An old favourite in the land of the Kiwi!

So it turns out that a life of housewifery suits me! Well – The first week was good anyway. After returning from a wonderful weekend away in Napa I settled in to fill my days with pool time, sunshine, cooking and some wedding planning. And relocation to Australia planning … whaaaaat?! Yes! Word is out and it is official. We are moving back to Australia!

Its been quite the year for us! This move to Laguna has been a blast but we’re pretty confident that the USA isn’t where we want to be forever so after getting married in December, we’re taking a 2 month honeymoon (yes you read that correctly) before relocating to Melbourne effective February 1, 2012. Wowsers!! Life is gooooooood!!

Anywhoooo I’m digressing – The first week of housewifery was a hoot. Although my days were not as empty as anticipated. Housewifery became even busier because Joep & I had some fun trips to get busy with. Joep had a work trip back to the Netherlands and I used his trip as an opportunity to visit one of my all time favourite people Julz in New Zealand! It is a travesty that I grew up in Australia right next door to New Zealand and yet have never been to this amazing country … I take solace in the fact that I grew up in Perth which is a looooong way from NZ and therefore feel moderately less ashamed of myself.

I’ve fixed that problem now though! On Sunday evening after a lovely weekend by the pool in Laguna Joep & I headed to LAX where we said goodbyes (**sniff sniff**) and boarded our respective flights to Amsterdam and Auckland.

Upon arrival in Auckland on Tuesday (yes, I lost a full day in transit … crossing the International Date Line mid-air!) I was greeted by the lovely and newly engaged Julz! The reunion was as full of excitement as all other reunions have been and we headed out to brunch immediately after dropping my bags at her sweeeeeet down town apartment. My first glimpse of Auckland was the north shore. It’s a pretty awesome first glimpse. The views of Auckland city as you cross the bridge on your way to Devonport are incredible. The city bears a striking resemblance to Vancouver (which you should all know is a city Joep & I loooove) with the biggest difference being that the water is a more incredible colour in Auckland than Vancouver. After a splendid brunch Julz headed off to work and I settled in for a bit of relaxing and to plan my week of fun in Auckland.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the wonderful Auckland suburb of Parnell. It’s the oldest suburb of Auckland and jammed packed with cute little stores and delicious little cafes. Heaven! After enjoying a winters day stroll through the area (wearing only a little jacket … Canadian winters, I don’t think we are going to miss you!) I headed back to meet up with Julz and head out for a fun filled (read: beer filled) quiz night. Our team lost. Came dead last actually. But what we lacked in general knowledge we made up for in fun AND I kicked my jet lag in the butt on day 1 of the vacation. Something I have never done before!

Day 2 I was up bright and early to head out on a tour of one of the many islands in the Hauraki Gulf north of Auckland. Waiheke Island is incredible scenic and, most importantly, jam packed full of incredible wineries. The island is inhabited and a decent amount of Aucklander’s commute from Waiheke to the mainland daily for work. What a life! I spent a chunk of the day being bused around from winery to winery enjoying the sights of Waiheke. Very impressive.

Having thoroughly enjoyed a few too many wine tastings, I hopped on the ferry back to the mainland to meet up with Julz for an evening of bubbles, snacks and couch time with heaps of gossip. To add to the fun of the visit, Julz has 2 fantastic roommates who are kindred spirits and enjoy gossip and bubbles as much as we do. Contentment!

The following day I had grand plans of checking out as much of mainland Auckland city as possible and what better way to do it than via a hop on hop off bus! There is seriously a lot to see and do in Auckland. I was informed by numerous Kiwi’s that the city is, and I quote, ‘the armpit of NZ’ – If this is an armpit then I cannot WAIT to come back and see more of this amazing country!! I checked out all the sights of the city from Mission Bay Lookout to Mount Eden, a volcano in the middle of the city … brief side bar: Auckland straddles the Auckland Volcanic Field, which has produced about 50 volcanoes! These take the form of cones, lakes, lagoons, islands and depressions, and several have produced extensive lava flows. Most of the cones have been partly or completely quarried away. The individual volcanoes are all considered extinct, although the volcanic field itself is merely dormant … meaning another eruption could technically occur at any time! Crazy huh? I thought so!

I also checked out the Auckland Museum and headed up the Sky Tower to check out the incredible views of the city while people bungee jumped from the top of the tower … crazy to see while sitting up there!

