Today will be our first day that we start to drive. After shopping in First World and picked up our car from the airport, we set off to Gibbston Valley, a winery.
Lovely rows of grape plants. No no...they have all been harvested and you cannot see anything except for the main stem.
This is a very small vineyard but due to the good weather, the owner was able plant pinot noir and produced award winning wine in France for their red wine Pinot Noir 2006.
Outside the winery. The car behind the scene was the one that we rented to drive around the west coast. It was Nissan and I was very satisfied with it!! Powerful and fuel-saving as well.
Grapes were not in season as it was late winter. All we could see is the main bark and the wires on top.
Welcome to the wine cave, the place where the wine is kept in the oak barrel for developing the taste.
This is the stainless steel fermenter to ferment the grapes.
Our three precious bottles of wine from Gibbston Valley...after being satisfied with our wine tasting. The bottle in the middle was the red wine that we had every night. It was fruity. The white wine (Riesling 2006) on both sides are reserved for our family.
Outside Gibbston Valley shop.
Good bye Gibbston Valley. Now as we continued our journey, we saw more vineyard along the road.
Beautiful scenic drive all along the way!!
My next stop at Lake Wanaka. Oh my ducklings, come nearer...nearer...
Do these flowers look familiar?
I just love the sakura...
Picnic lunch at Lake Wanaka with my grapejuice and potato chips!!
Lake Wanaka, beautiful indeed with the snow cap mountain as the background. If you have more days and you want to enjoy this beautiful and peaceful scenary, taking a stroll, biking, you can stay overnight in Wanaka.
I could not believe my eyes as we continued our journey along Highway 8 to the west coast.
We passed by the whole stretch of Lake Hawea along the way. We were so lucky to set out our day in such a beautiful sunny weather that the lake was so calm that it reflected the surrounding like a mirror ...hence the mirror lake....
We actually stopped, took a walk to gaze at the lake. This is snap shot 1.
Lake Hawea - snap shot 2
Lake Hawea - snap shot 3
Lake Hawea - snap shot 4
A video of Lake Hawea!! Hooray!!
One more of the lake please....
One last one....can;t take my eyes off such beautiful scenary...but we gotta move on to reach Franz Josef before dusk (hopefully!!)
The drive after Lake Hawea was hilly & windy. We have passed numerous bridges. Most of the bridges are very narrow and only one lane. So car from one side has to give way to the other side.
Another bridge.
We finally arrived savely in Franz Josef, and checked into GlowwormCottage. Another BBH hostel. I really loved the warmth colour that they have used to paint the whole area. Clean and comfortable.
Lovely rows of grape plants. No no...they have all been harvested and you cannot see anything except for the main stem.
This is a very small vineyard but due to the good weather, the owner was able plant pinot noir and produced award winning wine in France for their red wine Pinot Noir 2006.
Outside the winery. The car behind the scene was the one that we rented to drive around the west coast. It was Nissan and I was very satisfied with it!! Powerful and fuel-saving as well.
Grapes were not in season as it was late winter. All we could see is the main bark and the wires on top.
Welcome to the wine cave, the place where the wine is kept in the oak barrel for developing the taste.
This is the stainless steel fermenter to ferment the grapes.
Our three precious bottles of wine from Gibbston Valley...after being satisfied with our wine tasting. The bottle in the middle was the red wine that we had every night. It was fruity. The white wine (Riesling 2006) on both sides are reserved for our family.
Outside Gibbston Valley shop.
Good bye Gibbston Valley. Now as we continued our journey, we saw more vineyard along the road.
Beautiful scenic drive all along the way!!
My next stop at Lake Wanaka. Oh my ducklings, come nearer...nearer...
Do these flowers look familiar?
I just love the sakura...
Picnic lunch at Lake Wanaka with my grapejuice and potato chips!!
Lake Wanaka, beautiful indeed with the snow cap mountain as the background. If you have more days and you want to enjoy this beautiful and peaceful scenary, taking a stroll, biking, you can stay overnight in Wanaka.I could not believe my eyes as we continued our journey along Highway 8 to the west coast.
We passed by the whole stretch of Lake Hawea along the way. We were so lucky to set out our day in such a beautiful sunny weather that the lake was so calm that it reflected the surrounding like a mirror ...hence the mirror lake....
We actually stopped, took a walk to gaze at the lake. This is snap shot 1.
Lake Hawea - snap shot 2
Lake Hawea - snap shot 3
Lake Hawea - snap shot 4A video of Lake Hawea!! Hooray!!
One more of the lake please....
One last one....can;t take my eyes off such beautiful scenary...but we gotta move on to reach Franz Josef before dusk (hopefully!!)
The drive after Lake Hawea was hilly & windy. We have passed numerous bridges. Most of the bridges are very narrow and only one lane. So car from one side has to give way to the other side.It was my turn to drive when we reached Haast. So I was the evening driver. As dusk set in, I gotta get on the road fast so that we could reach Franz Josef asap.
This scenary was taken by my friend as I was driving. Finally we reached the sea in the west coast and we headed up north from there.
Another bridge.
We finally arrived savely in Franz Josef, and checked into GlowwormCottage. Another BBH hostel. I really loved the warmth colour that they have used to paint the whole area. Clean and comfortable.
After a long day's drive, I did not really feel tired. I was really happy and looking forward to tomorrow's glacier walk!!
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