Queenstown, Day Two

03 Dec

Bumming around the hostel and immediate area today, since I feel twinges of pain around my knee. I should have known better than to leave all of my braces back in Melbourne, knowing my klutzy tendencies. 

Breakfast:

Coffee w/oat milk, chocolate banana pudding w/goji berries

Snack:

Manuka honey & cashews cereal w/oat milk

This cereal is really good! I need to bring several boxes back home. Too bad I can't find them in Australia, because I have several stops there before finally heading back to Melbourne. 

Snack from Fergburger, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand:

Holier than Thou: tempured tofu with a spicy satay, coconut & coriander sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, snow pea shoots & aioli

Had to visit here because John said he had the best burger of his life here. They had a range of options, from your usual beef patty to deer to steak and chicken, but there were only two vegetarian options: tofu and falafel. I chose the tofu just because of the name and had them put extra chili sauce and no satay sauce (coconut allergy). What came out was this ginourmous burger, as big as my head, and fit for two. It took me two hours to finish this monster, but John was right - it was very delicious. The bun was freshly toasted, soft and chewy in all the right places and delightfully crunchy around the edges. I don't like onions, but have to admit that their tangy flavour complemented the chili sauce well. The tofu didn't have any seasoning, but the fresh veggies and sauces more than made up for the blandness, so the tofu was more of a textural aspect. 

Snack from CookieTime, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand:

Chocolate chip & chocolate fudge cookie ice cream sandwich w/cookies & cream ice cream

Warm cookies and ice cream. That is all. And now I have to cut back on dairy consumption. 

Snack:

English breakfast tea, mixed greens salad w/roasted pumpkin & kumara hummus

Snack:

Hot chocolate protein, earl grey tea

Snack:

Manuka honey & cashew cereal w/chocolate protein powder & oat milk, mixed greens

Snack:

Manuka honey & cashew cereal, peanuts, dried goji berries, dried apricots & chocolate protein powder w/oat milk

Queenstown

02 Dec

Queenstown is a pretty cool place to stay, although I wish I had the means to visit my other stops. 

Breakfast:

Chocolate covered almonds

Snack:

Dried apricots, dried pineapple, cashews, trail mix

Basically just nibbled on these the entire day.

Snack:

Manuka honey w/roasted cashews cereal

The manuka and cashews part intrigued me and was so NZ-esque that I had to get it. And wow, this was so good!!! Basically snacked on this all day. I'm almost done with the box and I just got it! Perfect blend of sweet and smokey, but there's a larger emphasis on the sweet. I love the crunchy textures too.

Snack:

Leftover mixed veggie platter w/mixed greens

Snack:

Chocolate protein shake, manuka honey & cashews cereal w/chocolate oat milk

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. 

Methven to Peel Forest

30 Nov

Found out that there's a wind storm happening, with winds expected to go up to around 140km/hour. Thank goodness for Steven, the man that picked me up yesterday. I was biking, 75km in with 25km left, when the wind got really bad. I actually got semi-thrown off, which is when Steven drove by and offered me a ride. I was pretty much in tears (a couple hours of sleep and a long, windy bike ride is not fun) and was so grateful. I swear, this whole cycling and backpacking trip has just made me feel like there's not enough ways I can fully express all my gratitude. Anyway, depending on the wind I might be biking to Peel Forest or staying in Methven for another day. 

Breakfast:

Mocha, mango soy yogurt, strawberries

Snack on the road:

Dried (not crystallised) ginger, dried apricots

Snack on the road:

Rest of the prune & raisin bread

Dinner:

Rose & vanilla tea, mixed greens w/dried goji berries, peanuts, banana

Snack:

Rose & vanilla tea, peanuts 

Snack:

Dried apricots, dried goji berries

Hello New Zealand!

29 Nov

I'm now in Christchurch, NZ and will be biking 100km to Methven in a few hours. Not looking forward to this at all. I just want to sleep for five days. 

Breakfast:

Piece of prune & raisin bread 

Snack from number eight kiwi cafe, Christchurch Airport, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand:

Cappuccino w/ginger cookie (2)

Snack:

Orange Gatorade, baby bananas (3)

Much needed. The wind here is crazy!!! I nearly had the bike fall while I was still on it and a car was passing by! I thought I left the winds in Melbourne. 

Snack:

Strawberries, mixed greens salad w/creamy pb avocado sauce, berry soy yogurt

Yum. No blender so I hand-mixed the creamy sauce. Normally there's some spices and a bit of almond milk too, but it actually tastes pretty good as just blended avocado and pb! I also really like this soy yogurt; it's not sweet like most soy yogurts and it has the same consistency as regular yogurts!

Snack:

Green tea w/lemon & honey, spiced cookie