That’s the best way I can describe New Zealand- a place we both love.
One of Sabrina’s best friends lives in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital and with her help we organized a rough road trip itinerary and spent a couple of weeks exploring both the main islands. It was off season so no accommodation needed to be booked, and we just overnighted where the mood took us- the very best kind of road trip, in other words. Both islands are preternaturally beautiful and a whole lot bigger than they look (four thousand kilometres is a lot of driving, but I don’t regret a single one of them).
Somehow the rain, which fell almost incessantly on our South Island portion (you won’t find the green of a New Zealand pasture on any colour chart), always cleared to sunshine when we needed it most. We watched the crazies bungee jumping off the bridge at Queenstown but did not partake, instead seeking thrills by renting boots, crampons and steel tipped mountain poles to hike Fox Glacier with Dave our mountain guide, who helped us skirt the lethal crevasses and moulins (deep holes in the ice) to explore shimmering blue ice caves and walk under soaring arches pushed up by the advancing ice (the glacier is moving about a metre a day currently).
A sunny, cloudless boat trip on the fjord at Milford Sound was an especial miracle as it is one of the wettest places on the planet, with an average annual rainfall of 365 inches. We took the last boat of the afternoon and as the winter light turned golden saw seals, dolphins and spectacular waterfall rainbows.
We’d planned to have lunch at Akaroa on our way back to Christchurch to look at the blue pearls which are unique to that peninsula, but instead even Sabrina was persuaded by our motel owner’s recommendation to stop at Kaikoura instead, having first detoured to taste citrusy Sauvignon Blancs and pet the baby lambs (granting our daughter’s main wish), at Waipara Hills in the Marlborough region.
The South Island’s wine has of course long been legendary, but perhaps less well known is that over the past decade or so New Zealand has quietly become a bit of a foodie mecca with its superb local ingredients and its own interesting brand of fusion cooking. Easily the most evocative meal we had was the simplest- at a little roadside seafood spot on the beach at Kaikoura. The chef had literally set up a grill and a couple of tables and chairs on the side of the road. There were chalkboard directional and menu signs not only for passing motorists, but set up on the sand facing the surf, in case someone happened to swim up for lunch.
The green-lipped mussels and scallops we enjoyed had been caught only a few minutes earlier- indescribably fresh!
Green lipped mussels and scallops: Serves Three
1 lb large scallops
2 lbs green lipped mussels, still in the half shell
6 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped parsley
½ cup olive oil
½ tsp salt
1 lemon
Mix the garlic, parsley, salt and oil together. Mix 2 tbsp of the oil mixture into the scallops, plus a squeeze of lemon juice.
Put a dollop of the oil mixture onto each of the mussels plus a squeeze of lemon juice.
Grill them until done.
Each trip gets better and better thank you for sharing x
Love those scallops!