If you read the previous two, possibly three (I can't remember) entries, and felt that the quality of the writing had taken a nosedive, well, you would be right. I apologize for said loss of editing and sensemaking, I overindulged in, shall we say, holiday "spirit." Anyway things are all straightened out now and you should see a return to the slightly above average quality that you have come to know and enjoy.
After leaving Milford Sound, we made a brief and uneventful stop in Queenstown. After a very very rainy day we continued on with our plan to travel up the West Coast. Today would see quite a bit of driving along with a brief stop at the first major Galcier, the Fox. Queenstown and Cromwell, a much smaller nearby city, are quite famous for their wines, so we decided it best to augment our breakfast with a bit of wine tasting. We stopped at the Gibbston Valley Winery because it also featured a cheesery right next door, and Maria and I do both love us some good cheese. The wines were good, better than the 7 dollar bottles we were used to drinking at least. I would say that my favorite wine had a very robust flavour, a full mouth kind of taste that tantalized the tounge and evoked images of southern France. I really don't know anything about wine tasting and that was the best I could do. Wine tasting is fine and grand, but it doesn't hold a candle to cheese tasting.
I've never been to a nice cheese shop, so this was definately going to be an experience. Armed with a bit of knowledge garnered from some light cheese reading, and an appetite willing to ingest anything no matter how bad it smelt, I entered into Cromwell's little slice of heaven. The first thing I noticed upon entering was the small brown box in the cooler labeled "Epoisses." I had learned, from my new favvorite book The Devil's Picnic that well made Epoisses is a thing of beauty, while giving off an odor that would offend most septic tanks. Not being one to back down from a challange, I opened the box and took an enromous whiff. It did indeed smell terrible, something like mouldy laundry that someone had rolled in poo, and then shat on. Terrible really. Too bad I couldn't taste it. I'm assuming that something that smells that bad must taste really really good. I'm imagining GummyBears molding together with Milk Duds or something. The Epoisses was a little bit out of my price range, so it was on the the free tasting! All of the cheeses were delicious, and while the cheesewoman serving us didn't seem to be all that knowledgeable, she was willing to let us eat to our hearts content, my favorite person indeed! After eating so much of the Gibbston's excellent cheese, I felt compelled to buy something. I purchased some delectable cheddar and something else that I can't remember.
With our bellies ful of cheese, we continued on our journey towards the Glaciers. Our first stop was the Fox glacier, and after a short walk we found outselves standing in front of the glacier. While it was cool, it really didn't have much to offer that Mt. Cook hadn't already show us, and lets face it, who wants a slice of cheese when you can have the whole wheel?! Am I right? Sitting in the car all day probably didn't help much as I was quite antsy and kind of annoyed of looking at icy things, like Maria's glares as I bounced around in my seat, desperate to get out of the overheated and smelly deathtrap that is our rental vehicle. Luckily we had another glacier to look at the next day and it was bound to be better and more interesting. It wasn't.
After leaving Milford Sound, we made a brief and uneventful stop in Queenstown. After a very very rainy day we continued on with our plan to travel up the West Coast. Today would see quite a bit of driving along with a brief stop at the first major Galcier, the Fox. Queenstown and Cromwell, a much smaller nearby city, are quite famous for their wines, so we decided it best to augment our breakfast with a bit of wine tasting. We stopped at the Gibbston Valley Winery because it also featured a cheesery right next door, and Maria and I do both love us some good cheese. The wines were good, better than the 7 dollar bottles we were used to drinking at least. I would say that my favorite wine had a very robust flavour, a full mouth kind of taste that tantalized the tounge and evoked images of southern France. I really don't know anything about wine tasting and that was the best I could do. Wine tasting is fine and grand, but it doesn't hold a candle to cheese tasting.
I've never been to a nice cheese shop, so this was definately going to be an experience. Armed with a bit of knowledge garnered from some light cheese reading, and an appetite willing to ingest anything no matter how bad it smelt, I entered into Cromwell's little slice of heaven. The first thing I noticed upon entering was the small brown box in the cooler labeled "Epoisses." I had learned, from my new favvorite book The Devil's Picnic that well made Epoisses is a thing of beauty, while giving off an odor that would offend most septic tanks. Not being one to back down from a challange, I opened the box and took an enromous whiff. It did indeed smell terrible, something like mouldy laundry that someone had rolled in poo, and then shat on. Terrible really. Too bad I couldn't taste it. I'm assuming that something that smells that bad must taste really really good. I'm imagining GummyBears molding together with Milk Duds or something. The Epoisses was a little bit out of my price range, so it was on the the free tasting! All of the cheeses were delicious, and while the cheesewoman serving us didn't seem to be all that knowledgeable, she was willing to let us eat to our hearts content, my favorite person indeed! After eating so much of the Gibbston's excellent cheese, I felt compelled to buy something. I purchased some delectable cheddar and something else that I can't remember.
With our bellies ful of cheese, we continued on our journey towards the Glaciers. Our first stop was the Fox glacier, and after a short walk we found outselves standing in front of the glacier. While it was cool, it really didn't have much to offer that Mt. Cook hadn't already show us, and lets face it, who wants a slice of cheese when you can have the whole wheel?! Am I right? Sitting in the car all day probably didn't help much as I was quite antsy and kind of annoyed of looking at icy things, like Maria's glares as I bounced around in my seat, desperate to get out of the overheated and smelly deathtrap that is our rental vehicle. Luckily we had another glacier to look at the next day and it was bound to be better and more interesting. It wasn't.
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