Vitamin Jam: September 2014

Wow its been some time since my last post. Not having a consistent internet connection makes it difficult to be a good blogger. *coughexcusescough*

After leaving beautiful blue Cape Regina, we spent a week in Omaha. We were tired from all the nauseating driving so BF and I ended up being pretty lazy that week! We spent a lot of time at the air rifle range in Warkworth. :)

Air rifle range

Mini putt!

Our wonderful hostess took us along to quiz night at a local pub. It was a lot of fun and we learned the phrase "shout a drink" which means to buy someone a drink.

We won!

From there we drove to Devonport where we left our car behind and took the ferry to Waiheke Island. If you ever go, I highly recommend taking your vehicle if you can swing it. (It's 200$!!) There is a lot to explore on Waiheke island and you just can't get to them without your own transportation. That being said, BF and I didn't get to see a lot on the island, but we were content to just wander around. It is intensely hilly, so it was a great workout for the glutes.

We had a funny incident when we first arrived on the island. Our hosts sent us instructions, so we hopped onto a bus. But we must've still looked a little lost as a man sitting near us took it upon himself to try to guide us. He turned to me and asked what directions we'd been given. Being a bit shy and very unsure, he must have had a hard time understanding me because he turned to BF and said "How's your English?"! And earlier that day I was reading an article about an English speaking Asian (her first language) in Japan being told that her "English is pretty good...for an Asian". It made us both laugh.

Sunny dinning table

Our lovely outdoor kitchen

Macadamia bounty! Only $5!!

There are a lot of strange mailboxes in NZ

I do have a bit of advice concerning the ferries in the Auckland area - make sure you know where your stop is! On our way back to Devonport from Waiheke, we completely missed our stop. There was no announcement or signalling whatsoever that the wharf we docked at was Devonport. And our ferry stopped for only a few short minutes before disembarking. We ended up riding the ferry to Auckland CBD and then buying another ticket to go back to Devonport.

Great vegan food at Zest in Devonport

I've noticed more and more that while the Kiwi people, for the most part, are wonderfully kind and helpful, some things are very much in the "fend for yourselves" category. One such example being no announcements at ferry stops. Another example is driving. Two lanes of traffic will suddenly merge into one lane and the drivers have to drag race for who goes first. Oh, and traffic circles everywhere. Because traffic circles are cooler than traffic lights, right? But I digress.

We spent a night in Auckland so we could hit up a few places I had been really wanting to visit - high tea at Hectors Restaurant and dessert at Milse.

The high tea at Hector's isn't just any high afternoon tea. They can make it vegan! And of course, for such a nice place, we had to dress up at least a little. I bought my whole ensemble at a hospice store for 30$, shoes included. :D

The coolest part of high tea was learning that Hector's makes their own vegan coconut yogurt as well as their own vegan cheese! And absolutely order the cinnamon tea, it gets better and better with each cup.

Cucumber avocado sandwich and a
tomato with vegan cheese sandwich

Blueberry muffin and cream cheese icing,
coconut macaron, brownie bite, mini fruit tart
with coconut cream

Delicious currant scones

Best tea ever!

Definitely a splurge, but for the love of tea, finger sandwiches, and teeny tiny scones, it was totally worth it. It didn't hurt that the service was top notch and hey, dressing up is nice when any other time there is probably a stain on my clothes.

Later (and by later I mean an hour later :P), we hit up Milse, a dessert-only restaurant! It is a very tiny place but it is full of gorgeous desserts in a mix of interesting flavours. I really wanted to go during their a la carte menu, but we already had dinner plans so we could only order from their showcase. BF had a tamarillo and pistachio gelato stick while I had the matcha, honey, lemon, sesame and tamarillo entremet. BF wasn't a huge fan of the tamarillo flavour (similar to a sweet tomato), and I wasn't sure the tamarillo worked with the matcha but the desserts were beautiful and fun!

Matcha and tamarillo

Tamarillo and pistachio gelato stick

The next day we drove three and a half more hours to Purangi Winery located on the east side of the Coromandel Penninsula. A great winery with very tasty liquers. A must visit if you're in the area. Plus, you'll get to meet Danny. I guarantee you he'll make you laugh.

Fluffy!

It was great working there and an entirely different experience. Instead of the usual do-four-hours-in-the-morning-and-get-the-rest-of-the-day-off, it was wake up, lazily make breakfast, do the morning tasks, chill a little, clean some wine bottles/bottle some wine, chill some more, play hackie sack or ping pong, make pizza for customers, chill, make pizzas, chill, make pizzas, dinner at some point, evening tasks, ice cream and chocolate and more chilling. It was like working all day but at the same time not. Mostly because the company was so much fun, it was no effort at all.

Pizza for lunch

Of course, the two original reasons for coming to this region was to visit Hot Water beach and Cathedral Cove. Hot water beach is named thusly because hot spring water bubbles up to the surface allowing you to dig a hole and essentially, build your own hot pool. It's hot! The water is 60C when it reaches the surface. Also, if you do go, you can't just dig anywhere, dig near the bubbling sand. But not directly on it! BF and I had to give visitors advice because many were diggings holes randomly and then would walk away disappointed or very confused. It can get very busy there so Danny highly recommends going late at night. Oh, and bring a colander, it makes a great shower!