A Traveller’s Guide To Turkish Dogs

OK, this happened a couple of weeks ago now. But I’ve had a lot to catch up!

Circa Theatre’s first serious offering of the year (they started with panto) is A Traveller’s Guide To Turkish Dogs. With a start time of 7:30pm, we set out at what we thought was the entirely reasonable time of 5:15, to get to Pravda for a 6:00 dinner. Because, you know, traffic.

I don’t know what’s gone wrong with Wellington traffic recently. It took us over an hour to get in to town. We called ahead to Pravda to let them know we were running late. But it shouldn’t take 75 minutes to complete a journey that would normally take 20 minutes. Who are all these people, and where are they coming from? Cobham Drive is at a standstill, and the traffic sign gives a hopelessly optimistic “21 minutes to CBD” message (normally it shows 9 minutes).

After a somewhat hurried dinner at Pravda (only time for mains) we walked along the waterfront to Circa. We were in time to get an ice cream from the café, then took our seats.

A Traveller’s Guide To Turkish Dogs is set, unsurprisingly, in Turkey. It is the mostly true story of one kiwi’s OE (Overseas Experience), a rite of passage for many kiwis in their twenties, usually involving time spent living and working in Europe or America. Barnaby has been bumming around the Med, working on boats large and small, before he winds up in a boatyard in a small Turkish town. Here he meets a variety of characters, including fellow kiwi, the Turkish “historian” who manages to intertwine history with myth; and other boatyard workers of various nationalities including one who just shouts incomprehensibly. We never discover what he’s actually saying, but we get the meaning well enough. They take the story along as Barnaby finds and rescues a Turkish street dog. Most of the rest of the play is about one man and his dog, and (spoiler alert) the tale of how it was finally brought back to New Zealand with him.

Never work with children or animals, they say. Obviously, a dog can’t act live on stage each night, so instead they use a clever device of cardboard boxes for the dog, Helena. It sounds mad, but it works. You’ll believe a cardboard box is a dog by the end of the play.

It's a heartwarming story, based on true life, embellished somewhat, with a surprise final appearance. Enjoy it while you can.

Waiheke

It was a lovely sunny morning, and we set out in search of breakfast. We didn’t have to search very far, as our studio is just off the top of the main Ocean View Road in Waiheke, and it was but five minutes’ walk to Wai Kitchen, for avocado on toast, eggs benedict etc.

After breakfast we did a quick shop at Four Square for future breakfasts, then set out in our car. We’d rented a RAV4 with the specific purpose of visiting one of the vineyards we’d not been to on any of our previous visits to Waiheke: Man O War vineyard, in Man O War Bay. There are two ways to get to this: over miles of unmade road (hence the SUV) or by sea.

We arrived around midday, to find the place was pretty full. There were a lot of boats moored offshore, and RIBs and similar tied to the beach. Clearly, arriving by sea is a popular option. 

We went to the tasting room first and I tried all the wines on offer (Nicola stuck to the whites). We were particularly taken with the riesling, and I also liked the syrah, so we got some of those to take back with us. How would we manage that? I hear you ask…well, this time, even though we’re only away for five nights, we’d brought a suitcase! So we’ll be able to pack some wine in to take home.

We stopped for lunch there as well. The lunch offering is more pub than fine dining, but they have extensive grounds with picnic tables, and a wide selection of pizzas, breads, olives, etc. I opted for fish and chips and then wished I hadn’t, as they clearly weren’t produced on the premises. You live, you learn. Nicola had a caprese salad which looked way yummier.

Vehicular visitors are enjoined not to drive back the way they came, but to continue on Cowes Bay Road to get back on the surfaced road network. Given the narrowness of the road in some places, this is a good idea. We stopped off along the way at Little Oneroa beach, almost home, for a swim in the bay there. The water is like bathwater compared to our usual Scorching Bay.

In the evening we went out to Fenice, Oneroa’s favourite Italian restaurant.

Bugibba

After sorting out our room in Gzira, we decided to venture out further into Malta. Our original intention was to take a bus into Valletta. There was a bus stop handily located at the end of our road, so we waited there for a few minutes for the bus to come along.

The first bus that arrived was full, and as no-one got off, the driver wouldn’t allow anyone on. The next bus was our old friend NIS – Not In Service – and the one after that was going in the opposite direction, to Bugibba. “Sod this for a game of soldiers” we said, “we’ve got a car. Let’s just drive somewhere. How about Bugibba?”

And so we set off towards Bugibba, following the coast road around Sliema and heading north. Bugibba is a short drive away (everywhere is a short drive away – Malta is a small place). We passed some coastal forts along the way and promised ourselves we’d look at them another time, before arriving in Bugibba and miraculously finding a parking spot on a side street, whilst we were looking for how to get into the town centre. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we parked there and walked a couple of minutes to the main square. We quickly found a place for lunch, with the unappealing name of Bognor Bar & Restaurant, but the food was good enough. Nicola had been importuned on the street as we walked in, and handed a leaflet to The Fish Lounge. We dug out all our other leaflets and decided that our plan would be to go to the Fish Lounge after lunch, as it was just across the street, then get to the Tourist Information place and look further abroad. Bugibba is also home to the National Aquarium, and we thought that worth a visit.

