Flying the friendly skies- for real y’all

So THIS is what flying is like without mollycoddling to terrorists! So refreshing! We printed our tickets, our luggage tickets printed at the kiosk- no extra baggage check line to wait in, we dropped our luggage on a conveyer belt (no xray lines) and the only thing we had to take off/out in security was metal and laptops. None of this remove your shoes, all excess clothing, liquids, pride and dignity bullshit. They didn’t even check our IDs or to see if we had a boarding pass. I still have my water bottle and the security agents call you “mate!” Bravo New Zealand.

Christchurch Earthquake

Just wanted to update that we're ok! We left Christchurch about two hours before the quake hit. We found out from the hotel staff when we arrived in Lake Tekapo. It's weird to think that half the stuff we saw yesterday is now destroyed... including the cathedral we were in. Looks pretty bad. :( (That's the steeple on the ground there)

Waikeke/Devonport

We haven’t been to the south island yet, so the jury’s still out, but right now Waiheke Island is the top runner for where I’m going to live when I move here. It’s about a 30-45 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland and it’s an island full of wineries (and one microbrewery!). And it’s beautiful. We stayed at the Kenney Point guesthouse, which was really nice and did a full day of wine/brewery tours.

The view from our guesthouse :)

KP definitely had the best wine of the day. Peacock Sky had this woman, Connie, who does food and wine pairings as part of the tasting, though rather poorly. She’s pretty cocky about it though, and seems to harbor some level of resentment towards her husband for turning her from an MBA to a farmer. The brews at Wild on Waiheke weren’t great, but weren’t bad either. I had fun hanging with Alan, the brewer, and he invited me back to come visit his home brewery where he apparently has 10 beers on tap at all times. !!! How? It must be quite the homebrew system. So I plan on doing that when we return to Auckland towards the end of March.

Next up we headed over to Devonport, a northern suburb of Auckland, for the food and wine festival there. It was really fun! We got to sample some great wines (my favorite was Omaha Bay) and we met some really great folks, including a woman who tried out to be a hobbit (she’s still waiting to hear) and a woman called Bucky (I, of course, told her all about Bucky Badger and she was pretty excited to have such a baller mascot sharing her name).

JR and the hobbit

Good time overall and only the top of my head got burnt!

How I Plan to Make My Millions

Screens. Screens for windows in New Zealand. I have yet to see a single window with a screen on it. I have also been woken up every night by that horrible little, high-pitched “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” that is the sound of mosquitoes in your ears and on your face. I’ve also woken up every morning with fresh bites. Enough, I say! New Zealand! You don’t have to live like this! Screens keep them out! They are the wave of the future! And I will bring them to you and you will pay me for them and be grateful.

Hokianga Bay

Somehow I booked us at the Bates motel. It looked nice enough online! But the couple who runs it creeped us the fuck out and we were both pretty sure at least one of us was going to die and be made into furniture. One girl actually fled.

For real though, this couple was weird. John and Dorothy. We’re pretty sure they never actually leave the house. Ever. Hokianga Bay is pretty rural and with it come rural folk- and John and Dorothy definitely don’t think themselves rural folk, nor would they ever condescend to spend time with them. Dorothy is also definitely a few cards shy of a full deck and she kept referring to when she “goes away.” John, however, clearly enjoys the fact that two and two don’t quite made four for Dorothy- it adds to his feelings of superiority- and he makes fun of her constantly. Sometimes she picks up on it.

Anyway, Hokianga Bay! Just south the northern sand dunes and just north of the kauri forests, I figured it would be a good launching point for both. The kauri forests were really amazing- the NZ equivalent of the redwood forests in the US. Forested almost to extinction, they’re now protected, though they’re really fragile. We read that as they evolved, they were actually on a separate island and slowly became a part of the greater island as lava flows expanded the land. Because of this, they weren’t subject to the same flora and fauna as the rest of the north island and never developed the defense mechanisms needed. Despite that though, they’re HUGE!

(Sorry- couldn't figure out how to rotate that pic in Blogger)

Next day we went sand tobogganing! So fun! Luckily we got a few runs in before this hoard of children showed up (ugh), but it was fun to watch them. You can sled right into the water!

We also visited Opo the Dolphin’s grave. Opo was apparently this super human-friendly dolphin who lived in the bay and became a national sensation, but was “mysteriously shot” and people were sad. And buried her in the middle of town and made a statue with a naked boy.

They made this really great documentary about her!

Bay of Islands, Day 2

Kayaking! We hired out a kayak and set out for a local waterfall. Crazy thing- the woman working at the kayak hire is from Eau Claire! Small world.

Then we set out and somehow missed the crazy large opening to the river/falls off to the left that we intended to take and took the awkwardly shallow alternate route that ended with us grounded with several fallen trees in the way. Looking back, our first clue that this was the wrong way should probably have been the stretch of creek littered with abandoned car parts and tires... Oh well, it was pretty anyway (not the car graveyard- the creek leading up to it).

Anyway, we turned back and found the proper way- the falls were pretty, though small. Then we landed on this beach for some lunch and this dude yelled at us for sitting on the grass- the only angry kiwi in the country. That night we headed out to Russell, which is a little resort town across the bay. It really is a sweet little town. Apparently it used to be the “hell hole of the Pacific,” full of bars and brothels and drunken sailors, but it’s been revamped as a big holiday town since. I mean, the police station has lace curtains for christ's sake.

We had our Valentine’s day dinner at a place called ­­­­­Kamakura- I ordered the pork belly and no joke, it came out with the pig’s hair still attached. **shudder** I’ve eaten some crazy shit in my life, but I draw the line at hairy pig skin. Not happening.

