Two for the Road

Heading into Queenstown, Fergburger was at the top of our agenda. This iconic burger joint always has a queue and apparently became famous in the early noughties as a way for late night revellers to ‘soak up the booze’ before heading to bed after a night out in Queenstown.¹ Rising through the ranks from a drunkards’ hole in the wall, over the years it was visited by celebrities and critics alike, eventually being listed as the ‘best burger in the world’ by sources such as CNN and the LA Times.

So, is it worth the hype? In our view it was definitely worth the visit, and we were surprised by the sensible pricing (they could charge a lot more for it, and still wouldn’t struggle for business).

I went for the Sweet Bambi², Matt had the Ferg Delux³ we also had fries and onion rings. The burgers probably weren’t the best we’ve ever had, but were certainly in the top 10%. Ferg also completely operates like clockwork, producing great quality food impossibly quickly, we stood in a queue of about 50 people and were at the front within 15 minutes, and waited about another 15 minutes for our kai⁴. So, more about the burgers. They had great quality bread they held together despite the enormous juicy patties secreted within, fresh salad, well thought out and lets face it, classic, flavour combinations really made these a quality burger.

After a swift constitutional stroll to see some more of Queenstown, we drove down the road to see Arrowtown, a picturesque little town famous for it’s role in the 19^th Century New Zealand gold rush. After a wander around and a cup of coffee we headed back to Wanaka.

Next, if you’re sick of reading about us drinking wine, you can skip to after the bullet points below.

If you’re still here – yes that’s right! Before heading south out of Central Otago, we thought it was only right we squeeze in a(nother) day of vineyard visits. Unlike Waiheke and Martinborough though, the distances were a little much for cycling, so one of us had to drive. It will come as no surprise to those of you that know us well that I was the passenger princess, and Matt kindly chauffeured me around a selection of vineyards for some tastings, trying but dutifully spittoon-ing his wine throughout the day. Here are some thoughts on the wineries we visited:

• Waitiri Creek – we heard from our server that after a relationship breakdown, the couple who owned the place had split and ceased producing wine for several years. Lucky for us, this means that they were opening older bottles for their cellar door tastings. Reserve Pinot Noir (2019) and Gewurztraminer (2018) were our favourites here.
• Brennan – 20 meters across the road from Waitiri, we wondered into Brennan, whose website says to book ahead but they had plenty of space for us early in the day. We tried a vertical tasting⁵ of their Pinot Noir, followed by a selection of white and rose. Highlights for me were the ’23 Pinot Noir and the Blanc de noir.
• Mt Rosa – Next we headed to Mt Rosa, a small vineyard with a lovely courtyard where we got some sun and enjoyed a dealers choice selection of their wines.
• Mt Difficulty – moving along about 30-minutes drive to the Bannockburn area, we visited what is probably one of the most famous vineyards of Central Otago. Stocked in Majestic and Waitrose in the UK, Mt Difficulty was founded by Robert Dice, one of the pioneers of the regions wine making in the 90s. Despite the name and kudos, it was a very informal tasting, we stood at the bar where we were taken through 10-12 of their wines, ranging from the Pinot Noir (this is what Central Otago is famous for) through rose and white.
• Dicey – a small, but perfectly formed, vineyard we came across on our way towards Cromwell, Dicey we founded by the sons of the aforementioned Robert Dice. This place was a little more modern and experimental than some of the other vineyards we visited, including a Pinot Gris infused on the lees. We loved that they’re making and selling some really good boxed wine, with fantastic dice themed product design⁶ as well as some more traditional and suitable-for-aging bottled wine typical of the region.
• Quartz Reef – We didn’t quite expect to roll up to an industrial estate for the next one, Quartz Reefs vineyards are a little further afield from their vineyards than other wineries in the area, but we had a lovely experience at this one. The tasting room is essentially in their warehouse, bottling and aging facility. We were able to have a tour of the place, plus taste 6 of their wines, all for no money changing hands. Highly recommend this one if you’re in the area!
• Misha’s Vineyard – I was a little bit wavey at this point, but we popped in about 20 minutes before closing to speed run their classic tasting of 4 wines. All the offerings from Misha’s vineyard are named after performance arts themes due to the background of the couple who own and produce the wine. Names such as ‘The Audition’, ‘The High Note’ and our favourite ‘The Starlet’ featured.
• Maori Point – Our last stop of the day, we enjoyed a build-your-own tasting for any six of the available wines from the vineyard. We opted for a sparkling (in a can!) wine, plus a mixture of some of the more common varietals form the region (Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay).

Matt then had the pleasure of pouring me out of the car and back into our Wanaka stay before pouring himself a large glass of pinot noir for his labours.

The next day we had to vacate Wanaka and move onto pastures new. As it turned out, the easiest (and maybe only) way to get down south towards the Fjordlands of NZ was to head back through Queenstown. We decided to enjoy a sequel – Fergburger 2: Electric Boogaloo. So for our lunch we tried something a little different. Matt went for the Bombay Chicken⁷ and I went for the Holier Than Thou⁸. We both enjoyed our burgers even more than the first outing, so based on this *extensive* research, my advice is to go for something a little less classic if you ever get the opportunity to visit.

We also shared a pastry based chaser after our burgers (we have been running and walking a lot, I promise) from the next door Fergbaker. It was top tier. If you are short on time I’d highly recommend having a chilli beef pie if you find yourself in the area.

Our next stay was two nights in Te Anau. We were in the annex of a family home with two very friendly cats, who promptly came to greet us and made themselves at home!

Te Anau is one of the closest towns to Milford Sound, which is one of the most famous scenic stops in New Zealand. As we only had one full day in the area, we booked a kayak to make the most of the scenery. It’s hard to compare, and we were blessed with incredible weather, but I think the scenery both on the drive and at Milford Sound itself was the most beautiful we’ve seen so far in New Zealand.

Here’s a little montage from GoPro video footage of the outing!

This morning we left Te Anau for one of our longest driving days, heading across the breadth of the country to stop for lunch in Dunedin, before heading north for a couple of hours to Timaru on the east coast. I write to you from a micro-brewery in Dunedin, while Matt explores the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame nearby.

Tomorrow we’re off north to Christchurch, perhaps with a detour to Akaroa on the way – the adventure continues!

Iris

1. Yes, I can sense your cries about how apt a stop this is for us ↩︎
2. Wild Fiordland deer, Brie cheese, boysenberry & caramelised onion chutney, lettuce, tomato, red onion & aioli ↩︎
3. Prime N.Z. beef, streaky bacon, Cheddar cheese, sweet dill pickle, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & tomato relish ↩︎
4. Māori for food used ubiquitously throughout NZ ↩︎
5. This just means trying the same wine from several different years, know as vintages in the wine biz, to taste the difference the age and weather has made ↩︎
6. Read more here: Boxing clever. — .. ↩︎
7. Grilled chicken tenderloins marinated in chilli, ginger & coriander yoghurt, cucumber raita, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & mango chutney ↩︎
8. Tempura tofu, spicy satay, coconut & coriander sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, snowpea shoots & aioli ↩︎