":"16 April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"April 16 Whangarei (pronounced Fuhng\u2022uh\u2022ray) is the gateway city to the Bay of Islands, our next stop. The rugby team was quiet at 10 p.m. and for the rest of the night. Shortly after we woke up but before we were dressed, we heard the team chanting a haka, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1882-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1882-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1882-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1882-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_1882-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":471,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/picton\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":3},"title":"Picton","author":"Victoria","date":"28 January 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"January 28 Queen Charlotte Track Today was a pretty chill day as we prepared for our first hike tomorrow, Queen Charlotte Track. 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We spent the morning packing and sorting our stuff, as we\u2019re only allowed to bring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4512-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4512-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4512-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4512-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/myblogary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/img_4512-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C836&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1310,"url":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/super-bowl-monday\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":4},"title":"Super Bowl Monday","author":"Victoria","date":"12 February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"February 12 https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/6Fnr5tJgBB8?si=BCkPZ9neri_lLxps Belle Coffee Micro Roaster My best iced latte of the trip so far came from Belle cafe and micro roastery. 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