{"id":2386,"date":"2019-05-13T15:05:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T22:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2019-05-13T15:05:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T22:05:14","slug":"msu-grad-experiences-new-zealand-tourism-work-and-travel-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/travel\/2386\/msu-grad-experiences-new-zealand-tourism-work-and-travel-opportunity","title":{"rendered":"MSU Grad Experiences New Zealand Tourism Work and Travel Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Matt

Matt Wilson, Kate, Caryn and Matt Rhodes visit a New Zealand sheep farm. (Photo by Matt Rhodes)<\/p><\/div>\n

Matt Rhodes recently shared a taste of New Zealand sauvignon blanc and a magnum of memories with me at his Dusty\u2019s Cellar wine shop in Okemos. He\u2019d just returned from a family adventure to Christchurch, Queenstown and more remote parts of faraway New Zealand\u2019s south island, where vintners specialize in producing the white wine we sipped\u2026plus pinot noir.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always keep a New Zealand wine by the glass available in our Wine Bar restaurant and Tap Room pub. Oyster Bay is probably the most common and Villa Maria makes some nice wines, too\u201d said Rhodes, who sometimes features bottles of those brands in his monthly \u201cSix for $60\u201d special at Dusty\u2019s Cellar. He tried new wines every night while on the trip and even discovered an independent wine shop he described as the coolest he\u2019s ever seen. \u201cIt was outside Queenstown and they served 80 different New Zealand wines by the glass. We tasted a good dozen or so of them because they had comfortable leather couches and cheese trays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhodes and his wife, Caryn, winged to Los Angeles to catch a 14.5-hour Delta Airlines flight to Australia and then connected to New Zealand. Their daughter Kate Rhodes, a Michigan State University graduate, had been living there for eight months.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand has a cool visa deal where if you are under age 30 you can go there for a year \u2013 no questions asked \u2013 and you can work in agriculture, tourism or for the government. So Kate worked at Wilderness Lodge in Arthur\u2019s Pass waiting tables, working the front desk and cleaning rooms. She was paid well and provided with room and board,\u201d explained Rhodes. \u201cIt\u2019s a really nice resort about an hour-and-a-half out of Christchurch on thousands of acres with walking trails. We got to go out to their working sheep farm and see the dog round up the sheep to be sheared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate accompanied her parents to scenic sights around New Zealand\u2019s south island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s flat out stunning. There are rain forests, glaciers, and fjords. Even photos can\u2019t convey how blue the water is. Milford Sound was a highlight and we took a jet boat ride out of Wanaka speeding over glacier-fed rivers,\u201d said Rhodes.<\/p>\n

Otherwise New Zealand\u2019s mountains dominate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always trying to go around, through or over them. We rode a steep cable car from Queenstown up to the top of Bob\u2019s Peak and Mount Cook was a highlight. And we went to historic Arrowtown – a gold rush town in the 1860\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a somber note, Rhodes and his family, when in Christchurch, did view the many flowers placed along the fence outside one of the mosques in remembrance of the victims of the recent terrorist shootings.<\/p>\n

Kate is making her way back to Michigan. But on her way, with the money she saved working for a year under New Zealand\u2019s tourism visa, she\u2019ll stop in Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Meanwhile Matt and Caryn\u2019s son young Danny may soon travel for a work opportunity as a deejay at a high profile, luxury fashion event on Mykonos in Greece.<\/p>\n

Does Dusty\u2019s Cellar carry Greek wines?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact<\/em> Travel Writer Michael Patrick Shiels at MShiels@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0 His radio program may be heard weekdays at MiBigShow.com or in Lansing on WJIM am 1240 from 9-noon.<\/em><\/p>\n

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