Taste of Kiwi

Shelley is busy with edits, so here are some photos of places she’s visited during the last two weekends.

This is the Sky Tower, taken from the Auckland Domain.

This is the Auckland War Memorial Museum. I came across some people practicing playing their bag pipes. This shot is also taken from the Auckland Domain.

My brother-in-law has purchased a new boat, and we went to check it out. This is the view of the marina from his boat. The houses at the top of the hill are on Paratai Drive. This is the most expensive and exclusive real estate in Auckland with views over the harbor and Rangitoto Island.

Don’t forget – The Scarlet Woman tour continues at Amberkatze’s Book Blog. I’m talking about both Scarlet Woman and leopards and giving away a download from the Middlemarch Mates series.

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We came across these mountain goats on the side of the road near Mt. Rushmore. Hubby and I were more excited about seeing them than the president’s faces. The animals ignored us as they took a drink from the water that trickled down a rock face.

To see more photographs of animals visit Camera Critters.

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After our memorable Cook Strait crossing, we didn’t have much time to have lunch. We grabbed a Subway sandwich each and ate them on the way to our first stop on the wine tour.

There were thirteen of us, and we managed to cover a lot of the world with passengers from New Zealand, Australia, England, Norway and the USA. On the South Island side of the strait it was fine and sunny, so my brother-in-law got the weather right. The Marlborough region sees a lot of sunshine—usually grabbing the highest amount each year—so it’s excellent for growing grapes.

Our first stop was at Drylands, one of the larger vineyards with ties to Australia and the USA. We started with a welcome glass of sparkling wine and gradually worked our way through the list. I like wine, so I sampled most of them—both red and white. Most enjoyable.

The second stop was at Framingham. After another eight or so samples here, and I started to feel the wine. This tour was unlike the samplings I’d done before. Obviously it pays to go on a tour rather than turn up with just hubby. The people behind the counter were most generous with their samples, and we purchased a bottle of Framingham Marlborough Classic Riesling here. For those of you who enjoy wine this is a classic New Zealand, off-dry style wine with rich fruit and a juicy acidity. It has complex varietal characters of lemon citrus, mandarin and stone fruit with a long mineral finish. It’s best served with Asian style cuisine and seafood. Sounds good, right? I intend to have some tonight with my dinner.

Our next stop was Nautilus Estate where Mr. Munro and I purchased a carton of wine. Nautilus is shipping it home for us. Our quiet bus was growing progressively noisier, and there was much more chatter and laughter by this stage. I was pacing myself, skipping the odd tasting, and I made inroads on their oil/bread samples.

Our final stop was Hunter’s. Hunters is an older vineyard and one of the first in New Zealand to take their wines overseas and scoop gold medals at the wine shows. Mr. Hunter died tragically early in a car accident (age 38) and his wife took over the running of the vineyard. Her name is Jane Hunter and she has received many wine awards, including the inaugural award for women winemakers, world wide. She also has an OBE.

I loved the Hunter wines. In fact there was only one I disliked. Yep, I admit it—I was decidedly tiddly when I left, but I wasn’t alone. We drove to our last stop, the Makana Chocolate Boutique, with the music blaring really loud Beetles and Queen classic hits.

So, I leave you with a tip—if you intend to hit a wine trail, it’s a good idea to have a hearty meal first. Your head will thank you for it!

Have you been wine tasting before? Do you like wine, and if so, which one is your favorite?

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This photo was taken at the Rocky Mountain National Park. As you can see, the elk is wearing a tracking device. We saw quite a few elk during our travels.

To see more photographs of animals visit Camera Critters.

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During our recent trip to Wellington, we decided we’d like to catch the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton. We wanted to see a few of the sights instead of hanging around the city for the entire weekend. The weather wasn’t too good with lots of wind and rain, but after considering the weather forecast, and ringing my brother-in-law who is a weather guru, we decided to risk it and book the ferry plus a Marlborough wine tour.

The cancellation of the first ferry and the subsequent delay while they loaded extra cars and passengers on our ferry should have been a warning. But no. Mr. Munro and I happily boarded, found a good seat and settled in with a latte each. We were delayed about an hour before the ferry set off. The first part of the journey as we left the harbour was okay, but the moment we entered the open sea, it was all on.

Rock ‘n roll, baby.

The ferry went up, slammed down, tossed a little from side to side. The ferry was a big one, but the waves were crashing over the bow. And to think I’d wondered about all the white paper bags on each table in the cafe. Within minutes, passengers were grabbing bags and throwing up. I have to admit the crew were really good, whisking bags around, going around and offering aid and small chips of ice to passengers. At no time did the ferry smell like vomit, which was pretty amazing. Luckily, both Mr. Munro and I are good sailors with cast iron stomachs. We watched everyone else, and when the bars reopened when we re-entered calmer waters, we had another coffee and enjoyed the passing scenery as we entered the Marlborough Sounds.

Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands. It is about 22km wide and is known for its wild waters.

Are you a good traveller? Do you get seasick? Airsick? Other forms of motion sickness?

