Martinborough

Sunny weather was predicted for the week end, and these twenty-five year Texans hoped to get some sun along with a couple of lazy days in the pinot noir Martinborough region. We arrived at our B&B Friday evening to the pinot noir that our gracious hosts had ready for us. Nice. 

We spent the morning at the large and interesting Martinborough fair that had been rescheduled from February-a nice bonus to the week end. After the hard work of shopping, we relaxed with a pleasant bike ride in the country and wine tasting at a couple of wineries.

Vynfields, a boutique, organic/biodynamic vineyard. It was "lovely".

As it was National Alpaca Day, we went an open house at a local farm. I have never been much of a farm or ranch person, but these alpacas are just too cute! They are so much better than sheep. I understand the castrated male alpacas make good pets, although I don’t think we have enough room in our Palmy yard or in our Austin yard. And there are those pesky zoning codes..

These guys will make great pets, but will never be dads.

We weren’t ready to wrap up the week end so we took a side trip to Riversdale Beach on the Pacific. As always, we were calmed and nourished as we walked in the sand, watched the waves, and looked for rocks and shells.We topped it off by meeting someone almost from home, the owner of the small beach store, who has been in New Zealand for thirty years, but still has an ear for our midwest accent. She is from Antigo, Wisconsin.

There are still a few blossoms on the pohutukawa trees.

Every once in awhile we find a beautiful paua shell.

We had only about an hour of sun during the week end, but the choice to go to Martinborough was a very good one.