Last days at The Shed

 

10 Weatherill Close (Airbnb), Wanaka, Otago, NZ

We left The Shed this morning and are now staying in Wanaka but I'll retrace over the past few days....

Wednesday evening, after a fine dinner bbq cooked by Phil and Liz, we watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople - which is a hilarious New Zealand film if you have not seen it.

Me and Saeed in the kitchen

Nas rugged up!

Liz and I

Phil cooking bbq sausages

Mark chilling on the verandah

On the Thursday, everyone did different things, the choice of which is quite aligned with everyone's personalities.  Sue and Jonathan went, early, to an eco-sancturary, did a big hike and saw amazing scenery. I went with Liz, Saeed, Nas and Neesa into Dunedin. I explored various art galleries, a museum, and did some shopping; Liz visited her ill mother; and Nas and team just meandered around...  Mark and Phil stayed at the Shed and chilled.  It was good to have a 'free' day. I havent been sleeping well and so having some time out recharged me a bit.

Painting I liked at the Dunedin Art Gallery

Dunedin museum and old train station

Then around 3pm we all met for wine-tasting in a wine shop. The guy who ran the session, Paul, was extremely knowledgeable about wine but also a little bit depressive... Things are very grim in the NZ wine industry. Not only is climate change making wine growing more unpredictable but also there are fewer people drinking these days, big export challenges and rubbish marketing.... Anyway, we tried to do our bit to support the sector!

Wine tasting. NZ famous for Sauvignon Blanc and increasingly pinot noir

Nas and a very nice bottle of wine

Each night, a different couple prepared dinner and since most of Bookclub (except us) seem to be cordon bleu cooks, we ate like royalty. But it also meant high pressure. Thursday night was our turn to cook. Mark made curry and did an admirable job. My main task was to set the table but I even messed this up because the wind started blowing like crazy the second I laid down the last piece of cutlery, making Mark very cross as his poppadoms blew all over the place. So I was glad to have that duty over!

After dinner, we had a fun games night playing pool,  darts, and space invaders, mostly with a serious lack of skill, but a lot of spirit. Poor Phil had to repeatedly explain to us the rules of a very strange dart game that just made no sense. Nas turned out to be very good at darts despite having no idea what she was doing. 

The sun is out!

Absolutely no wind at this moment, but it didnt last

Friday, our last full day, was an early start (for us). We were off by 9am, heading to Lanarch Castle, built by some wealthy guy who made a lot of money from gold. We enjoyed the furniture and decor in the castle (similar era to some of our antiques at home), the gardens, but most of all, the views - especially the glipmses of stunning Dunedin harbour through the trees.

Mark with new socks from Lanarch Castle - he couldnt find any matching socks at home

Tea and custard squares (like a vanilla slice but not as good) at the castle

Gorgeous views from the garden

Liz and her sister Fiona who is head gardener at the castle

Phil in front of the castle

In the afternoon, our plan was to see the albotross at a special santuary. They are hatching chicks at the moment. Unfortunately it turned out that we needed to book a tour, which we didnt do and all tours were full... So we instead went to the viewing cliffs in the hope of spotting an albatross. "If you are patient and very lucky", said the person selling tours, "you might see one flying out over the cliffs". Well there were millions of very smelly seagulls pooing everywhere, and we spotted seals and some very cool  kelp in the sea. But alas no albatross. Next time!

Looking for albatross (unsuccessfully)

Amazing kelp in the sea, quite alien

Sooo many seagulls it felt a bit like that movie "The Birds"

Then it was back to the house for our last night. 

The weather gradually improved through the week. Before we arrived it was freezing, rainy and windy,  but by Friday evening, the sun was shining and there was not a breath of air. I even had a swim in the bay! Admittedly it was very cold to get in (even colder than Peaceful Bay), but it warmed up after being in a few minutes. I then had a glorious time in the hammock, the sun warming me up, a refreshing glass of gin and tonic to hand.

Our final meal, fabulous steak cooked by Jonathan and Sue, was followed by "bookclub". We discussed the book Flames by James Robbie (or something like this). Pretty much everyone agreed the author has potential but ultimately the book was overly complex and not great (scores from around 2-5 ish).

Saturday morning was goodbye time. Everyone went in different directions at different times, some back home and some doing more travelling. Mark and I left around 10am for Wanika. 

Sadly our Shed time came to an end, although probably good opportunity to allow our livers to recover.... 

Thank you to Liz and Phil for being such amazing hosts, tour guides, and wine/food organisers - never losing it even though at times the cats were very hard to herd... We really appreciate them sharing their beautiful home and country with us.

Perfect way to end the day - in  a hammock after a swim, fully protected from the wind and gin & tonic within reach