It was a pretty busy day but the fun didn’t end after the tour! I met up with Julz after work to go wedding dress shopping (for her, not for me … my dress is already picked and ready to be worn!) and then to head to a fashion parade for women’s lingerie. A LOVELY evening!!

Friday rolled around and the weather was the best it had been all week so I tried my luck with getting out to one more island … luck was on my side and by lunchtime I was on a ferry out of Rangitoto island! A brief lesson now … Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. It is 5.5 km wide and is an iconic and widely visible landmark of Auckland with its distinctive symmetrical shield volcano cone rising 260 metres high over the Hauraki Gulf. Rangitoto is the most recent and the largest of the volcanoes of the Auckland Volcanic Field. It is separated from the mainland of Auckland's North Shore by the Rangitoto Channel. Since WWII it has been linked by a causeway to the much older, non-volcanic Motutapu Island. You can tell the difference between the two islands super easily because Motutapu is lush and green and full of vegetation whilst Rangitoto is still predominantly made up of black volcanic rock.

Final bit of trivia that I found interesting, Rangitoto is Maori for 'Bloody Sky', with the name coming from the full phrase Ngā Rangi-i-totongia-a Tama-te-kapua ('The days of the bleeding of Tama-te-kapua'). Tama-te-kapua was the captain of the Arawa waka (canoe) and was badly wounded on the island, at a (lost) battle with the Tainui iwi (tribe) at Islington Bay.

So I spent the day touring around the island and learning heaps about its origins. It was GLORIOUS especially given that the weather was so good. As part of the tour we hiked up to the summit to check out the amazing views. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the colour of the water in the Hauraki Gulf is breathtakingly beautiful. Yowsers.

Upon arrival back in Auckland Julz & I changed quickly before heading out for dinner and drinks to watch the All Blacks play Japan in the world cup. Yes, things I have forgotten to mention so far. The Rugby World Cup is on at the moment and I was lucky enough to be in the hosting country / city! Clearly I am not a huge rugby fan or this would’ve been a bigger deal but, similar to the Vancouver Olympics (which we coincidentally enjoyed as house guests of Julz as well!), just being in the hosting city was pretty cool. The streets are full of people in party mode and everyone is proudly wearing their countries colours. A LOT of fun. This fun was further magnified on Friday night as Julz & I joined the revelers! After dinner and a few drinks we headed to the Cloud which is the epicenter of world cup partying in Auckland where we met up with Julz’ cousins (if you read my Amsterdam blogs you’ll know one of these cousins as Andrew … he is also a favourite!) for a night of frivolity. The hours that followed were full of beers, dancing and laughs. Evening highlight would have to be when, while following the lyrics of a song literally, Julz threw me over her shoulder (literally) and ran through the crowds high 5-ing people. It was no mean feat! We weigh probably the same amount so I was shocked that she was able to do it but when Julz sets her mind to something she sticks to it! Hilarious!

It was a wonderful evening that ended in the early hours of the following morning. Saturday morning rolled around with fuzzy heads for Julz and I but we were both relieved that Julz still had the ability to walk after her efforts the previous evening. Too funny!

Still, there was limited time for hungover misery because Julz was spoiling me rotten by taking me to visit her folks in Tauranga, The Bay of Plenty. Yippee!! So we packed up the car and hit the road stopping briefly to return cousin Andrew’s laptop (which he inadvertently left behind at the Cloud the previous evening …surprising considering that we’d spent the entire evening dancing around it as though it were an Indian fire … true story) and another stop to say H&G to Rog the future hubby of Julz! By early afternoon we had driven through the Waikato (a region south of Auckland that is a big basin and is seriously lush) and entered the Bay of Plenty. Interesting fact for you that Julz taught me – There is a spot on the North Island called the Bay of Sorrows which sounds awful but its actually a super luscious place that is ideal for growing crops. The Bay of Plenty, while beautiful is less suitable for farming. Why the ironic names then? I had the same question! Turns out, Captain Cook sailed to NZ and had run out of food / water so he came ashore hoping to find some supplies. At his first stop he was greeted by a community of Maori’s who scared the bejeeezus out of him and sent him packing pretty quickly … without any supplies. So he named that spot the Bay of Sorrows. He stopped again shortly afterwards at a spot where there were no scary Maori’s and he was able to restock. He called that spot the Bay of Plenty … pffft silly Captain Cook.

