Day Trip Part III: Fleurs Place

This post is a little belated, but I left out an important part of our day trip to Moeraki and Dunedin last month. After we visited the Moeraki boulders, we had a lovely dinner at a quaint little restaurant called Fleurs Place.  Interestingly, everyone we talked to about visiting Moeraki suggested that we eat there. And it was worth it! Here is a little information from the website along with a link to the page.

http://www.fleursplace.com/

 

Fleurs Place a restaurant, cafe and bar right on the waterfront at the old jetty. Our specialty is fresh fish straight from Moeraki Bay fishing boats. The restaurant established on an early whaling station site in 2002 and is built from gathered collectables and demolition materials from all over New Zealand.

The owner Fleur Sullivan has made her reputation in Central Otago where she established Olivers restaurant and has received numerous awards for her restaurants and in recognition for her contribution to tourism. Come and stay - Enjoy the tranquillity.

NEW BOOK When British television chef and restaurateur Rick Stein was told he could choose to go anywhere in the world to write a travel article for English newspaper the Daily Mail, he chose Fleurs Place in Moeraki, New Zealand. The restaurant, run by the inimitable Fleur Sullivan, was 'Just one of those places that keeps cropping up in conversations' whenever there was a gathering of 'foodies', he said. Set in the sleepy little fishing village of Moeraki on the Otago coast, Fleurs Place has an unbeatable setting. There's water on three sides, fishing boats bobbing in the harbour, the famous Moeraki boulders across the bay and, to the north, the open sea. Fleur uses only the freshest of local ingredients - indeed, fishing boats land their catches right into her restaurant. This book combines recipes supplied by Fleur herself with photographs of the spectacular scenery of coastal Otago and the Moeraki area. Side-bar text includes information on Fleur, the restaurant, local suppliers and the Moeraki area. Buy the book at Fishpond.co.nz

Magazine's Best Cafe Awards for 2007. The overall winner was coastal cafe Fleur's Place, in Moeraki, south of Oamaru.

The sun was setting as we looked across the harbor during our amazing dinner. Unfortunately we only took a picture of the spread of yummy breads we tried out as an appetizer. The different sauces were quite different and very tasty.  Then we shared an enormous platter of various local fish that is caught by the fishermen daily. It was pretty cool to look out the window and see the fishing boats tied off right outside the restaurant next to a ramp where they haul the fish up to the restaurant. 

The website mentions that there is water on three sides of the restaurant. From where we were sitting we could look out at two of the sides. The picture through the window was taken directly from our table. For the other picture I just stepped outside on to the balcony a few steps away. Too bad it was too cold to eat on the balcony! The picture doesn't quite do the sunset justice because I took too long to take it, but the color was stunning.

Christchurch among the friendliest cities in the world

I was reading articles on Stuff.co.nz (equivalent of Yahoo! here in NZ) and found this article about the 20 friendliest and unfriendliest cities in the world. I thought it was interesting that New Zealand, a country the size of Colorado, has three cities in the most friendly list and the U.S. had four. Sadly though, the U.S. also had eight listed on the unfriendliest cities. Come on America, that's almost half!

The Friendliest and Unfriendliest Cities in the World

Christchurch is listed at #11 on the friendliest cities list. Now I know I'm not the only one who thinks the people here are great!

Office Party - Christmas in July?

I'm a little late on this post, but better late than never. Two Saturdays back on July 27th we had our mid-winter Christmas party. Funny name for a party held in July, but it's winter here so I guess the Kiwi's think it fits. The theme for the party this year was Americana. 

I was averse to trying to rent a costume so I spent a while thinking of how I could possibly dress up to look "American". I asked the tax group if I could just come in my every day clothes since I actually am an American but I was emphatically turned down.

So as I went through the masses of clothing I brought with me, I found a Yankees jersey that I "borrowed" from Austin for a baseball dress up day in the SLC office. I have been wondering why on earth I thought I needed to bring it with me all the way to New Zealand, but I think I have figured it out. If I have the jersey in New Zealand, I can't actually return it to Austin and it will have to remain in my possession indefinitely. Sorry bro! (Although I'm quite sure it's a kids jersey and you are much to tall for it now). In addition to the jersey, Brian left his Yankees hat here and I had the makings of an outfit. 

The party was pretty fun. We had a nice dinner and a hired band afterwards. It can be pretty funny to watch drunk accountants trying to dance. I was really surprised at how festive the costumes were and I actually felt like I didn't put enough effort into it. There were some Miss Americas, a statue of liberty, Uncle Sam, Evel Knievel, Great Gatsby flappers, full on military outfits. And the one fully suited up football player was none other than Payton Manning as a (drumroll) Denver Bronco!!! Everyone looked at me pretty weird when I yelled "Go Broncos" as he walked in the door haha.

All in all it was a pretty fun evening and a great way to distract me from the first Saturday night with Brian being back in Salt Lake. I miss you sweetie! I'll see about grabbing some pics from work and posting them here.

I'm still not sure how an Americana themed party in July is related to Christmas...maybe I'll figure it out next year.

I loved the Gatsby girls

Pretty good representation here - a cowboy, Lance Armstrong, Native American and Evel Knievel

The two tax partners (my bosses!) dressed up as Col. Hogan (Hogan's Heroes) and  NY Knicks player

There's me in my Yankees gear...

Yes, that's a Peyton Manning jersey - go Broncos!

The jacket on the girl in the middle actual said Pink Ladies. Awesome!

Some people go all out - Uncle Sam, a hot dog and the Statue of Liberty