Are You Ready For The Country?*

We picked up our hire car in Auckland and headed north, over the harbour bridge and into the subtropical Northland which separates the Pacific Ocean from the Tasmin Sea. We drove through some stunningly scenic landscapes (will try and do a Flora and Fauna blog entry later) – some of it very reminiscent of Scotland. This was confirmed when we drove through a delightfully quirky village named Waipu which has an Aberdeen granite monument raised by some Scottish settlers in the mid 1800s when they formed a strict Calvinist community based on farming and forestry.
On to Whangarei (pronounced Fahn-ga-RAY) a laid-back down-to earth town with a slightly more upmarket/upbeat riverside area called the Town Basin, where several sleek yachts were moored, we had lunch and went for a shortish walk to Whangarei Falls where a broad cascade of waterfalls over 25metres of black rocks – very scenic with surprisingly few people around as evidently these are the most photographed falls in NZ!




More driving, more scenic countryside, more native conifers and more tree ferns to arrive at our wonderful B&B – “Tarltons Lodge” on the hillside overlooking Te Ti Bay and the islands. We have a small self contained studio which has a huge window overlooking the bay but we also have a deck where we are now sitting sipping our cool Riverstones 2008 Sauvignon Blanc which has zesty and fresh kiwi and passion fruit flavours, complimented by a delicious crisp finish. We shall soon be wandering down the very steep hill into the village for dinner, where surely another bottle awaits...
(Last night’s tasting notes: a 2008 Dividing Ridge Pinot Noir revealed mild tannins (a result of the very warm summer followed by a cool autumn which was used to make this limited edition wine) and a wonderfully intense nose of cherries, herbs and dark chocolate. Brilliantly balanced palate is savoury with rich berry fruit. There’s a bit of sweetness to the fruit. Good complexity and density.)