12/31/2016 - New Year's Eve

Day of week: Saturday

Cities visited: St. Arnaud, Blenheim

Lodging: The Carters' rented home

On the last day of 2016 we woke up and made ourselves a home cooked meal of rice cake + banana + peanut butter, along with the remains of a scone paired with cheese and salami. We spent most of the day with our friends Mike and Mikaela, two native Kiwis we met while in Cambridge, and their families. 

We drove the two hours from St Arnaud to Blenheim, a small-ish town in the wine country region, passing lots of beautiful fields along the way. We got to Mikaela's house, where the festivities were happening, around 11am. It was a treat to see our friends on their home territory - we learned that Mike's nickname is Spike because his hair stood on end as a kid, and that Mikaela goes by Mik or Mouse to most people. It's fun to hear childhood stories and see a side of our friends we didn't know.

We went out to lunch with Mike's family at Hunter's Garden Cafe on a vineyard, meeting his two siblings and a significant other, parents, a grandmother on his mother's side, and two friends. A lot of fun, much talk of New Zealand's place on the world stage, and some new friends gained.

After lunch a few of us went wine tasting at Cloudy Bay winery, where highlights included our group trying to guess what "notes" each wine had and failing miserably, as well as Zach trying out some cricket batting. According to him it isn't as easy as it looks, and Mike was happy to bowl the ball to him and teach him that lesson.

We ended up back at Mikaela's for the NYE party. There was some light rain but not enough to dull the party. Lots of good food and conversation, and the bonus that we got to 2017 almost a full day before our friends in the US, which led to lots of "hello from next year!" texts. One of the fun parts of NZ is that you're rarely far from sheep, and Mikaela's extended family included a farmer who had slaughtered two sheep just the day before and brought the meat over for grilling that night. It ended up being 20+ people, and was a fun way to learn more about what some NZ'ers think about the US. One couple in particular was worried about the rate of gun ownership and their chances of being shot if they came to a major city.

Mike the grillmaster!

Plenty of good food for the evening

At the end of the evening, as we rang in 2017, Emma and I gave each other a big kiss and talked about how much we're looking forward to the year. So many exciting things to do and look forward to. Then everyone who was left got into a circle, held hands, and sang Auld Lang Syne together while swaying back and forth.