I’m smack in the middle of a three-week trip around New Zealand. It’s my third trip to the North Island, and it mostly involves spending quality time with family while frantically trying to absorb as much food and drink and culture as I possibly can.
Acres and acres of apple orchards stretch further than I can see in a little town in the Hawkes Bay called Hastings. The fruit is for eating, though—not juicing or fermenting.
Strolling around the farm one day, I happened upon Ziggy the Alsatian taking shelter from the sun. Perhaps he was protecting the apple crop that was being packed up for export behind him, or perhaps he was just catching a snooze. Either way, he didn't seem to mind when I nabbed a few apples to eat on my hike later that day.
—Matthew Curtis