over the hill: Bannockburn

There's lots to see at Bannockburn, a gold mining district not far from Cromwell in Central Otago.

There seem to be a lot of vineyards in this area, but the only one we could not pass by on this trip was Mt Difficulty. Their Pinot Noir has always been a favourite of ours, and here was a chance to taste some more of their repertoire.

Roaring Meg is one of Mt Difficulty's labels. They use wine from grapes grown outside of the Bannockburn region for this label.

Mt Difficulty's cellar door was incredibly busy. If there was any disappointment at all to mention, it would be this. There were people everywhere, both tasting and arriving at the restaurant. Usually wine tasting is a very relaxed event with lots of opportunity to chat with whoever is serving. Maybe it was just me, but I did feel a bit rushed. And cramped. Nevertheless, their wines did not disappoint.

The Sauvignon Blanc was our least favourite—or we would have snapped up this bargain!

When we first arrived at Mt Difficulty, we noticed these cliffs and chunks of land that just seemed to be pushed up out of the ground. We wondered what had caused this. The lovely lady who served us our wine tastings advised that the land was this way due to mining. Sluicing has worn away the soil. She told us that Bannockburn has a very low rainfall—hence it's reputation as a little desert—or the rain would have since had a detrimental effect on these remnants. We discovered we could travel along the road a little way and see this place a little closer at the "Bannockburn Sluicings".

There is a self-guided track and you could spend a couple of hours exploring here. We didn't go far.

In some places, the ground had these pretty schist-like sparkly rocks/stones in piles. The growth on the ground is a wild rosemary which smelt delicious to walk on!

Then there was this beautiful Californian Poppy in a few places. They thrive in poor sandy and stony soils and love the hot and dry. Perfect conditions here for them.