My Holidays: Penelope Naish

Penelope Naish and Nick Brown, of Black Estate winery. Photo / Supplied

Penelope Naish's Black Estate winery in North Canterbury was judged best winery restaurant at the Cuisine Good Food Awards.

What was your greatest holiday? Holidays are hard to rank. Probably my honeymoon (that would be with my husband) in Golden Bay. A very mellow, relaxing, lush place to be with nikau palms, fat wood pigeons, the sea, golden sun and no shortage of organic food.

And the worst? A three-day period of my Southeast Asia backpacking adventure many moons ago — holed up alone in a cheap room in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with boils on each of my shoulders where my backpack straps sat. I spoke to no one except the chefs downstairs who would give me a pail of hot water twice a day so I could nurse my sores. On the upside, I did read the whole of Tolkien's The Two Towers with no interruptions.

If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing? Eating and drinking. Reading and walking very slowly.

If we could teleport you to one place in New Zealand for a week-long holiday, where would it be? I'd love to take our children to Northland or the East Cape soon — a whole new world it is, with different fauna and flora and smells.

How about for a dream holiday internationally? India, with a focus on food and a lot of time. And New York — wining and dining.

What's the dumbest thing you've ever done when travelling? Not booking the trip for long enough.

Aisle seat or window seat? Window.

Complete this sentence: I can't travel without ...

It's always satisfying to have the right clothes for the right place, weather or situation.

There's nothing worse than being too hot in Sydney wearing hardy clothes best suited for the rural extremes of the South Island!

What's the best travel tip you've ever been given?

Don't plan too much.

What was the most memorable meal you've had while travelling? Cassoulet with my sister at a bistro in Montpellier (the home of cassoulet) — my first true food tourism experience. Perfectly ripe avocados on Kiwi bread on a student road trip through the East Cape. Lunch at a two-star tempura restaurant in Osaka with our wine importer. The chef was our host; he made crisp, fresh, pretty tempura cooked on the spot while laughing and talking in pidgin English with us for hours.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip? Henri Cartier-Bresson's book of photographs called The Europeans. I saw an exhibition of his work in Paris in the early 2000s and took this book home. Mainly photos from 1940s-50s and such beautiful insights into Europe and life on that continent. Japanese knives on our two-yearly export trips to Japan.

Favourite airport to land at? Schiphol, Amsterdam. It's just cool.

What's the next trip you've got planned? We're taking our two children sailing in the Hauraki Gulf with my godparents. It will be satisfying to hoist a few sails, make a boat go and enjoy the stars and good overnight provisioning. Otherwise we have our export trips to Sydney, Melbourne and London next autumn, which is a wonderful way to see the world.

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