Well, today I reached the grand old age of 28!

We had a busy day planned, starting with Skyping home - first time I've shared part of my birthday with Mam on her birthday - all thanks to the 12 hour time difference!

At 12pm our tour guide CJ collected us for our trip around Nelson, along with the couple in the van next to ours at the site who'd booked on the same tour - weird! We got chatting and found out that Ailsa was from Newcastle, and has lived in Heaton, where we lived during the PGCE days - small world! They're also starting to think about planning their wedding so we got on well!

Our first stop was a fantastic lookout point over Nelson Bay - sun was shining, blue sky, we could see for miles across the sea - perfect start! Then we headed to Brightwater Vineyards for our first tasting of the day. They've won lots of awards for their wine and we liked them all! After our last wine tour in Napier, at least we felt like we knew something about the different wines we tasted!

Our next stop was the Milcrest Estate, a small operation who've also won awards. We were shown around by Carmen (maybe?), a funny woman who was still learning about the wine, so she was a bit more down to earth and chatty ('There's a spit bucket to use if you want, but I don't see the point!'). She took us out into the vineyards and explained a bit about how they grow and crop the grapes.

We then drove to a café called the Grape Escape, where we had an awesome chicken focaccia sandwich with huge pieces of bread to soak up all the wine!

Next was a place that had just set up their Christmas display in their shop which seems strange - it feels nothing like Christmas here! In their food and drink section they had some special liqueurs for us to try, including butterscotch, lemon and one made from a NZ tree!
The afternoon involved a stop at the Sprig and Fern brewery, who've got two pubs in town (nice cider and blonde beer - we bought a 2l bottle of the blonde!) and our last stop at Rochdale Cider Company for yet more tastings, including some flavoured vodka! We then headed back to the campsite for a rest before our meal out!

We'd booked a table at Harbour Light Bistro on the waterfront after a recommendation from the lady in the I-site yesterday - she'd just been there for her birthday! We had an amazing 3 course meal (lamb with a smoked cheese crust for main course for me!) sitting upstairs in the window with a view of the harbour (best table in the house!) - perfect, and the food was so good compared to our usual pasta delights!

After the meal, we walked back into town for a couple of cocktails and finished off the night with some live music at a jam night in a bar - some of the players / singers were random, including a roller-skating violinist and a couple of dodgy rappers!

All in all, I had a fantastic day - a birthday I'll always remember!