Tightening my belt

With the new year, my travel savings budget has started.  I'm aiming to save $23,000 this year and hopefully I can meet that target - that is a huge amount to save for me as I earn a hospo income :-)

The first fortnight of this is a shock to the system.  I am not used to having an empty bank account a week before payday. For the next wee while my travel savings are going straight into paying off the Antarctica cruise and what I've saved already is locked up in term deposit. So there's no raiding my savings account between pays for lunch money.

I'm doing a year without buying takeaways, not buying yarn, no new dresses for quite a while, walking instead of taking buses more often and trying to do cheap or free activities on my days off.

I babysat on my last day off which was great as I got a free trip to the zoo and was kept entertained by a cheeky toddler. I have the biggest yarn stash to keep me occupied, been doing a lot of cooking for the flat (with the flat money) and reading. I'm also lucky to get free movies so that's my days off taken care of. It's easier to not spend money when working, especially now I'm not popping to the dairy for sweets.

The other thing that keeps me enthusiastic about staying on target is travel planning. It is my favourite thing to do, save travel.

I have already written a packing list. A year out! This is good though as now I have months to chip away at it, making it more efficient.  It also stops you making unnecessary purchases when you see how little you'll actually take on the road with you. It also means when shops have sales you can buy the things you do need, like thermals, rather than waiting 'til the last minute when they might not be in season.

I'm already splurging on Antarctica but looking into the feasibility of seeing Easter and the Galapagos too. The more research I do, the more I think I can find a budget way to do it. It really would be amazing to dive with sealions, mantarays and perhaps even hammerhead sharks!

A wee wine update

Last night I took my sister to one of my favourite restaurants,  El Matador.

Of course it wouldn't be dinner out without a glass of wine. I had the La Multa 'Old Vine' Garnacha 2011. It was the perfect match for my plate of sweetbreads.

Other wines drunk since New Year are an old favourite Lawsons Dry Hills Gewurtztraminer,  Rockburn Tigermoth Riesling,  Chard Farm Riesling, and Red Knot GSM.

Last month in Auckland we visited the Villa Maria winery near the airport.  It amazed me that it's right in amongst an industrial area but as you drive down the driveway past the rows of vines, you can forget you are within the bounds of New Zealand's largest city.

We tried several of their range - the Cellar Selection 2010 pinot noir (Marlborough), Syrah 2010 (Gimlett Gravels), Reserve Cab Merlot 2007 (Gimlett Gravels), Reserve Semillon Botrytis 2011, Methode Traditionelle (Pinot Noir grapes from Auckland, Chardonnay from Hawke's Bay), Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2013 (Marlborough), Reserve Chardonnay 2012 (Hawke's Bay).

That's quite a good tasting line up.

I was particularly taken by the chardonnay. It would be easy to drink without food. 100% maloactic fermentation resulted in an amazingly creamy, buttery wine. Exactly how I like my chardonnay.

The sparkling, too was surprisingly tasty - excellent balance - not too sweet nor dry and with beautiful fruitiness coming through.

However the two bottles I walked away with were ones I didn't actually taste.  I can't wait to try them. They were the Omahu Gravels Viognier 2010 and the Ihumatao Vineyard Verdelho 2011.

I took two bottles of Argentine wine up with me that were great but I can't for the life of me remember the names. One a malbec and one cab sav.

I think I'll keep a list of everything I taste from now on and hopefully by the end of the year I hit 300 :-)