Wonderful Welly

Friday 1/4: Mt. Victoria, Cable Car, Botanic Gardens
Mr. E got up earlier than usual today so that we could do a jog/walk up to the Mt. Victoria Lookout. Amazing! And much easier on the downhill way back, which led us along beautiful Oriental Bay on the way back to the city centre. Breakfast from nearby Best Ugly Bagels along with Americanos from our hotel bar.

Next we set off to ride the cable car up to Kelburn, where we procured quite a few more gifts and souvenirs at the Cable Car Museum shop and admired the incredible views of this amazingly gorgeous city. Is it any wonder that we love this spot and wanted to return for more of it??!!

We then wandered down through the extensive Botanic Gardens, enjoying the diverse trees and flowers, including an impressive array of hydrangea and a cool landscape sculpture for the 150th anniversary.

Once we got back to the hotel, we switched to our new and super-awesome room 856 on the top floor, which provided striking panoramas of the surrounding greenbelt as well as a harbour view. So much better than on the 4th floor!!!

To start the evening, we headed around the corner to Noble Rot. I ordered a blind tasting wine flight of three whites and was able to successfully identify a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay but struck out on the third wine, which was a Fiano, a yummy varietal that I've never tasted before. Mr. E began with a cocktail and then switched to the Pegasus Bay Merlot/Cab blend, and we shared a cheese plate to accompany our beverages. Mr. E got a burger at the nearby food truck for dinner, but I struck out on my sushi quest and made do with popcorn and more wine in the room instead. :-)