On the morning of Rachel's last day in prison, we both had the 9-12 shift. It was overcast, and I didn't really expect much of the day as we were shut in the office working on our scripts. Around 11, the skies cleared up and the sun started shining. Brilliant! Rachel wanted to do something, I wanted to do something. But what? Everything in New Zealand can be really fun and exciting so long as you're willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for it. I guess that's how the world works, but it seems especially true here. Rachel had wanted to do a wine tour of area since Hawke's Bay is the second largest producers of wine in New Zealand. However, she didn't want to drive herself only to stay sober, so it never happened. I had seen some wine touring buses advertised online, so I asked Rachel if she was willing to blow her budget a bit. For wine? Always! After a quick call to the i-Site and an easy transfer of funds, we were signed up for the Prinsy Wine Tour-complete with cheese board.
Hamish, our driver, picked us up from the bottom of Bluff Hill about 20 minutes after we booked, and I immediately satisfied that we had made a great decision. He was super friendly, and immediately got the positive energy flowing throughout the bus. Hamish had spent some time working on a ranch near Calgary, and his daughter is currently living in Vancouver, so I felt the comfort of someone knowing where you come from. We had 4 other tour mates - Beryl and Jerry from England, and two quiet but very nice Korean girls. Rachel and I were quickly nicknamed Oregon and Canada, which stuck for the rest of the afternoon.
We went to the Mission Estate, Moana, and Black Barn Wineries, along with one more I'm afraid I can't remember the name of, but that was where I had the most delicious cheese plate of my life, so I shall call it Cheese Plate Winery. I'm talking 5 different kinds of cheeses, olives, whole grain bread, crackers, apples, dolmas, hummus, plum sauce, pickled onions, and delicious, delicious wine on a sunny Monday afternoon. Heaven.
My favourite winery was Moana, where their philosophy towards wine making means they are organic and vegetarian. They also don't use sulphates during the harvesting process, which is what gives you that horrible wine hangover. What I mean is, you can drink all the wine you want, and you won't get that horrible day after headache. Ohmygods. When you get to the Cellar door at Moana (which is a general name of where you taste wine at vineyards), a staff member sits down with you and spends as long as you want talking about the wine you're drinking and all of the practices they have going on behind the scenes. Our lady told us a funny story about being at a Vegan Convention where she was selling her wine, and accidentally telling a customer how good it tasted with steak. Whoops. They are also connected to a winery in Creston, BC. I didn't even know Canada had wineries.
Hamish also took us up to Te Mata Peak, which is another of the 'must do's' in the area. It was stunning - a 360 degree vista around Hawkes Bay all the way to the ocean.
All this was amazing, but my favourite part of the wine tour was spending the day with Beryl and Jerry. They were in their 80s, but spunky as hell. They started the afternoon off by reminiscing about that time in Greece when Beryl had a lot of wine to drink, and danced on the tables in the bar they were in. I was immediately smitten with her. We were encouraged to give our opinions on what we were drinking, and whenever Rachel would offer up an answer, Beryl would immediately respond with "I like the way that Oregon thinks. Very clever girl." After the first two wineries, Beryl decided she had enough to drink, and started to pour her serving into my wine glass. Love her.
With the help of wine, any conversation can flow easily, but this extended to the point where we were all invited over to England to be wined and dined at Beryl and Jerry's house. You just need to take Exit 23 off the M6, and it's the 3rd house from the end. I can't wait to go.
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