The Fish Lounge is a fish restaurant. That is, it’s a restaurant for fishes. These particular fish, Garra rufa, will eat the dead skins cells from your feet. It’s a pedicure treatment that originated in Turkey. We booked a 20 minute session and sat there with our feet in the tanks, while fish ate away the dead skin cells from our feet! It feels a bit funny at first, but you soon get used to it, and it’s an enjoyable experience. We came away feeling our feet were nice and healthy.

Next, we went to the tourist information office and got a proper map of Bugibba, then drove out to the aquarium. There, we booked not just the normal visit, but also a backstage tour, where we were guided by the multilingual Alex, who escorted us and a French family. He showed us how and where they look after new fish, and also sick fish from the aquarium; the feeding of sharks and rays, including how they ensure that everyone is fed – necessary to stop them eating the other fish in the tank; the feeding schedule and the food preparation room (smelly!); and how they keep the tanks healthy and at correct temperature and salinity, as many of the fish and other creatures are highly sensitive to even very slight changes in their environment.  

After the guided tour we took the regular walk around the aquarium. They had many varieties of fish, from local species to reef fish, and also a reptile and arthropod section, which housed a red-kneed tarantula, amongst other specimens.  

We’d spent a good couple of hours at the aquarium, so after a quick beverage decided to head back to Gzira. We checked out the hotel pool, which was full of cavorting teenagers, and considered a plan to use the pool early in the morning when they were still in the land of nod. This plan, unfortunately, was thwarted by the hotel, who don’t open the pool until 10:00am. So unless we decide to stay late one morning, we’ll probably not make much use of the pool. And after all the fuss we made! 😉

In the evening we headed out for a drink at Sistina. They brought us menus and we decided, after a couple of beers on my part and a glass of rosé for Nicola, that it looked quite reasonable, so moved indoors (it was getting a little chilly) and ordered ourselves a platter to share. It was enormous! It had salami, prosciutto and other cold meats; four different cheeses; plenty of pickled and dried vegetables, fresh crudités, and some bread and biscuits. We manfully and womanfully managed to finish it.

Mussel Inn

The Nelson area is known as the craft brewing capital of New Zealand, dating back to the first settlement of the area in the 1840s when it was colonised by German settlers. They found it an ideal location to grow hops, and Nelson remains the principal hop-growing region of New Zealand. There are a dozen local breweries, some producing beer which is available throughout New Zealand and beyond, like Stokes, whilst others are micro-breweries selling beer only available at their pub. Many of these brewers brought their product to Beervana, which I went to in August.

After picking up a hire car at the airport, we first headed back into Nelson to the Founder’s Park, which contains many old buildings and is also the site of the Founder’s Brewery. It shows a somewhat idealised picture of the life in old New Zealand – although the equipment in the dentist’s surgery gave a grisly reminder that all was not sweetness and light in the good ol’ days.

After that we decided to head up to The Mussel Inn at Onekaka in Golden Bay, on the advice of a former colleague and (current) beer fan. This was a bit of a drive away, via the scenic State Highway 60. We stopped along the way at various lookouts to admire the scenery.

Snow-covered mountains

We stopped to admire some geology

Classic tui-in-a-tree pose

We reached The Mussel Inn in time to have some lunch there, and to down a pint or two of Captain Cooker, one of their own beers brewed on the premises.

At the Mussel Inn

We made a plan to drive back via a couple of breweries, but were somewhat thwarted in our quest as it was getting late on a Sunday afternoon, and they were either closed on Sundays, or closed by the time we got to them. We took the car back to the rental place and checked in for our flight back to Wellington.

Over The Hills And Far Away

On Saturday, we hired an SUV and took the parents out to Martinborough, a town to the east of Wellington over the Rimutaka mountain range. Martinborough is based around a wine economy, and there are a number of vineyards within walking distance of the town centre, although we decided to drive so as not to wear ourselves out too much. It was a lovely warm sunny day, and possibly a little too hot for extended walking.

With no particular plan in mind, we first visited the tourist information centre, who provided us with a map of the vineyards which also indicated which ones were open to the public, and which had catering facilities.

First stop was the oldest vineyard in the region, and the one that bagged naming rights: the Martinborough Vineyard. We tasted several of their wines, and I bought a couple of bottles of their pinot gris. Most of the vineyards produce a range of varietals, but the standout wines are the pinot noirs.

After that we headed round the corner to Margrain, where we tasted their sparkling wine as well as the pinots, chardonnay and rieslings. They make two very different reislings, and I picked up some of the sweeter variety for drinking with Thai food. I also got a bottle of their botrytis sauvignon blanc, which has an unusual herby flavour to it.

It was getting on to one o'clock, so next place we headed to was Vynfields, which is an organic vineyard. Despite this, we decided it was worth going to! They have a slightly different approach to marketing, and provide you with a tasting tray of wines for $15/20 (depending on how much wine you want to drink), rather than the $5 tasting fees that the other vineyards charge (which is refunded if you buy any wine). We also had lunch there – a shared platter of antipasto and cheeses with bread. Together with the wine, it made for a very enjoyable, lazy lunch out in the sunshine.