Either way however, I thought the Bay of Plenty was pretty beautiful! Julz parents are awesome! We were greeted with unmatchable warmth and settled in for a wonderful evening of eating, enjoying the spa (its geothermal … yup, I bathed in water from underground springs that is headed by volcanic action. I’m pretty awesome …), good wine and really really good chats. LOVELY! I now understand why Julz is so awesome … it clearly runs in the family.

The following morning we headed up the Mount Maunganui which is a beautiful peak facing the Bay. After walking the Mount we stopped at a café for coffee just in time for the heavens to open (perfect timing!). We then headed home to pack and hit the road.

A week in Auckland few by far too quickly! It was seriously a lot of fun as is always the case with Julz. My Sunday evening flight saw me landing in LA on Sunday afternoon (time traveler!) to meet up with the Joepinator … love being reunited with him!!

The next time I see Julz will be at our wedding in December! Eeeeeee!! Too much to look forward to. Not to mention that we’ll be living in Melbourne next year SO close to NZ that we can do numerous trips to the incredible land of the Kiwi!

Big Sur and Beyond!

It was a long weekend here in North America last weekend and Joep & I had originally planned on doing nothing. Since I finished working and became a lady of leisure we both contracted a good old-fashioned bug and were laid up for a good week so we thought it would be best to lay low.

Then we realized … life is too short! We should go on an adventure! It was a good choice. I made a last minute online booking for a hotel in Napa Valley and we decided to head up north for a few days!

There are 2 ways to drive up the Napa from our place. We could’ve taken highway 5, which is inland and faster, OR we could take the 1. It goes all the way along the coast and includes the infamous Big Sur region. We decided that the coastal drive was the way to go on the way up and on the way back we would take the less exciting inland route. And so, at 6:30am on Saturday morning we were up, packed and on the road. Impressive.

So on the drive up we hit a lot of the idyllic towns along the coast. Here’s the thing – This drive is pegged as one of the best in the USA. I believe that to be the case however, I think Joep & I have been ruined. We’re spoiled by some of the other amazing coastal drives we’ve been lucky to do in our time … I’m from Australia for goodness sakes. The coast doesn’t get much more spectacular than that. And 2 years ago we drove along the coast of Montenegro down to the Albanian boarded and that was seriously breathtaking.

Don’t get me wrong, the drive was really pretty and if you haven’t done much coastal driving in your time it is likely breathtaking … for us it was another pretty coastal drive. Don’t judge us. In addition, I have to say that the cloud / smog cover impeded a lot of the view a lot of the way. The air quality is a real issue here especially closer to LA and the smog is awful. You feel like you’re driving into a cloud of poisonous gas (drama anyone?!) … That being said, we had a few big highlights along the road up to Napa!!

The first one would have to be Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park – We stopped here to do a couple of hikes and take in the surrounding. The beautiful forests right on the coast are really lovely. The trails were a bit short and didn’t go too far into the parks but I wonder if that was because of the time of year … it could be. This park also has the claim to fame of being home to the only coastal waterfall in California. We were excited to see it … I don’t know what we had in mind but it was something bigger than the trickle of water we saw. Still, we saw the only coastal waterfall in California! Again though, I think it must be more impressive at a different time of year.

Our second highlight was a real highlight – The lunch break. We stopped at the Big Sur General Store planning on just grabbing a quick sandwich and hitting the road. I was anticipating pre-prepared bland sandwiches. I was wrong. There is a great little burrito bar inside the store and they made fresh sandwiches. We picked up a feast and set up camp on the back of our Dodge in the sunshine soaking up the atmosphere. It was heavenly!! Total zen.

The remainder of the drive after our late lunch ecstasy was uneventful and we arrived in Napa at about 5pm which was pretty good considering we took the scenic route, stopped for hikes and had a lovely long lunch! Napa town is super pretty but it doesn’t hold a candle to the amazing surroundings. On Saturday evening we didn’t really know about the surroundings but we had a lovely chilled out dinner before hitting the sack for the evening.

The following morning, bright and early, we packed ourselves a picnic lunch and headed out to Yountville right in the heart of the Napa region. Our plan was to park the car and spend the day biking around the wineries (we took our bikes with us from Laguna … we love our Dodge).

