A spot of shopping and an early lunch at Waikari's Rocking Frog Cafe will set you in good stead for the winsome winding hills of inland route 70 to Kaikoura. Autumn rain shrouds the road in an eerie, rolling mist which gauzes over paddocks of doleful looking sheep and jutting limestone outcrops.
Kaikoura Winery, perched on a hill above the highway south of the township, is where visitors come to drown their sorrows if they don't see any of Kaikoura's famous whales. That's according to cellar door host Suzette Townsend, who guides guests through tastings against a backdrop of inebriating sea views. Suzette trained as a nurse in her homeland of The Philippines, but prefers working in tourism here in her adopted home. "It's similar - still working with people," she explains. "But everyone is happy!"Although tourism is now the stronghold of Kaikoura's economy, the seaside town has long been known for its abundance of edible marine life: a past that's hard to ignore. At the end of the sweeping esplanade sits The Pier Hotel, built in 1885 during the height of Kaikoura's whaling days. Now a contemporary seafood restaurant and bar, the hotel still retains a historic charm with its rusting anchor adorning the ceiling beams, an old life-saving ring on the wall and sepia photos of craggy-faced fishermen.
In a town that practically insists you order crayfish (after all, 'Kaikoura' translates from Maori as 'meal of crayfish'), finding award winning beef and lamb dishes on the menu can be a tad perplexing. The White Morph Restaurant has won gold in the New Zealand beef and lamb awards for the past five years, but husband and wife team Garry and Kerry Ford, who have run the show for the past eight years, have put as much effort into every dish on the meticulous menu. Their oven roasted orange roughy rubbed with walnut & parsley pesto on fennel & orange baked risotto cake with lemon pickle & beurre blanc', for example, will pepper your dreams for days and nights to come.
After all the eating, even the most robust of glutton's guilt can be salved with a night at Donegal House. On the northern outskirts of Kaikoura, the cosy 'Little Irish Hotel in the Country' is a comfortable slice of the Emerald Isle set amongst tranquil New Zealand farmland. Owner Murray will greet you with a genuine Irish "how'yer?" and point you to the alluring fireside bar that looks as if it could recount its fair share of late night houlies.
Next day, autumn gold poplar trees cast zigzag shadows across the highway as Waipara approaches. New Zealand's fastest growing wine region, Waipara has sprouted around 80 vineyards in its 30 year history and is now a green sea of soldier-straight vines marching off in all directions. Lunch at Waipara Springs - one of the region's oldest vineyards - is a sensory affair. The scent of baking bread dances across the sun soaked lawn, shimmying up to diners beneath blue sun umbrellas. A hearty bowl of pasta and a glass of pinot noir are hungrily scoffed to a bass line of distant bird scarers.Just up the road, The Mud House will beckon you in off State Highway One with its striking gabled exterior. Head through the voluminous cafe and out the back with cellar door host Jude to find the winery's beating heart: Three mammoth silver presses loom above a concrete floor, crisscrossed by twisting steel pipes and overhead walkways. Forklifts carrying crates of bobbly red grapes roar back and forth past French oak wine barrels. Men in heavy boots stomp cheerily over the flotsam of winemaking that trickles somewhat morbidly across the ground.
"Try this," suggests Jude, dipping a glass into a vat of muddy liquid extracted from one of the silver presses. "Chardonnay that's just been pressed - straight off the vines." The gritty brown juice tastes like liquid sugar.
Back inside, choose a window seat and you can sip a Mud House Riesling while looking out to the wind fluttered grape vines from whence your wine came.
Or perhaps you'll gaze out to the softly lit Teviotdale hills, behind which lies a delectable trove of North Canterbury secrets, just waiting to be uncovered...
Amelia experienced the North Canterbury Food & Wine Trail courtesy of Alpine Pacific Tourism and New Zealand travel website http://www.fourcorners.co.nz/.
