The right place at the right time

So after walking around Wellington all day yesterday, we thought we deserved a nice dinner and drinks. We had heard about this restaurant, the Matterhorn, that is really relaxed and cozy and great for pre-dinner cocktails. It was off a little side street in this alley, kind of seedy almost, but as soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a toasty fireplace, good wine, and tv reporters!! They asked us if they could film us just relaxing and being normal (which, be honest, is never natural when you know you're being filmed).

So we didn't really think anything of it, finished our glasses and got a cab to this other restaurant, Dockside. It was truly dockside. The cab driver just kept driving until we were basically out on the pier! But it was AMAZING!! You could tell we were in the part of the restaurant that is normally out on the pier in summer, but they had enclosed it and put those big outdoor heaters out there; it was so warm and an awesome atmosphere!! We were there for probably 2 hours and I could have stayed longer.

But we headed back over to the Matterhorn for our last night in Wellington, our favorite city thus far, and then headed back to the hostel. Only to wake up to New Zealand's Breakfast (the morning TV show) to discover that the Matterhorn had won 2008 New Zealand's Best Restaurant!! That's why they had been filming us! We watched the coverage, but didn't see ourselves on the broadcast of clips. I just thought, "What if we got on the news in New Zealand? How weird would that be??" Anyway, it was kind of cool though, to know that we were there the night it was announced!

We head to Nelson this afternoon, which is the beginning of New Zealand's wine country. We're there for one night, then move on to Blenheim, where we'll do a wine tour by bike, and then watch a national team rugby match!! I guess that's about it for now. Write more from Blenheim.