New Zealand: 16 Days to Christmas 2022

It’s Friday! You made it! Wahoo!

Unlike you making it to Friday, I have not yet made it to one of my top traveling destinations of New Zealand. But that’s okay, one day! More fun is I have a swim friend who now lives in New Zealand and I get to live vicariously through her.

My hope is to take a cruise from Australia and stop at many ports in New Zealand. Ideally it would leave out of Sydney, Australia and at least stop at the Great Barrier Reef. Then cruise around New Zealand where eventually I’d see landscapes of “Middle Earth” and visit a few Lord of the Rings filming locations. Truth! I do have a nerdy side 😉

Yep! I’ve obviously day dreamed about this. But! Maybe it can become a future reality.

Ah here we are! In case you didn’t know before, you do now! Tea does grow in New Zealand at Zealong Tea Estate. I decided to get a sampling of different flavor teas. I started with Lady Gatsby’s green tea with rose petals, cinnamon and Manuka. I didn’t know what Manuka is so I consulted the Google. WebMD says it’s honey produced by bees in Australia and New Zealand who pollinate the native leptospermum scoparium bush, also known as a tea tree. I tasted the Lady Gatsby tea and it is both bitter and sweet; strange sensation on my tongue. But with each steep, the bitterness fades away and the sweet cinnamon flavor came out.

I also tried the black tea which claims to be “a full-bodied, deep amber liquor with a sweet, honeyed undertone and silky smooth finish.” I do have to agree that it leaves a smooth flavor after each sip and i generally enjoyed it. But, my favorite has to be the “Sweet Amber” black tea with with ginger, lemon and honey. Mmmm mmm!

Outside of New Zealand and tea, other news is that this awesome shark balloon made a debut in a work meeting with multiple hits to my face… while I was talking 🙄 Thank goodness for great, understanding coworkers. Have a superb weekend folks!