The Traveling Stomach

So, you’re probably wondering what happened to the rest of my NZ trip!!! Sorry, it got kind of hectic in my life for a quick second! But, nonetheless, I am here to continue my experience in NZ for you all! From here on out, the blogs will be from the South Island, since this is where we spent most of our trip!

First day flying into Dunedin, we took a shuttle to where we were staying in the city. When we arrived, it was about 10 AM, so we had the whole day to explore the city (street map in hand of course).  It took about 10 minutes to walk to the city center from where we were staying, and it was down a HUGE HILL!!! If you walk down, you most certainly have to walk up! It was quite the workout!

Photo: Walking down the hill to the city center

Photo: Atop the hill before our walk down

Photo: A soccer field right by where we were staying (mountains in background)

Photo: View from picture window of the apartment we were staying in

On our first venture into town, we visited as many places as possible. We stopped at a few breweries, Cadbury World (maker of Cadbury eggs), some shops, and figured out that there are literally no places that deliver food to your home. So much for convenience when you’re tired and hungry! We saw so many beautiful sights, but I will only put some of what we saw in here, and I’ll post individual pictures after. 

Photo: Courthouse

Photo: First Church of Otago, Dunedin

Photo: Inside the First Church of Otago, Dunedin

Photo: Cadbury World!

Photo: Railway Station

Photo: Cathedral & Courthouse

Photo: Theatre

….I know, right!? Gorgeous!!! Their buildings are just, breathtaking. This is how we spent our first day in Dunedin, exploring and enjoying. It was our second day where we took a venture up to see the Larnach Castle! Stay tuned to see those unbelievable pics!!

Cheers!

While in Auckland, we did spend quite a lot of time walking around, which we both enjoy because you get to see most of the scenery that way. The first place we were suggested to go to is Viaduct Harbor, which is where all of the really awesome ships were docked and most of the night life is in Auckland. 

Photo: Viaduct Harbour - Auckland, NZ

I’m going to post a few pictures, but believe me, I took MANY MORE. It was so beautiful here!!!

Photo: Large Sailboat

Photo: Looking through the masts of ships into Auckland City

Photo: Me sitting inside a sound chair by the harbor - when you sit in it, you can hear the ocean. 

I know, right?! Beautiful! While walking around the area, we made it to Sky City - which is the tallest tower in Auckland. We decided to not go to the top, because it was so expensive, but just the sheer size of it was amazing.

Photo: Looking up at Sky City from sidewalk

This huge tower is attached to a mall-esque type of thing. A lot of places inside were not open due to the Good Friday Holiday, but we went in anyway. There was a casino, multiple restaurants, a theatre, and then of course the entrance to the top of sky city. You could also bungee jump off of the top of this tower, but you know I wasn’t going to be the one to do that! While inside investigating, we stumbled up on a showroom filled with sculptures from famous movies, which was really cool!

Photo: Org from LOTR

Photo: Avatar

Photo: Guns from District 9

Photo: King Kong

Photo: Canoe inside the mall that stood up to the top floor!

Photo: Looking down from the third floor of the mall

As you can see, this mall was pretty elaborate and beautiful! We spent the entire day exploring the city by foot, and it was very, very interesting! Despite this entry not having any food in it, I still wanted to share this experience, because it was one worth sharing.

Until Next Time - Cheers!

After the winery is when we really got into the food culture of NZ once again. First, we saw this nice beachy esque place called the Lazy Lounge. Upon going in here, I spotted a nice little dog, because you have to find a seat and then come up to order (so I was looking for a seat). Meanwhile, I met a Scottish guy who had moved to Waiheke Island from N. Scotland about four years ago he said, and he loved it! But, he did say “If you’re in, you’re trying to get out, and if you’re out, you’re trying to get back in.” I thought that was a pretty interesting quote, and I loved the mini-culture shock I got from meeting him!

Jordan and I decided to just get a beer at this place, and move on (as rain clouds were setting in). We got a beer called Tiger, which we soon found out was pretty equivalent to Miller Lite, or something along those lines. 

After we stopped there, we walked around for a while, in and out of little shops, and even found a trail down to the beach! We found some pretty cool flowers along the way too!

Photo: Jordan next to the sign on the beach

Photo: Looking out from the beach

Photo: Bird of Paradise (on the beach). 

Photos: Really awesome fresh fruit farmer’s market

Walking around built up quite an appetite, so we picked a place to eat along the street in the town. I believe it was called Ricky’s. You stepped in, took a menu, ordered your food at a bar, paid, took a number, and then took a seat. Much different, but in the long run much quicker!

Photo: View from our table, looking outside

Photos: Veggie Burger (No meat) - This is what I got…and it had beets on it!! They also give you pre-portioned salt & pepper, which I thought was really cool. 

Photo: And, of course, me enjoying the local brew! Lookin’ all crazy, like!

After lunch, we decided to head back to the ferry dock, and along the way, Jordan spotted a sign that said “Honey on the Comb!.” Of course, Jordan felt like it was necessary to go and get this honey on a comb, so we followed the steps down off of the side walk and up some more stairs to a quaint little house.

SUCCESS! 

We took our time walking the rest of the way back as Jordan tried to make me try some of this honey, which this random guy pulled out of his fridge and spooned into this container. I passed, somehow my degree that has multiple food safety classes played my devil’s advocate. 

