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Our day dawned nice and sunny, something we are really getting to appreciate after our recent cold and gray weather. We pulled into the harbor at Napier, definitely not a "cruise" terminal, but a working port where they can put in a cruise ship. There is a major lumber industry in New Zealand because the pine trees that we grow in California mature in the half the time here, so they plant them, harvest them and basically ship most of the wood, pulp and chips to China. They try to manage the cutting in sections so they can replant and not completely deforest the area.

We left the ship at 9:45am and met with Noelle Barille and Curtis De Frede, the chefs from the Culinary School, and Leighton, the head chef from Terroir, the restaurant at the Craggy Range Winery. Our driver was Fred Goederrt, who came to New Zealand from Germany 28 years ago and still seems to be learning English sometimes, but was our driver/guide back and forth. He was very amusing (perhaps without meaning to be at times) and explained how Napier was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in February 1931 and then completely rebuilt in the Art Deco style. These buildings draw tourists from around the world and along with wine are among the largest attractions. We drove through Napier along the coast, through Hastings, then Clive and into wine country. When we reached Craggy Range, we had a brief overview, a tour of the tank and barrel rooms, and then met Leighton for a tour of the herb and vegetable gardens. Most of the produce, fruits, herbs and honey used at the restaurant comes from their own gardens so they can trace them back and fee confident in the lack of chemicals, etc. Protein (meat, seafood, dairy) is locally sourced and we are scheduled to meet Jason who provides venison and grass-fed Wagyu beef and later, their cheese source. We spoke with John, who manages the gardens and is "in to" meal worms and green manure in an big way. Then we met back in the tasting room and tried a Sauvignon Blanc and a Bordeaux style blend before going out to the terrace for a two-course lunch with two wines. We had a salad foraged from the gardens, with a number of greens, honey, beets, olive oil caviar, walnut powder, and a lot of other things we had never tasted or heard of, like horseradish sorbet. We met Jason and he discussed the venison business and the way of raising actual Wagyu beef that had been brought to NZ from Japan by a Japanese family who raised them on corn in a feedlot, but had financial difficulties and sold the business to Jason and partners who changed it to no feedlots and completely grass fed. Our lunch was long-braised bone-in short rib on a base of various vegetables from the garden, some tomatoes, some corn, etc. We drank a Chardonnay and a Syrah with the meal.

During lunch, which we shared with Noelle, who we had seen on several other cruises and with whom we had shared some of our stories of those trips, and some guys from New Mexico/Phoenix and a couple from Northern California, the guys invited us to their cabin for drinks at 5pm, so we all bought some more wine before we left the winery. Our stop before heading back to the ship was at Origin Earth, where we met Joanie Williams who started a cheese business with her husband 3 1/2 years ago. She calls herself a cheese maker with training wheels. She shared three different cheese with us, one of which she considers an experiment. These were accompanied by freshly picked figs from the tree outside the cheese "factory", pineapple guava, and some pickled walnuts which Leighton had made (definitely an acquired taste), in addition to part of a honeycomb which Leighton had brought over from the winery beehive. Joanie has a 2,000 litre stainless tank which she tows behind her truck and in which she picks up milk (cow or sheep) from only farmers she feels meet her standards of purity. The cheese was pretty impressive and the group of 20 ate quite a bit, even after lunch. Leighton sent us off on the bus with a parting gift of salted caramel truffles.

In all, a day well spent seeing lovely countryside, drinking great wine and eating wonderful food.

We may not really be hungry for dinner, but we will see.

Back on the ship, we took our wine contribution up to Henry and James' Vista Suite and spent an hour drinking and snacking with them, Noelle and Curtis from the Culinary Center and Marty and Laurie from Northern California. After that, we just went down to Red Ginger and had soup and salad.