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The Columbia River is a huge river and we spent some time driving beside it, driving over it on the Astoria Bridge (longest bridge in the USA) and looking down on it. No doubt about it, the river is impressive. So is the wildlife. This is a heron fishing in the Columbia River.

To see more photographs of animals visit Camera Critters.

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One of the animals Mr. Munro most wanted to see during our last trip to the US was a bull moose. We came across this one while driving in the Grand Teton area. It was a hot day and he was ambling down the small waterway, ignoring all the tourists taking photos of him.

To see more animal photographs visit Camera Critters.

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This shot was taken at our local Botanic Gardens. Mr. Munro and I don’t get there as often these days, now that the little dog is gone, but it’s a lovely outing for a Sunday morning.

In New Zealand news, an Invercargill woman was fined $275 for disorderly behavior after she flashed her boobs at motorists and caused an accident.

Mr. Munro has just learned he might have to go to work in Wellington for two weeks early next year, and I’ll get to go with him. Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island, and it will be a nice break from Auckland. I might even get some writing done. I’m finding it hard going this month with all the other Christmas distractions. I definitely want to visit the Day in Pompeii exhibition at Te Papa museum and we’re thinking we might do a quick trip to the South Island if time permits.

In book news, I have three more Ellora’s Cave titles available in the Kindle format: Fringe Benefits, Fallen Idol and Fancy Free are now on sale. Whisk out your credit cards and grab your copies today!

If you’re a writer, how is your writing coming along with all the Christmas razzmatazz? And readers, are you managing to relax a little with some of your favourite books?

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This is a shot of Albert Park (named after Prince Albert) in Central Auckland. It’s not far from the university and on a fine day, it’s the perfect place for students to eat their lunch.

Mystery writer JA Konrath has a very interesting post about e-books and what he predicts will happen during 2010 in the e-book/e-reader world.

I’m actually feeling very positive about e-books at the moment. I love the freedom of writing for e-publishers, although the pirate issue does worry me. It’s truly disheartening when pirates put up books for free download on release day. It’s not only the e-authors who have a pirate problem though. The pirates have no compunction in making e-copies of paperback books and giving those away free too.

I think the increased competition in the e-reader market can only mean good things, driving the price down. Like Mr. Konrath, I’d like to see a standard industry format. What do you think will happen in the e-book world during the next year?

I’m guest blogging at the Samhellion blog today and talking about diaries and my upcoming release, The Bottom Line. While you’re there don’t forget to check out the special Christmas scavenger hunts to win either a Kindle reader or a Sony reader.

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Travel-Ready Packing: Pack Light, Dress Right—Anytime, Anywhere
by Julie Ann Martin
Publisher: Argo & Cole Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-9791186-1-6
Publication Date: 1 Jan, 2010
Website: www.travelreadypacking.com
Amazon link: Travel-Ready Packing: Pack Light, Dress Right – Anytime, Anywhere

Any of my friends or family or people who visit my website knows how much I enjoy traveling and exploring different parts of the world. Since my marriage, my husband and I have spent months in Africa, America, Europe, Central America, India, Asia and Australia. Sometimes we traveled with our backpacks, and at other times, we went more up market. You’d think with all my experience in traveling that packing would be a breeze. Not so. It’s one thing that remains a bit of a trial for me, so when I saw that Ms. Martin’s publisher was offering Travel-Ready Packing for review, I grabbed the chance to learn from an expert.

Travel-Ready Packing has an intro which discusses things such as culture in different countries, fabric types and types of climate. The next part of the book is split into sections for each country or region of the world. Each of these sections gives the temperatures for different months of the year, a list of recommended clothing for both males and females, the risk of danger at the destination, recommended colors to wear and how casual or formal the dress-code is in the country being visited. There are also sections for business travelers and those who travel to adventure destinations, multi-climate packing and also a list for expatriate packing. At the rear of the book there’s a world map, which makes it a simple matter to find the country you’re visiting and look up the corresponding page reference. In fact the book covers everything I could think of from clothes to bags to accessories.

When I decided to “test” the book and relive my trip to Africa, the packing list was spot-on—exactly what I should have taken for my trip. It was also very accurate for my recent trips to Samoa and Phuket, Thailand. The only gap I could see was for a cruising holiday, but I think the lists for the South Pacific, which is where my cruise holiday is taking place, will do the trick nicely. I found the book easy to use, very readable, and as I mentioned very accurate with the suggested packing lists. No more back-breaking suitcases for me!

I recommend this book for anyone who intends to travel for work or pleasure. And romance writers, if you’re heading to a conference and you’re not sure what to pack, this is the book for you.

Shelley Munro

You can see from above that I’m all sorted with my packing now since I have this book to refer to. How do you approach packing for a trip or a holiday? Are you a good packer or do you forget half the things you need?

I’m doing a guest spot at The Rainbow Studio (part of the Romance Studio) and talking about reality shows and Fallen Idol. Here’s the link to my post at The Rainbow Studio.

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