Missed Departures and Almost-Missed Tastings

Another thing to which I had been looking forward was our planned helicopter flight and glacier landing, during our visit to Franz Josef.  Such trips were highlighted as “must do’s, if you can” while in the area.  There are several companies offering a variety of helicopter-based tours, hikes, and excursions in the towns of Franz Josef and Fox Glacier (which is about 30 minutes further south).  They are, however, wholly weather dependent, and with so much annual rainfall, the flights are more often than not cancelled.  Following all the advice I could find, we booked a flight for early morning (when weather is more likely to be fair), but Mother Nature had other ideas.

Our villa had huge windows on the upper walls of the vaulted living room, and I could clearly see these from bed.  I woke very early, and could see that the sky was cloudless.  It had rained for four solid days before we arrived, and rain was forecast to come back later that day.  We had been warned, too, that the forecasts are often useless, and things can change on a dime.  Seeing the blue sky pushed all those concerns out of my head.  We all rose early and had breakfast in our unit.  Before leaving, we visited and fed some sheep kept in a field across from our unit.

View of the Franz Josef Glacier From our Upstairs Loft

We elected to get to the helicopter company – which was located on the main drag of town, a few minutes from our hotel – well before our scheduled flight time of 9:00 am.  The "flight centre" was very busy, with various groups of people getting ready for different types of flights and tours.  We had booked a "flight and glacier landing," which was to take us over the southern Alps, and then land us on the Franz Josef glacier.  We were checked-in and had our safety briefing, when one of the attendants came over to tell us that the weather was changing, and the pilot said he was not sure it was still safe to perform a landing.  We were asked if were okay to only do the fly-over, to which we answered enthusiastically "yes."  About 10 minutes later, another attendant came over to collect us and a couple of women from Russia, and he was to walk us across the street to the helipad.  As we were about to leave, he was called away, only to return and say that they had just issued a "suspension of activities" order, due to heavy weather that had just rolled in.  My heart fell, especially as I looked outside and saw that it was still bright and sunny.  My initial reaction was to get incensed and argue, but then I stepped outside and looked up, toward the glacier, and we could clearly see that the mountain top was already socked in with heavy clouds, with storm clouds looming in the distance.  That alleviated my initial skepticism, but only marginally soothed our collective disappointment.  They offered to try and rebook us later in the day, should the weather break, but they were honest in telling us that their afternoon flights rarely, if ever, go.

We elected to regroup and make the most of it.  We had read about an outstanding film of the region, which was shown on an Imax screen in town.  It was made on account of the weather, and the fact that few folks can see the area in unfettered glory.  Though it was still bright in the valley, we bought tickets and watched the movie -- we were the only people in the theater.  Afterwards, we started our drive south, and made a quick stop in the smaller town of Fox Glacier.  There was supposedly a road from which you could get an up-close glimpse of that glacier, but when we found it, that glacier, too, was already ensconced in clouds.  We were 0 for 2.

We already knew that New Zealand produces some of the best wine in the world, so we decided early that we wanted to visit at least a few wineries.  Our good friend Jeff is quite the wine aficionado, so I asked him where he would go.  Without hesitating, he immediately answered "Rippon Winery."  I had, not surprisingly, never heard of it.  He did some research and got back to me with a few other wineries, but Rippon remained at the top of his list.  He said he heard it was among the most beautiful wineries in the world, but also among the top ranked.  It is ranked the best winery in all of Australasia, and number eight in the world.  It is a closed winery, meaning they produce a relatively small amount wine and they are only open for tastings by appointment.  I had contacted the owner and set up the tasting more than six months earlier, and it was set for 3:00 pm.  As we were in Fox Glacier, unsuccessfully hoping to see the glacier, our GPS and Waze both said we would arrive at about 3:00pm on the dot.  Looking at the map, too, we saw that after we left Fox Glacier, there were no real towns until we reached the resort town of Wanaka, where Rippon is located.  It was about 160 miles away, and about a 3 1/2-hour drive.  As there would also be no gas stations for all that time, we got in line at the one little filling station, and then went into a small restaurant to grab some sandwiches to go.  We had no time to sit down, so we ate on the go.

The road from Fox to Wanaka was all through the mountains.  We essentially left near sea level and then climbed up and down several ranges of mountains, all on two-lane (one each direction) road, with countless switchbacks.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and seemed to change at every turn.  We crossed into and out of multiple ecosystems as we went up and down.  The sheer number of waterfalls we saw was mind boggling.

