Peel Forest to Lake Tekapo

01 Dec

Made it to Peel Forest just before the rain! But I'm pretty sure I hurt my knee during one of my falls because it hurts when I bend it. I really don't want to bike to Lake Tekapo. 

Update:

Well, my knee is over-compressed or something and it really hurts when I'm biking. The people I stayed with were nice enough to drive me to the nearest "large" town where I'm catching a bus straight to Queenstown, bypassing all my other stops (good-bye money). Hopefully I can bike around the Queenstown area and perhaps go hiking!

Breakfast:

Earl grey tea, mashed banana w/coffee, dried goji berries, dried apricots & dried ginger topped w/peanuts

Samples at Bull Rush Chocolates, Geraldine, South Island, New Zealand:

Sweet-dark chocolate, mango manuka, great Kiwi breakfast truffle

"Sweet-dark chocolate" is really just regular approximately 50% cacao chocolate. Rather than labelling the chocolate with the cocoa percentage, Kiwis like to actually describe the taste. Manuka is a tree common in New Zealand, very popular for its honey. This chocolate gets its manuka flavour by smoking the nuts in manuka wood though, which created this savoury smokey flavour. The attendant told me that it was a love or hate flavour, and I happen to be one of the lovers. The mango adds a sweet tartness to the slightly bittersweet chocolate, while the smoked nuts create an extra savoury depth and give a great textural contrast. The great Kiwi breakfast truffle is white chocolate rolled in Weet-bix and coverd in additional chocolate layers. It was very sweet and the Weet-bix was really only there for textural depth.

Samples at Barker's, Geraldine, South Island, New Zealand:

NZ lime w/elderflower juice

Quite refreshing but actually tasted a bit too fake. 

Orange & barley w/passion fruit juice

I really liked this one! Refreshing and light. I don't know what barley tastes like in liquid form, but the juice was sweet, subtley floral and citrusy. 

NZ boysenberry jam

Tasted like berry jam.

Mandarin & ginger marmalade

The ginger flavour was very strong. 

Beetroot chutney

Tart and slightly on the savoury side, but could definitely be used in a sweet dish as well.

Snack on the bus:

Mango manuka chocolate, almond & cashew paste truffle

The attendant gave me one for free because "it was scratched". So kind of her! She also recommended the nut paste truffle after I told her I loved marzipan. And wow, I could eat that all day! The nut paste already had chocolate mixed in with it, but it wasn't very sweet and the textures were amazing. Adding cashews to marzipan is a definite must.

Snack in Lake Tekapo stop:

Apple

Got to stop here for fifteen minutes! Gorgeous scenary, but one of those places where you can either spend all day in a spa or be adventurous outdoors, neither of which was really an option with my knee.

Snack from Run 77 Cafe and General Store, Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand:

Chocolate chip cookie

This was a really good cookie!

Snack from Merino County Cafe, Omarama, South Island, New Zealand:

Apricot ice cream, boysenberry ice cream

Two flavours that you can find almost anywhere in NZ! Really enjoyed the apricot, but the boysenberry tasted like jam. 

Snack from Jones Fruit Stall, Cromwell, South Island, New Zealand:

Chocolate covered almonds

This place is just a huge tourist trap, but their products really are very fresh. I wasn't a fan of the chocolate to almond ratio.

Dinner from Turkish Kebab, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand:

Mixed vegetarian platter: falafel & stuffed grapevine leaves w/rice, salad, tabbouleh, hummus & sauces

Met a new friend and we went to eat dinner together. We were enjoying our meal at the "beach" until birds started coming. Then I freaked out and totally embarrassed myself so we had to leave. The food was pretty good, although I could taste the packaged-ness of the falafel and stuffed grapevine leaves.

Dessert at Patagonia Chocolates, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand:

Macadamia dark chocolate ice cream, fig & pistachio ice cream

So good! Creamy, rich and decadent with intense flavouring. The dark chocolate flavour was very potent, completely overshadowing the macadamia nut's, but the nut pieces added the crunchy texture. This ice cream flavour did get a bit overwhelming toward the end though, but I suspect that if you really love chocolate, it should be fine. I liked the fig & pistachio one, although the fig flavour was very subtle. This flavour was more like sweet pistachio.