Today our port of call was the capital city of NZ, Auckland! It is a beautiful and busy city with lots of skyscrapers, shopping, restaurants, and big city attractions. We signed up for a wine tour through our ship today, and this is how we ended up drinking wine at 10:40 a.m. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Hunting Lodge

We started our tour at the Hunting Lodge Winery, which is a cute little winery and event space about 45 minutes from Auckland. It was once the actual hunting lodge home of the Kerr-Taylor family in Waimauku, NZ. We had an excellent hostess here (Faye) who introduced us to several of their delicious wines, and paired them with some small snacks.

Soljans Estate Winery

Our second and final stop was a treat in that it was a family owned winery, and we got the tour from the 80+ year old vineyard owner Tony. This winery has been in his family since his grandparent immigrated from Croatia to New Zealand in the 1930s, and most all of the immediate and extended family still have a hand in the running of the vineyard and winery.

Tony walked us through the grape vines, the giant barrels where they store the wines, and through all the steps of their wine-making process. Despite having been on previous winery tours, we learned new things! He told great stories, and made us feel very welcome before we sampled some of their wines.

Here is Tony explaining how to open a bottle of sparkling wine properly:

It was a lot of fun. After the tour, we headed back to the ship for a late lunch, and then went back out and walked all around the harbor area in Auckland. What a great town! I wish we could have spent more time here, and would definitely love to come back.

Auckland

We set sail around 6:30, and Rob and I had a low key night so we can be ready for our final port day in Bay of Islands, NZ tomorrow. Stay tuned for more of this beautiful country!! Thanks for adventuring with us!