Along the Road to Wanaka

One of the Countless One-Way Bridges Along the Route

We were not, however, able to get many pictures, as the road was too narrow to pull over, and when there were proper parking areas, they were either full or we simply didn't have time.  As we were about to leave Fox Glacier, I thought of calling the winery to tell them we might be late.  Katherine called on the cell as we were driving, got their answering machine, but we lost cell signal before we could leave a message.  An hour or so later, at a small rest area, we again had cell signal, and she again tried to call, but we lost signal then, too, before she could talk to someone.  I tried to make up time, but it was simply impossible, given the curves in the road.  We elected to just enjoy the scenery, and get there when we got there.  As we climbed the last range of mountains, and spilled out to the plateau where Lake Hawea sits, our signal reappeared.  Katherine called and got someone on the phone.  At this point, the GPS said we'd arrive 30 minutes too late.   She was told all other tastings for the month were full, and that we could not join the tasting late.  He did say we could buy wine, so we elected to go anyway.  They had earlier sent us a code for the gate to the winery.  The code was valid for one hour surrounding our tasting time.  As we hit the town of Wanaka, it looked like Aspen or Vail, with people crowding the beaches and expensive cars lining the road.  As such, we got slowed down even more.

Lake Wanaka...When Our Cell Service Returned

We reached the gate at 3:30pm on the dot.  I entered the code, thinking it wouldn't work, but it did.  We drove up a hillside dotted with sheep on one side and grapevines on the other, and then that spilled out to reveal the main winery building and lower vineyards, which perched above the lake.  The setting was spectacular.  There were only two other cars in the parking lot, as we quickly walked up to the main door.  As soon as we walked in, we could hear the tasting going on in the next room, and a man come out to greet us.  He asked if we were the Steeles, and after we replied in the affirmative, he told us to relax, look around, and enjoy ourselves, as he'd managed to rebook us for 4:00 pm, the last tasting of the day.  He could not have been nicer, and my relief was palatable.

We explored the building and grounds, which were gorgeous, and right at 4:00 pm we gathered with about seven other people, mostly from the United States and Canada.  We learned that it was a "bio diversity" operation, of which we had never heard.  As I can't quite explain it, here is an "official" definition:  "Biodynamic wine is made with a set of farming practices that views the farm or vineyard as one solid organism. The ecosystem functions as a whole, with each portion of the farm or vineyard contributing to the next. The idea is to create a self-sustaining system. Natural materials, soils, and composts are used to sustain the vineyard. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are forbidden for the sake of soil fertility. A range of animals from ducks to horses to sheep live on the soil and fertilize it, creating a rich, fertile environment for the vines to grow in. Biodynamic farming also seeks sustainability, or leaving the land in as good or better shape as they found it for future generations."

Whatever it was, the wines were spectacular.  We tasted eight, maybe 10, with their specialty being Pino Noir.  They had a 2010 vintage which had received a perfect score of 100 from the Suckling Guide.  We were not able to taste one, but we bought a bottle just because.  In addition to that, we purchased eight additional bottles, from what we had tasted, and managed to fill up our wine suitcase in one trip.  It was special, too, as some of the wines we bought are only sold on the estate, and the wine itself is rare outside of New Zealand.

Rippon Winery

Rippon Winery

Wedding/Reception Room in Rippon Winery

Before our Tasting

We were all feeling much better after the tasting, and the relief of having not missed it was still fresh.  We were to spend the next two nights in the Queenstown, which was another 45 miles due south, over another ridge of mountains.  We had gained quite a bit of altitude from where we began the day, and the ecosystem and terrain up here looked very much like Canada and/or Maine.  In fact, the entire route to Queenstown was lined with fields of wild lupines, in many colors I had never seen before.  About five miles outside of town, we crested a hill, with a stunning view down to Queenstown, and then the road was a series of very severe switchbacks leading into town.  

Wild Lupines Along the Road

Our "Trusty" Rental Car on the South Island

View Down to Queenstown

Queenstown

Queenstown itself sits along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, and expensive homes and hotels dot the shoreline.  Our hotel was a series of villas built into the hillside, and we had a full wall of glass looking out to the lake.  The only downside with being on the hillside was the challenging parking, and the fact that we had to carry suitcases down a long series of stairs to reach our unit.

It was nearly 7:00 pm by the time we cleaned up and headed into the town proper for dinner.  We could tell that Queenstown would be the busiest of the places we visited, if only because it is compact and there were a lot of tourists.  It is known as the "adventure capital" of New Zealand, and every conceivable type of excitement activity was available, from bungee jumping to skydiving.  It had a very Aspen or Vail feel to it, and we were told it is in fact more popular during the winter, when there is ample skiing in the surrounding mountains.  We had scoped out several possible restaurants on line, and grabbed the first available parking spot we could find.  It was a short walk to our first choice to eat.  We weren't sure if would be able to get in, but they seated us right away, as it was still early, we were told, for vacationers to eat.  Well, not for us.  The restaurant was inside a converted Victorian bath house, on the lakefront.  The views and food were great.  

View From Dinner

Though we were all tired, we stopped at a grocery store on the way back, to get breakfast food for the following couple of mornings.  Sleep came quickly and easily that night.

Panorama Shot from Our Porch

View From Bed