See it?? gross

After dinner we hit up the Duke of Marlborough, the oldest pub in NZ. It was really cool. And the first bar where I’ve found craft beer- yay Duke!

Success!

JR and I have both successfully driven on the wrong side of the road. Ok, we both may have each slipped up once and driven on the wrong side according to the kiwis, but we quickly corrected ourselves. Now I just need to stop turning on the windshield wipers instead of the directional...

Oh yeah...

I forgot about THIS

Bay of Islands, Day 1!

Holy balls it’s beautiful here. Beautiful weather, beautiful beaches, beautiful water, beautiful scenery, love it. We drove up from Auckland on Saturday: first stop- SheepWorld! Woo! Some guy on the plane from Madison told us it was a must-see! This may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but we were amused nonetheless.

We checked into our place (the PepperTree Lodge- highly recommend it) at the Bay and decided to just walk around and check out the area. A nice walk along the beach and some drinks. :)

Day two we went sailing on the Carino, which is one of the only companies licensed to swim with the dolphins. First and foremost, the Carino was amazing- it wasn’t one of those tours that packs on 90 people so that you’re jockeying for seats and elbowing your neighbors- there were only 12 people on the boat and the crew was really fantastic. Vanessa, the captain, is probably one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met; we had a great time talking to her. (Especially about pig hunting and rabbit hunting, which are both very much encouraged here- especially the big bunny hunt every Easter. How funny is that? There’s also a monthly magazine called Pig Hunter.) If you find yourself in the Bay of Islands, definitely check this out.

Anyway, first up was finding the dolphins and it was AMAZING! There were about 40 in the pod and they were all swimming and playing happily around us. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat. We didn’t get to swim with them because there were babies in the pod (New Zealand law), but it was really great just watching them.

That's one of the babies on the left in the top picture there! After that we sailed to one of the (144) islands with a lovely beach and a nice little hike. Then lunch on the boat, more sailing and back to port! It really was a perfect day. Kinda thinking about buying a boat and just doing that every day too...

From one Epic to another

I like this one much better. :)

Spent day one in New Zealand with my buddies Luke and Kelly from Epic Brewing Company.* For those of you who watch the Brew Masters series on the Discovery channel, you already know who Luke is- and he had some Portamarillo waiting for me!

I first met Luke three years ago at the Craft Brewers Conference/World Beer Cup in San Diego, and Kelly at the conference in Chicago last year. Luke came up to Wisconsin for a visit and some brewery tours before the conference last year- seems only right I should come visit him on his turf.

So first thing we went to visit the brewery where Epic is made (Luke currently contracts out). It’s basically a big warehouse. I was more interested in trying the beer than watching a bottling line! Even though I’ve known Luke for several years, I’ve only gotten to try his Pale Ale, so I was really excited to try the rest. We sampled one of Luke’s and some others direct from the tanks, and Luke showed me some babies he’s been aging in a couple of oak barrels for almost exactly a year (which I may get to try on our return trip to Auckland? They smelled fantastic!). Then we grabbed a case and headed out for the next brewery.

Hallertau was next up. I actually met their brewer Steve in San Diego as well. I didn’t make the connection when Luke said we were visiting him and that he’d be surprised to see me (why? I don’t know this guy!), so when he walked in we both kind of went, oh! You! Anyway, Steve treated us to a sampling of his beers and perhaps the largest “sampler” platter I’ve ever encountered- three types of sausages, shrimp, chicken, cheeses, focaccia with three different dips, some kind of meatballs and antipasto. It was awesome. And I got quite tipsy. And there was still more beer to come- I had only tried one of Luke’s at this point!

So we went back to the Epic office (office! They can afford an office now! Yay for growth!) and worked our way through Luke’s offerings: Epic Pale Ale, Armageddon (IPA), Stout, Oak aged Stout, Portamarillo and the Mayhem. All of them were really good. I’m not even a big fan of pale ales and I liked Luke’s! Flowery, citrusy, yummy. I also really liked the Portamarillo- the tomatillos added a nice sweetness to it. I think the Mayhem was my favorite though (I'll post beer reviews on Madison Beer Review soon!).

By this time I was pretty drunk and thankfully Luke was driving. He dropped me off and said our farewells until March 18^th when JR and I will be back in NZ. Then our Auckland brewery tours will continue!

Update: oh! I should also plug the project that Luke and Kelly are working on- NZ Craft Beer TV! Apparently Luke got bit by the TV star bug and decided to make his own show. Check it out!

*Note: not the Epic Brewing Company in Utah, which apparently can’t come up with an original name.

So I hear it was -12 in Madison?

The #1 burning question on everyone’s mind

Does the water in the toilets swirl the opposite way???

‘Fraid not friends. It actually doesn’t swirl at all- it just kind of goes down in this torrent of rushing water. Question answered.

GO PACK GO!!

Alright, it's time to get this party started! It's been a few years since I've blogged (I'm going to go ahead and blame Epic for that) and what better reason to start again then a two month vacation to New Zealand, Australia and Tahiti, right?

So what a way to kick off the trip with the Packers winning the Super Bowl!!! I was sad to not be in Wisconsin for the game, but we found a Packers bar in LA to watch the game called the Underground Pub. Chock-full of Packers fans and brats on the grill, it was the perfect spot to watch the game! We had SO much fun! Who woulda thought at the beginning of the season we'd end up here??

It's also been awesome hanging out with my LA friends Jason and Max the past couple of days. Friday night we went to a great beer bar (plus gimmicky catholic school girls outfits... :/) called Congregation in Long Beach. Excuse me LA, you can get Russian River's Consecration whenever you want?? So jealous. Tonight we're meeting up with JR's friend Matt for some Mongolian BBQ and then hitting up Wieland Brewery. Tomorrow we fly to Auckland!