Wonderfully Wet Wairarapa!

We have had a gorgeous weekend, it has really felt like we have been on holiday this weekend, enjoying fantastic family time together and making the most of what New Zealand has to offer.

Craig joined us on Friday night, we enjoyed a lovely meal and then the boys headed out to the pub. When they returned we spent the night laughing hysterically whilst playing Wii Sports and drinking wine, I think we all turned in for bed just before 2am!

It was also fantastic to meet Rachel and Myles via Skype, it was lovely to see them and finally put faces to names, Craig is a very lucky man, he has a gorgeous wife and son!

Saturday morning we rose early (thanks to Bethany!) and after breakfast headed towards the Wairarapa. The morning had been blue skies and blazing sunshine but typically as we hit the motorway the rain started.

We decided to stop off at Kaitoke Regional Park and have a wander in natures finest - and as we took our first steps onto the wire bridge the most horrendous hailstone storm lashed down on us and we were trapped! Needless to say it was the funniest moment despite being soaked to the bone.

After a quick (and I mean quick!) trek around the forest we headed onwards for Martinborough. Craig likes a wine or two so we knew this would be his thing. With the rain finally letting up we rolled into Martinborough ready for the challenge!

We have a decent little route which we always enjoy as we get to sample wines from the most respected wineries, down to the smaller less recognised ones. First stop was Burnt Spur where although we were slightly put off by the over eccentric host we still enjoyed a tipple of the good stuff. Purchase: one beautiful bottle of Olive Oil!

Next up was one of our favourites; Tirohana Estate. We have been numerous times and last year when my parents were here we visited and were photographed for a German Tour Book - sadly the winery nor us ever heard from them again - such a shame!

Here we enjoyed the company of the amazing host (the son to the throne of this empire) and tasted a very special award winning Pinot Noir. Purchase: of course a bottle of this amazing creation!

After that we stopped off at Shuberts, we didn't particularly enjoy our visit here last time as the host was, well, lets just say strange - kind of like the Norman Bates type of strange! Anyway, from the last visit I bought some Dolce and I absolutely loved it, it helped me through an illness really easily! Purchase: One bottle of white, one bottle of Dolce!

Final stop was our absolute favourite where we have spent beautiful days with our families - Margrain.

We once again enjoyed some fabulous wine tasting and then a lovely meal in the restaurant. Being with Craig was brilliant, such a wonderful man and we have all connected so well. We feel like we have known him forever with Bethany definitely taking a liking to him!

On the way back the two kids; Bethany and Craig enjoyed a snooze and we finally had some quiet time!!

Such a magical time, we really loved being able to show Craig one of our most favourite places and we hope he had a good time and can return to England next week with some beautiful stories...