We waited about an hour for the next ferry, and actually met some other people from the U.S. - CA to be exact. They were pretty nice, and was interesting to see what they thought of the island, too! We headed back to the mainland, and discussed what we wanted to do next. (We wanted to make every moment we were there last as long as possible). 

We definitely found some new sights to enjoy while walking back to the hostel! Check out my next post for those pics!!!

Cheers!

We spent our first day in Auckland exploring the city by foot, because we arrived pretty early in the morning. We walked EVERYWHERE. There is a public bus system, but I hate busses (car sickness), and you don’t really get to see everything along the way! Anyway, we met a lady from London who was also staying at our hostel, and she recommended going to Waiheke Island! It’s a small island off the East Coast of Auckland, NZ and you take a ferry there for about $35 pp. The ferry ride is about half an hour, depending on conditions. The day we went, it was perfect. I had to be careful though, because the ferry swayed back and forth quite a bit and the wind was furious!!! Dying to see some photos? Check these out!: 

Photo: Looking back at Auckland City

Photo: Sailboats along the way

Photo: Rocky Ridges (you can see how windy it is by that woman’s hair!)

Photo: Auckland City to the right (you can barely see Sky City)

Photo: Pulling into the dock at Waiheke Island!

The beautiful ferry ride there was only the beginning! Once we arrived, we took out our map and decided to trek to the nearest winery, so we didn’t have to spend too much money on a bike or car rental. The nearest town is within walking distance of the ferry dock. After about 35 minutes of walking, which the views were GORGEOUS, we arrived at the winery! Check out our photos below! (And, none of these pictures have been edited in any way, all of the colors are true to the actual photograph). 

Photo: The road we had to walk to get to the winery

Photo: Vineyard along the way

Photo: View from the deck of the Cable Bay Vineyard

Photo: Cable Bay Distillery

Photo: Enjoying some wine

Photo: Enjoying the Scenery at the winery

We ended up trying five of their wines, three whites and two reds. We did purchase a Sauvignon Blanc, which was very nice. We had a lot of fun walking to the winery, and our next stop was a small town that was about a 20 minute walk away (But when your’e buzzed, you don’t even notice). I will save that for the next post, this one is getting too long!

To Be Continued…

After our corn fritter cafe experience, we decided to grab a drink. Prior to going, I had done some research…okay a lot of research on the area and knew what particular bars/restaurants I definitely wanted to try. One of these was the Belgian Beer Cafe (I think cafe was added on the end just to fit into the area, since it was overpopulated with cafes). 

Photo: Belgian Beer Cafe - Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ

It was a very cool looking building as you can see, and sat proudly on the corner of two of the major streets in the small town of Ponsonby. 

We walked in, and the place is surprisingly empty on a Friday afternoon, but it was good Friday, so that probably had something to do with it. When we walked in, I got an old-town feel, everything made of old polished wood and the bar was absolutely gorgeous. We chose to sit outside under an umbrella because it was sunny and pretty warm!

Photo: Fireplace outside at the Belgian Beer Cafe

The waiter came to take our drink order and we took a look at the extensive beer menu and chose something not too pricey ($10/beer was cheap!).  We were surprised when the waiter said “well, we can’t just serve you alcohol today (Because it was Good Friday), you have to order something to eat in order to have alcohol. Jordan and I looked at each other and were like, HUH!? So, we caved and had them ring up an order of fries as well. 

***HOLY CRAP*** I thought the serving sizes in the US were big! These fries were big, and came in a HUGE bowl! (Mind you, we had just eaten at the cafe prior so we really weren’t hungry). 

Photo: Serving of French Fries & Mayo Sauce @ Belgian Beer Cafe

This would be our first encounter with NZ Ketchup! Not only do they serve ketchup, but also a mayo-based sauce that is seasoned with different spices, including mustard seed. It was surprisingly good. However, their ketchup ….was a different story. Jordan liked it, but I did not care for it as much. It wasn’t as sweet as American ketchup, but there was also some other spices in there that almost tasted like ginger and citrus. It did look the same though! They also don’t call it ketchup, they call it tomato sauce! 

Photo: “Tomato Sauce” at Belgian Beer Cafe

So, after we were persuaded to order food as well, we finally got our drinks! 

Photo: Jordan (my boyfriend) and his dark beer

Photo: Me and my lighter beer!

They were both delicious, but paying $10 for less than a pint kind of twisted my pocketbook! 

One other thing that I did love, was that when they bring water out to us, they leave an entire glass bottle on the table. It’s elegant and old-fashioned at the same time. They seemed to do this everywhere. It also probably has to do with the fact that there really aren’t waiters/waitresses. Just mainly to bring your food out. 

Photo: Water jug at Belgian Beer Cafe

Overall, the Belgian Beer Cafe was pretty sweet! I wish it was busier, but I suppose it had to do with the holiday. Had it been in the U.S., the holiday would have been even more of a reason to go out and party! 

Next Stop, Waiheke Island! Hang on for a ride of wineries, restaurants, and brews!

Cheers!

Wanna check out more about the Belgian Beer Cafe?! 

Go Here: http://www.belgian-beer-cafe.co.nz/ -OR- to see the one we went to, go here:

http://www.theponsonby.co.nz/