At this point I handed over driving duties to Nicola, as she had been abstaining from the tastings. We headed back into the town centre to pick up postcards from tourist information, then drove back over the mountains to Wellington.

This was our first visit to Martinborough, but I’m sure it won’t be our last – there are plenty more vineyards for us to try, and we intend to work our way around them systematically (or haphazardly, which seems more likely). Then we’ll go back to the beginning and start again.

For those of you who are interested, Martinborough Vineyards wines are available from Majestic and Victoria wine; whilst Margrain wines are available in Oddbins. Go check them out, and enjoy!

The Far Side

We hadn’t booked any excursions for Boxing Day, so we decided to take the hire car and drive over to the west coast of Northland. There were a few places we wanted to visit, and we thought it would be a good idea to get them all done in one trip.

We started off by going back to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, to finish off the tour that we started on Christmas Eve. We took in the Treaty House, which was originally the first official British building in New Zealand, belonging to the British Resident, James Busby. Most of the building was made in Australia and shipped to New Zealand to be fabricated here. In the garden we found fantails. I had another crack at wildlife photography, but the little blighters move too fast!

A somewhat blurry Fantail

We also caught the end of a tour of Te Whare Runanga, a Maori meeting house or marae, that was built as part of the centenary celebrations in 1940. The carvings inside are from different Maori tribes throughout New Zealand, and we heard explanations of what some of the different symbols meant – why the tongues are out and what it means when they are pointed in different directions.

Next stop was to head south to go and visit the glow-worm caves, but as it turned out, we couldn’t get in because (a first in our experience) they didn’t take card payments, and we didn’t have enough cash on us for the entrance charge! Never mind, we’ll head back down there another time, making sure that we have sufficient change in our pocketses!

We decided to drive straight over to the west coast, get some lunch, and then make our way back stopping off at the various places that we wanted to see. This was easier said than done, as it took us a little effort to find a café that was open. We eventually found one in Waiotemarama.

The scenery along the coast is spectacular, with some enormous sand dunes and great surf waves crashing into the beach. But the main attraction in this part of Northland is the Kauri forest. Kauri trees are native to New Zealand, and some of them grow to be very big indeed. The Waipoua Forest contains the largest and oldest of these. The pictures don’t really give you a true idea of the scale of these trees – the largest one, named Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest) is 14 metres in circumference. I’m standing quite a way in front of it!

Tane Mahuta 

We also saw some of the "smaller" trees including the Four Sisters.

The Four Sisters

After that we headed to the Wairere Boulders. These are found up a gravel track and are the only basalt boulder valley on a clay base in the world. The boulders have been eroded by the acid content of the Kauri forest that used to surround them, into flutes and folds known as karst.

Look at that fluting!

That was about it for the day’s adventures – it was late afternoon and we headed for home.

Labour Day Weekend

The Labour Day weekend is akin to the Mayday Bank Holiday in the UK – the first warm weekend of spring. Nicola had entered the draw to use the Treasury’s bach in Castlepoint a couple of months ago, and had won, so the place was ours for the using.

We hired a Corolla, and picked it up from the handily-placed Budget rent-a-car place just down Ghuznee Street. Unlike hiring a car in the UK where you’re obliged to find all the damage, and sign a form showing the condition that you take it away in, they just handed over the keys with a cheery “fill ’er up before you bring ’er back in” and waved us off.

I drove it back up the hill, and we loaded up all our stuff to take to Castlepoint – which included bedding and heating as well as clothes etc – it is, apparently, pretty basic. Then we drove to the supermarket to pick up supplies, including water, for the weekend.

Wellington is well served by roads that come all the way into the centre of town, so we were able to hit the road and get onto State Highway 2 pretty quickly, and headed over the Rimutakas to Featherston, Carterton and Masterton, and then on to Castlepoint. SH2 starts out looking like a motorway with several lanes, but quickly reduces down to a single carriageway winding over and through the mountains, so the putative 100kph speed limit is rarely achieved. We reached Masterton after about 2 hours’ drive, and stopped off to look around and have a cup of coffee. Then we continued on to Castlepoint, a further 45 minutes’ drive to the coast.

We found the house after enquiring at the pub, as we had been given misleading directions which labelled it “No. 12” when it was in fact “No. 60”. A small difference! We unloaded and arranged our belongings, then went for a walk along the shore to see what was at the far end. A lagoon, and the place where they store all the boats that go out during the day, we found. The wind was doing interesting things with the sand over the beach, but as we didn’t have our cameras with us I can’t provide documentary evidence of this. We then decided it would be a good idea to spend our first night down at the pub/restaurant, where we had an entirely agreeable fish’n’chips and vegetarian platter, washed down with some Tui beer and white wine.

On the way back to the bach, we noticed that the almost-full moon was rising over the Pacific Ocean:

Moon over the Pacific

That was Day One of our Labour Day weekend.