Another Home

I made it to Wanaka, but not without effort! The day before I was to depart another storm raged through! The rain there is no laughing matter. This one caused 7 slips that we could identify and driving from Franz Joseph to Wanaka. One was caused by a river diverting itself from it's bed and and crossing the road instead of going under the bridge. That was the biggest and took most of the day to clear up! It was all worth it though to see the waterfalls raging through the canyon!

All the plans I had to hike and camp around Wanaka disappeared with each rock climber I met. the first three days were spent climbing, the fourth watching a few better climbers and doing short hikes in the area, the fifth, climbing. I suppose that's not ALL I did though. I stayed with the young lady I met on the Nelson Lakes hike who was hiking with her dad. Her roommates took me in without question and we had some awesome group dinners all week long! We also spent a day playing acrobatics in the park, I have learned a bit about juggling, though I need a lot of practice still!! Here's a pic of Claudia, my hostess, juggling on her friend's shoulders! Slack-lining was taking place just behind us :)

Wanaka is by far my favorite city/town in NZ so far! There was never-ending opportunities to meet new people and have a little adventure each day!

Leaving Wanaka I hitch-hiked, headed for my next set of roots. Grapevine roots! Misha's Vineyard! My new office!

Mishasvineyard.com

The website is lovely but doesn't come close to showing how awesome these guys are! Misha grew up an opera woman's daughter. The star of and center of the stage in her mom's life. She doesn't, and never did, have any inclination to raise children. She's been a successful dancer, having grown up in the theater, naturally she took up an aspect of theater. But her big success has been in business and marketing. She made a name for herself working for Dell and a few other big names. Born and raised Aussie, lived and worked in Singapore for the 17yrs leading up to starting her vineyard.
Andy is a whole 'nother story! Having been married and divorced, he's got a few kids wandering the world, popping in and out of his life. I can't wait to meet Dean, he's a high class chef! Andy grew up with a number of siblings, so the thought of having a young lady, such as myself, barge into their home with no departure date wasn't quite as daunting for him. Born and raised a Kiwi, Andy has lived in a few countries including Singapore with Misha. He's done well for himself starting out in type-writer maintenance, moving along to selling personal computers, managing people, working for IBM and a few other big names...

They take really good care of me and feed me well! :) Which is a very important part of my happiness...full tummies make happy people. Proven fact. I was at their house a mere week before my first full wine tasting of Misha's Vineyard's wines.  Andy is a great chef. He's got breakfast on the table every weekday by 7am and always an interesting dinner! Anything from home made pizza to poached pork to a melt in your mouth steak!! It's lovely!

Each Sunday we make eggs benedict. I'm in charge of the hollandaise sauce. Which has been working out quite well. On this particular day ----->
 we were distracted by a few people that required a vineyard tour. Sadly, breakfast was put off until lunch time (LATE lunch at that) so we pulled out all the stops! We accompanied the eggs benny with sausage, bacon, caramelized tomatoes, and champagne!



I've now been here a month. I work on the vineyard most days and man I have some beach workouts to do if I think I'm gonna get rid of the tan-lines made from working on the vineyard! Luckily the tan-lines all match the various, and few, shirts I have here. I am a professional leaf plucker and tucker, and we've just started to thin out the grape bunches. I gotta say,  cutting off bunches is one of the most painful jobs. I understand WHY we do it and I fully support it to make better wine. It still makes me sad to see potential fall to the ground, but I have tasted their wines and they know what they're doing so I continue to chop off bunches and bunches of unripe grapes.

A good friend Heather Krebs will be arriving to wreak a bit of havoc with me in just a few days time, so I'm sure there will be more pics to share with you all when she leaves!