An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We switched roles for a morning - Milton stayed in and made some phone calls while Wendy went into town to do some errands. We (with great sadness!) checked out of our Nugget Point apartment and headed, yet again, for Wanaka and The White House, though this morning some rain had returned. Although we had done the Wanaka-to-Queenstown drive twice already, this time we were going the other way, and it looked almost completely different. The ride was through a deep, winding valley of amber brush and grass, and many groves of large golden-leafed trees along the turquoise-colored Shotover river.
We arrived at the restaurant and placed our order with the strange but intriguing owner and chef, Peter. We started with our beloved mezze, but in place of the wonderfully flavorful pesto we got pureed beetroot, since he was still waiting for his herb delivery. Not even remotely an equal substitution, but perhaps our hosts for this evening will be grateful that we were spared some of Peter’s garlic-laden creations. We enjoyed the delicious pan-seared calamari and some mussels, along with a heaping veggie salad. For dessert we just had to get a half-half order of the sumptuous baklava and the chocolate-coconut torte (in the amazing chocolate biscuit crust). Wendy then asked for the recipes of the two desserts, which Peter gladly gave us, then he told us that he was working on a crime novel in which he’ll include a different recipe with each chapter. We had to get on the road, so we bid another farewell and drove off into the clouds.
The 3 hours to the Farmstay were scenic, though a bit different. The surroundings were mostly bare hills, with several mountain ranges in the near distance. We stopped a few times to attempt to photograph the absolutely vibrant, perfectly arched rainbows that we kept chasing. We finally drove past the famed Lake Tekapo, which is known for its unreal color of bright opaque turquoise. Mt. Cook, though, continued to hide from us, as it was again completely obscured by low clouds; maybe tomorrow. . .
We arrived at our farmstay and met the friendly Alister France, who showed us to the little cottage down the lane from their house. We settled in, then headed back to have dinner with our hosts. We met Lesley - Alister’s wife - and the four of us sat down to a delicious home-cooked meal of tomato soup (which was tasty, though a bit too sweet), quite-good lamb, some bland vegetables with good butternut squash, and a very good Marlborough Merlot. Dessert was a raisin-bread pudding type dish, served with pecans and a warm toffee sauce. Mmmmmm.
Over the course of the evening, we learned a lot about the sheep-farming business. This station (”Farm” is small, “Station” is large) is over 35,000 acres and though their main business is the harvesting of merino wool (they have around 9,500 sheep), they also raise beef cattle and some cash crops. We also discussed the superiority of New Zealand Merino Wool (look for the label!) and what it’s like running a farmstay business. Also, that their two sons went off to boarding school at age 10 (13 years ago), since it was necessary in order to give the children a top education and exposure to enough other kids.
We said our goodnights (and gave a final few pets to Silver and Monty, their brother and sister big fluffy cats) and returned to our chilly cottage to throw some more wood in the woodstove and crank up the electric blankets.