Bay-Bikes-Bakery-Blog: Croissants and more at Lk Moeraki, NZ

I’m just back from a month long trip to Singapore, Sydney and the South Island of New Zealand. I did some biking in all three locations, including a couple of short, flat rides in Singapore, a quick spin around Manly, on Sydney harbor, and a 10 day trip down the West coast of New Zealand’s south island. All in all a great trip. Moreover, I checked out as many coffee shops and bakeries as possible along the way. So, I'm working on a series of blog posts about the trip, with emphasis on the baked goods I sampled.

I'll start with the croissants at the Wilderness Lodge at Lake Moerkai. We rolled into the lodge at the end of a 55 mile bike ride that started in Fox Glacier and continued south along the New Zealand coast, with views of snow capped mtns on the left and the Tasman Sea on the right.

The Wilderness Lodge is isolated (e.g. wilderness), but classy and comfortable Dr. Gerry Mc Sweeney, and wife Anne Saunders, bought the lodge in 1989 with the vision of preserving a piece of the South Island of NZ, and have been instrumental in development of the South New Zealand World Heritage Area in which the lodge is located. The lodge is sited along a quiet river that drains Lk. Moerki, which is just a few hundred yards away, across the road. The main building has a nice lounge and 2 medium sized dining rooms that look out onto the river.

Anyway, breakfast includes a modest juice, fruit and cereal bar as well as food cooked to order, and it is on the cereal bar that I found some fabulous, small, golden brown croissants that simply melt in your mouth. Soooo good, and with great personal discipline, I limited myself to 3 per day. I was there for 2 days. (The other food on the menu is excellent as well, but since this is a bakery blog, I’ll stick with the croissants).

There are many other great reasons to recommend this lodge, like the kayaks that one can use (no charge) to explore Lk Moerki; the nature walk at 5 in the afternoon out into the rain forest, where Dr. McSweeney shares his enthusiasm and knowledge of the wonders of the rain forest, points out the huge tree that was the inspiration for the tree dwellings inhabited by the AVATARS, and feeds the local eel population (they can live for 80 yrs and get up to 10 ft long). Last but not least is the night-time walk (10:30 pm) to see the glow-worms, which are truly amazing, lighting up overhanging hillsides like collections of faint stars in the undergrowth.