I have nothing nice to say about Sheep World, so I am not going to say anything at all. (c-bird)
The owner guy was a hilarious nutter and we did hear a kiwi in the bush while camped next to a pond with a waterfall (Joh).
Tent site at Sheep World
On a better note-we went to Ascension winery and had a lovely wine tasting. Our favorites were “The Rogue” Matakana Flora, “The Ascent” Reserve Matakana Chardonnay and “The Bell Ringer” Matakana Pinotage. They are a dry farming winery with no soil amendments.
The next morning we went to the Matakana Farmer’s Market up the road (about 5 miles) and were in absolute heaven. Their farmer’s market was what all farmer’s markets want to be when they grow up! The cutest little booths set up in a horse shoe shape, live twang-y guitar folk music (which was fantastic), right next to a little river-it was absolutely wonderful! There was so much for sale at the market: beer, cheese, crepes, raw foods, smoothies, produce, flowers, honey, crafts, smoked fish, tons of pastries, and yummy breakfast and lunch foods. We picked up some veggies and water buffalo blue cheese-damn tasty! There was a cute restaurant called the “Matakana Market Kitchen”-adorable. I had a glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc, Joh had a pilsner from Sawmill Brewery and we shared the most deelishus veggie muffin/pastry-scrumptious! The beautifully decorated restaurant is owned by an adorable British family which all worked there together. The daughter (maybe 22ish) took care of us while we were there-she was such a great hostess!
Matakana Farmer's Market
Lovely organic veggies!
Owl-tastic!
:)
"Cream of the Crop"-most adorable store!
On the way out of town we headed to the Sawmill Brewery to see what kinds of tasty beerverages they had to offer us. The tasting room/restaurant was funky with huge saw blades on the walls, little colored vintage glass jars atop shelves all around the room, beautiful wood tables and the funkiest artichoke flower bouquets! We shared a sampler; the beers were ok-but nothing more. Our favorite was the “12 Gage” Double Pilsner. Their location is great, they have little attached cabins you can rent for the night and they are very close to Goat Island Marine Reserve, which we checked out as well. It is a tourist trap but looks like great diving to be had in that area.
Sawmill Sampler
Tasty
Sawmill
Artichoke Flower
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