Salmon and Milk

An unlikely mix I know, but all will be revealed later in the post.

Tuesday 18 September

We are sticking around Takaka for a  few more days, exploring the region at our leisure, the joys of not having time constraints!!!The day started with a walk through the Labyrinth Rocks with Mike & Bernadette before they headed off further north.  

Bernadette trying out her ipad for picture taking.

BetweenPohara and Takaka there is a sign on the side of the road pointing to the Labyrinth Rocks.  Interesting! So we had to have a look.  It turns out to be an area of Kaast limestone formations which a person had bought and then made tracks through.

The tracks were narrow and the direction of them was dictated by the various rock formations.  Below is a selection of photos  showing various parts of the track.

Obviously the remains of those that could not find their way around.

Even found Tigger had parachuted in to assist us to find our way around!!

Whilst out exploring, we have come across a huge number of roadside stall selling everything from eggs, to veges, fruits, & herbs to smoked fish.  But when we came across a sign on the side of the road saying Village Milk, we were not quite sure what that meant so we headed in the gate to check it out. 

Inside a small shelter was a vending machine, dispensing plain, un-homogenised, un-pasteurised, unadulterated milk, complete with litre bottle to purchase if required.  Wow, we were so thrilled to find this we thought we had best try some.  Funnily enough we had seen these same vending machines in our travels through Germany and Italy and wondered what they were! We tried our first litre and are now hooked.  Back for another couple of litres this time with our own bottle to refill. 

  Sign at road                             vending machine

Bottle dispenser                         Milk dispenser

 

Milk filling in action                    

We decant the milk into glass bottles and keep in the fridge and yes, the cream does rise to the top, and yes, it tastes delicious, especially in a flat white or even better in a hot chocolate!!  Smoothies are good too, with Mozzarella cheese making next on the list.   Check out www.villagemilk.co.nz and lets hope that lots and lots of these outlets spring up all through the country and we get back to eating real food.

Next activity on our list of ‘to-do’s’ was to go Salmon fishing.  OK, so it was at a Salmon Farm, but we did fish in the Lake and not the hatchery.

Fisherwoman in action

Fisherman with his catch

A great bit of recreation, and the best bit was they cleaned and filleted it for us and we took it home for dinner. MMmmm.

So that is how we get Milk and Salmon in the title, it does not have quite the same ring to it as the land of Milk and Honey but we think its pretty damn good.  Have we said it before?  It’s a tough job but someone has to do it 🙂