New Zealand – Water and wine & My 40th birthday

The west side of the NZ Alps takes the most rain. So our drive up from Te Anau to Arthur’s Pass was basically one big blur because of the mist and rain. Unfortunately, it’s also where you can see some of the larger glaciers in the area; Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. They’re fantastic but in the rain not half as impressive as they must be when they’re in full sun light. Some informative signs showed where the glaciers were over time, going back some 150 years. And we know now that human’s effect on global warming is definitely the biggest scam of our lifetime.. The glaciers started to shrink well before our polluting efforts and actually grew over time as well. Which they have been doing over the past 30 years or so… So we do not have to feel bad at all for burning so much fuel during this trip. It’s all a scam.. 😉

Our drive from Arthur’s Pass down to the east coast was very, very nice. As soon as we were descending down on the east side of the Alps, the weather cleared up and has been very nice since. The scenic route through the mountains is great. Oh… and it was also my 40th birthday that day. No better way than to celebrate while having lunch at the Pegasus Bay winery with some nice wine. And at night, in Kaikoura, we had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant, again with some great wine; Cloudy Bay. Thanks Maarten & Elly for sponsoring that!

Yesterday we took the very scenic route up from Kaikoura to Picton to catch the boat to Wellington, North Island. Picton itself is not all that great but the boat ride was lovely. Now we’re in Wellington and getting ready to explore the town and its surroundings.