Sampling a local brew

This weekend we took a short trip out of Wellington with The Bach to Paraparaumu Beach on the Kapiti Coast. It's only an hour away, but we had a little excursion booked, for which we didn't have to rely on a driver.

In NZ, there is a real "craft beer" movement. There are a number of "boutique" breweries that focus on quality rather than quantity. On our past travels, we've sampled Monteith's in Greymouth and Stoke in Nelson. Our local major player in this field is Tuatara.

In October they moved to new premises in "Pram" after outgrowing their garden shed! And with that, they launched brewery tours. Of course no tour is complete without the obligatory tasting, so taste we did.

But you'll be please to know that we had some food and water before bicycling back to the campsite for some more beers and some cards.

Another view of home

Here's some more views from Ian's recent trek to the top of the hill opposite our house.

In this photo, the field in the bottom left is Tawatawa, one of our local dog walking reserves just two minutes' walk from our house. You can see a track cut into the hill just above it. That's our short track for walking Maddy.

You can just about make out the harbour entrance in the distance of this photo. That's how high up this hill is!

This is looking out over our house, the reserve, Owhiro Bay, Island Bay and numerous other suburbs, up towards the harbour. You can even see Somes Island (the old quarantine base) in the middle of the harbour.

Now here's one from a little bike ride up the coast with Scott. Some of you may recognise Kapiti Island. This was taken from the top of Paekakariki Hill Road.