Within minutes of leaving Yountville we were blown away – The region is just beautiful. It reminds us a lot of Margaret River … almost exactly actually. We were completely content. The weather was phenomenal, the surroundings were out of this world beautiful, we were getting some fresh air and we had great company (each other)!!

After biking for a little over an hour we decided to stop for a break and some refreshments. Our first winery was Mumm – We snagged the last seat on the terrace (lucky!) and settled in for some wine tasting. Delicious, refreshing … exactly what the doctor ordered. Still, we had more places to see so after thoroughly enjoying a few beverages we hopped back on our saddles and went on our way.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent biking around various wineries and stopping for a lovely picnic lunch. We were so content!! Alas, by about 4pm my butt was in total agony - this was yet another example of me going on vacation and suddenly thinking I am fitter than I am … there was a short route of wineries to bike and a long route. In my infinite wisdom I demanded that we do the longer route. I regretted it at the very end of the day but I would do it again … this region is too beautiful not to take in as much of it as possible!! So as we turned the final corner into Yountville I dismounted and Joep happily strolled with me back to the car.

We then settled in for a well-earned cold beverage before heading back to Napa town. Upon arrival back in the town we main an executive decision to have an early dinner. It was a good choice. We managed to nab a table at Celadon and we settled in for a seriously delicious meal. Both of us still salivate at the thought of the pork belly salad we had to start. I have vowed to learn how to cook this for Joep …. I’m not sure I’ll b able to master it but I am going to give it my best shot.

The meal was exactly what the doctor ordered after a day of biking around wineries in the sun and before too long we were contentedly full and ready to recline. Heaven.

Monday morning arrived too soon for our liking but we had a couple more things planned. There were 3 wineries that we had wanted to see the day before but couldn’t because there were no safe biking routes leading to them so we hit the road after breakfast to check out these last few wineries.

V. Satui was super picturesque and has an amazing deli where you can buy delicious food and preserves … it took all our strength to refrain from buying anything.

Beringer looked amazing but alas it wasn’t open by the time we got to it so we only caught a glimpse of the outside. It didn’t matter too much thought because the next stop was Castello di Amarossa. It’s literally a castle in the middle of a winery. It was pretty fantastic. The views are amazing and the weather was, once again, glorious! We had decided to not do a full tour but rather wander around by ourselves. When we first arrived the place wasn’t too busy so we were content wandering around. While wandering around we inadvertently found ourselves heading down some stairs into a cellar.

This cellar had a number of tunnels leading off it that lead into more cellars and more tunnels and so on and so forth. Well we just kept wandering. At one point however it got pretty dark and the wine bottles surrounding us were covered in a thick layer of dust. And we started to wonder if perhaps we were not supposed to be down there. You’d think we would have then turned back right? Nope. We moved onward! We wanted to see what else we could find. It was a total maze of wine filled dungeons and tunnels. Totally cool.

Eventually the novelty wore off and we got tired of hiding from each other and jumping out yelling ‘Boogy boogy boogy boogy boogy!!’ while the other on screamed and said ‘That’s not funny Joep! I hate when you scare me!’ (Yes, Joep did the hiding, I did the screaming … so predictable) and we decided that it was time to head back. A challenge.

After a good amount of aimless wandering we eventually heard voices in the distance. We followed the noise only to come across an employee of the winery. He was less than impressed to see us in the restricted part of the winery but softened a little when we told him we were totally lost and there had been no signs saying we couldn’t be down there … He then lead us back up to the tasting room where we enjoyed a few tastings before it was time to hit the road.

It was with heavy hearts that we left the Napa region. It is really a beautiful spot and makes us SUPER excited about our wedding!!

As I mentioned earlier, we had decided to go inland home, This also afforded us the opportunity to check out the capital of California, Sacramento! The guidebooks don’t give Sacramento the best wrap. I’m not sure they are being accurate. We thought it was a really beautiful city! It is a lot like Perth actually. It is super clean, really pretty and it seems like a nice quiet city. We checked out the parliament and did a drive by the old town (which houses California’s largest concentration of historic buildings) and then it was time to get serious about getting home at a reasonable hour.

The remainder of the day was spent driving inland through California – We actually LOVED the scenery inland! It was different to other scenery we have seen and the colours were so vivid!

We arrived back in Laguna in time to chill out on the couch with Chinese and reminisce about a seriously wonderful weekend! Napa – It has stolen our hearts!