Our Sunday morning started with the best of intentions...going to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes. This is a mission area, meaning that Havelock North, Hastings and Picton all share the same priest. There is only one Mass at each location....and Kathy got the wrong time for this one....so we arrived as they were singing the recessional and rejoiced right along with everyone!! A gentleman approached Tom as I was taking pictures. He was a retired civil engineer who had visited Greenville, SC!!! He had a nephew who worked there. And I was approached by two lovely women who chatted quite a bit about the history of the church (It is designed by a Maori architect who fashioned the church after the meeting house of the Maori). They also had various suggestions for touring for us.....Everyone is so helpful and friendly here....they stop us on the street if we look confused (which is often) and offer to help.
As you may know already, a "cuppa" is either tea or coffee.....and the phrase is used frequently.
This one is for you, Janet!
This was the first winery in NZ and still in operation.
Did you know that the tree-lined avenues, boulevards, and now driveways all originated in France during the time of Bonaparte....He had them planted along the Champs Elyse and elsewhere to celebrate his triumphant victories. Napoleon, being Napoleon, wanted more drama and more ambience and more effect....it works, doesn't it?
The winery was originally a mission, established by pioneering French missionaries, the Catholic Society of Mary.....hence its name. This was the seminary, training building.
The former chapel is now used for weddings and other events.
The missionaries brought their religion AND their winemaking techniques with them....it appears that the wine was more successful than the religion.
The tasting rooms have the serenity and the reverence of a church (but not the snobbery of Hans and his Herzog $10 fee). We tasted 6 wines, all very good, but our favorites were the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay....neither Tom nor I care for Chardonnay, but this was outstanding!
One of the first bottles is encased under the entry steps.
Doubt that you have noticed, but today we don't have our usual sunny, blue skies. It even rained this morning, but don't know if that helped the South Island whose drought situation was worse than the North Island. Anyway, we decided to postpone our trip to Kidnapper's Bay to see the gannets' nesting place due to weather and do the "car" thing.....So here we are at Elephant Hill....a total contrast to Mission Estate.....very contemporary in architecture and only open since 2002.
The owners are German Hindu.
The weather was so yukky, we decided to go inside....however, as we stayed for lunch and the skies darkened, we noted that several sets of bikers were huddled under these umbrellas, tasting the wine.
This young man was our taster person. He is in his 2nd year of a 4 year degree of vintner study. He hopes one day to have his own vineyard....very knowledgable and affable. We did not buy any wine here, but we had a delicious lunch.
Remember that stately tree in yesterday's blog...our first glimpse of our new lodging???? Diana is having it CUT DOWN because it blocks the late afternoon sun on their pool!!! Her husband is not here....he is in Australia at the Grand Prix auto road race....she is in a hurry to have it removed before he returns tomorrow.....he doesn't know! The noise was awful, but far, far worse was watching the destruction of such a natural asset....each guest was disgusted!
