We took off on another trip this weekend, this time a two-night affair over the local "hills" to the quaint town of Martinborough. The drive was invigorating as it involved the most precipitous cliffs and hairpin turns we've yet experienced. Words don't really do it justice so I'll just shut up about it.
Martinborough is located smack dab in the middle of the local wine country. It's a quiet little town organized around a cute town square. The main activity is checking out the local vineyards and olive groves before relaxing in one of the many cottages. We spent a day and a half taking it easy here before setting off on a road trip to the very bottom of the North Island: Cape Palliser. Here's a pic of Amy and Amelia at the southernmost latitude any of us have ever reached (41 degrees and change):
Near the cape lies a small fishing village. My kin back home in Louisiana will be interested to hear that I've learned a new method for launching boats: hook 'em up to a bulldozer.
The locals must have grown weary of getting stuck on the beach because there are about 20 or 30 old bulldozers hooked up to the boat trailers. Many of them are painted, named, and adorned in various ways. The pink one above was named "Babe," naturally.
From the Cape it was only a short hop to the Pinnacles. These are some interesting rock formations created by about a dozen million years of erosion (pictured at the top of the page). Amelia got hot during the hike and decided to cool off by dropping her pants (photo removed as we reconsidered posting our daughter's bare bum online).
On the way out of the park we were treated to a nice sunset looking out over the Cook Strait, with the South Island barely visible in the distance (zoom in if that seems confusing).
Coming soon: why I love my job (it involves a haka) and the All Blacks take on the Aussies...
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