Apples and Wine

Alright so we've been in Napier, which is on the North Island in Hawkes Bay, for the last week. Hawke's Bay is another well-known wine region of New Zealand. We started picking apples last week, but were only able to work for a day and a half. I know, picking apples? Well, we just need a bit more money to finish travelling the North Island. Of course the first day was just as crazy as the first day of work on the vineyard. My first day on the vineyard was ridiculous. I starved because Beate and I got split up and she had the backpack with all our food and water! I was also forced to sing my national anthem at 8 in the morning while I was snipping grapes off the vine. The first day of apple picking was just as crazy. I was up on the ladder picking red fujis when the guy on the tractor ran over my ladder!!! I fell off and screamed at the same time. Ha, luckily I was only a few feet of the ground so I didn't get hurt. Then the van that took us to work dropped us off at a different place in Napier and our rides almost forgot us! I had no clue where we were, so thankfully I had the number of the guy in charge.

We ended up not working much last week since the apples weren't red enough, so we had a few days off to enjoy the beach. Yesterday Beate and I went on a fantastic wine tour to 4 wineries in Hawke's bay: Moana Park (very small, vegetarian wines), Sileni (larger, we had a gourmet food platter and bought chocolates), Ngatarawa (tasted a ton of wines and ended up with a merlot/cab blend), and Mission Estate (which was the first winery established in NZ). We had a wonderful guide that was super knowledgeable about Hawke's Bay and he gave me a list of Syrah's (my fav. wine) from the area that I need to try.

We are staying here in Napier for another week and a half before finishing our travels on the North Island. I am loving this town even though our backpackers is super tiny.

These are the rest of the pictures I took in Christchurch:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2297175&l=2f059&id=10001326

Here are the pictures from Kaikoura:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2297170&l=48c7f&id=10001326