Tennis is definitely my favorite sport to play and to watch, so naturally, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is an event that I look forward to going to every year! This event always tends to re-ignite my love for the sport and help re-inspire us to be on court more consistently.
Our mission for the day began early this morning in a race against the rising sun.
We had read about a lake called Lake Mathieson (a.ka. Mirror Lake) where you can see a beautiful reflection of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman in the lake. This spot is definitely well known and coveted amongst photographers, as the potential for stunning, one-of-a-kind photos is high, pending weather conditions, of course. Looking forward to capturing a perfect picture, we set out early, albeit not quite early enough. Really, the magical time is before sunrise, but we didn’t wake up in time to make that. We hit the photograph areas just as the sun was coming over the mountain.
Our last day in the Motueka region was spent visiting a local winery (check out my post on wine in NZ for more on that), and a local delicious brewery called the Hop Federation.
I highly recommend a stop here! Also, Nelson is the craft brewing capital of New Zealand, so there are plenty of good beer tasting options around too.
The Abel Tasman National Park is located on the Northwest part of the South Island.
The closest town is Motueka, and a larger nearby city is Nelson. There are a number of ways to explore the park, from day trips to week long excursions. One of the most popular ways of exploring the area is by Kayak.
Hands down, some of the most enjoyable days we spent in New Zealand included visiting wineries in different regions on the North and South Islands. We sought out many smaller, family run, and often organic vineyards to visit in the various wine regions. The wines and the people running the wineries were amazing and created a wonderful tasting experience.
Our first days on the South Island were spent wine tasting in the beautiful Marlborough region (post still to come!), and then in Nelson.
After driving off the ferry, we stopped for a great lunch in this great little deli called BV Gourmets in Blenheim (it was even paleo friendly!). Back on the road, we came across a cherry tree orchard where you could pick your own cherries. We made a last second decision to stop and had a blast picking delicious fresh cherries and them eating them the rest of the way to Renwick.
The next stop on our trip was a visit to Napier and the region of Hawke’s Bay. Part of our time here involved visits to wineries, but I want to do a separate post about all of the wineries/wine regions we’ve visited in NZ, so I will just talk about everything else we did for now.
We drove to Napier via a route referred to as the “Gentle Annie” but officially known as the Taihape-Napier Road (taking the 41 to the 1 and then turning off just about 15 Kilometers past Waioru). There is a sign indicating that this road goes to Napier, but there isn’t much of a warning and could be easily missed.
This drive turned out to be incredibly beautiful…from pretty grassland over rolling hills to canyons and mountains with a fading view of the Tongariro National Park behind you.
Fit To Wander 