We had a fairly peaceful night at Karetu Downs Farmstay and woke to a bit a drizzle in the morning. After farewelling our hosts, and me talking Bruce in to driving us out of there, we navigated the steep metal, winding road in to Waipara. We went in the other direction and this time only had 7 kms of metal road to shudder our way through. The other end of the road led straight in to the area of Waipara where vineyards abound. I was determined to visit a few of them and first on our list (where we opted for a coffee) was Fiddlers Green Vineyard. We were the only visitors there, so had the chance to talk to the owner about growing grapes. Apparently there is an underground river that flows through the area and the vineyards tap into this to water their vines.
We were quite taken with their outdoor tables made to look like boats. When the seats were pushed under the table they looked like the sides of the boat. The shade sail looked like the sail of the boat.
The next stop was Waipara Hills Vineyard. Here we did do a tasting and purchased a few bottles for our collection.
The staff were well informed, and knew their wines, but were not too protective of their patch. They recommended we call in to Pegasus Bay Vineyard, which was close by. We were very grateful we followed her advice.
Pegasus Bay wowed us from the moment we arrived. There were several acres of garden – from Japanese style to Rose gardens, from herb and veges to exotic conifers, from native rambles to sweeping lawns. There was plenty of garden art to capture your attention.
We elected to have lunch here, and the food was as wonderful as the garden experience, and very reasonably priced. I opted for a bottle of “Morally Bankrupt” cider that I had tried for the first time at Cooks Beach. It turned out that this cider was actually brewed at this vineyard.
Pegasus Bay were very busy in their restaurant that day, and apologised for having to seat us in bean bags with wine barrel tables. We thought is was really charming and very comfortable at the same time. We really enjoyed our meal, and finished off by exploring the gardens a bit more before heading to our stop for the night.
What a magic place to visit and we resolved that we will definitely be calling in again on our way back home.
Our resting place for the next two nights was the Torlesse Vineyards where our motorhome nestled amongst the grape vines and olive trees. It was a peaceful place and quite popular- there were about 7 other vans there. The winery was closed at the time so we had to enjoy a drop form the Waipara Hills vineyard with our dinner.
It is a hard life!
Away From Home NZ 