"Day Four: Building Walls"

Greetings from Napier, the Art Deco Capital of the World! First place to see the sunrise in the world! Sunniest place in New Zealand!

We departed Taupo early this morning, and we were so excited to get to wine tasting we never took pix on Lake Taupo. GODDAM IT. The drive across was mainly through the forests, and I got a g-d earful about NZeds logging industry, commodities, the ETS, and the sustainability thereof. Let me just say, “uh huh” and “how interesting” goes a long way towards keeping Liza talking without really listening. Other topics discussed: what we’d want to be called if we were grandparents (me: Phannie [short for Stephanie], Liza: Bee [and wants her mom to be called Momo]), what we would name our kids, (clarification: not ones we’d have together, because despite the romance we are not lessies, even though its apparently “in” in New Zed). We were also treated to tunes from Spears, which were all of the pop hits I would have put on a cd if I’d had the time. Thanks, grrl!

Napier is on Hawkes Bay, and in the 1930s, after a severe earthquake they rebuilt all their buildings in the art deco style. We expected this to be really cool. After about 10 minutes in town Liza said, “I think I’m over art deco.” Buzz kill...

Speaking of being buzzed, today’s theme was WINE. The Hawkes Bay region is along the East Coast and “boasts” (haha) 35+ wineries. We had originally planned to rent tandem bikes (how romantic) and bike about to these places, but turns out the bike place was a good 20 km from the real golden area of the area, Gimblett Gravels. The river that flows through the region was re-routed at some point in the not so distant past, but left the soil ripe for grape growing. All educating aside, we had some really tasty treats today, but I’ll say my favorite was a tiny little shed called Salvare (Latin for Salvation) where we were met by the owner Steve (SO CLOSE TO STEPHANIE) and tasted both wines, olive oils and the spice Dukkah. I’d say some of you could look forward to tasting these items, but let’s be honest…they won’t make their way back home.

Additional notes:

-The first winery we went to, Mission Estates, is New Zealand’s Largest (!). It was built on an old Marist Seminary. Liza really wants my mom to know that for heaven reasons.

-In addition to Spears’ cd, we also listened to a cd from my protégé, who included the Third Eye Blind song “Jumper.” I said, “Wonder what Protégé is trying to tell me with this song selection.” She also is going to “get me baby;” is “gonna fiiiiiiind” me; and is gonna “be my luvah, gonna be my luvah.” Ummmm…..awkward.

-It also appears that I don’t know how to work a cd player, which should be understandable since I haven’t owned a car in 7+ years. Turns out it was partly me that was causing cd skippage, so we were able to go back and listen to Sassypants cd, and Liza said, “I think your friend Sassypants is kind of obsessed with Vajayjays.” We think the baby inside her may have informed her music choices. (all jokes aside, Liza said [and I concur] that we are so thankful for the musical offerings of our friends.

-Last night as we were winding down our Terrific Tuesday in Taupo, we were approached at the bar by a man who I would have said was homeless, though Liza insists there are no homeless people in NZed. He talked to us for about ten minutes, in which I thought Liza understood what he was saying because she kept responding, albeit with sideling glances my way. Between the noise, the Kiwi accent, and his obvious intoxication, neither of us could understand a word. Again, “uh huh” and “oh, that’s interesting” will get you far.

Favorite word of the day – macabre. No explanation

Think that’s it for now. Anything else I’ll post tomorrow. Liza is plowing through our wine while I type, so this is my only chance to catch up. And we’re off to Shed 2, which if it was anything like Shed in Taupo, we may be in trouble. Cheers!