CheeseShop

VEGAN CHEESE SALE

This weekend at the Nelson Saturday Market and Motueka Sunday Market we're having a sale. Some cheeses from 20-40% off. We'll have samples for you to try too. Buy some for yourself or your dairy-free friends.

Original Cheddar
Smoked Cheddar
Garlic & Chive Cheddar
Peri Peri Cheddar
Mozzarella
Cumin Gouda
Feta
Rosemary & Garlic Feta

CHEESEQUEST 2026

It's a wrap!

Finally recovered from jet lag and catching up on yard work and 4 months worth of emails. So here's the big wrap up.

Days Questing - 100
New Cheeses Tasted - 550
Steps Walked - 1.5 Million
Countries Visited - 22
Best Cheese Tasted - Gligora Paski Sir on Pag Island
Most Interesting Cheese Tasted - Pineapple chunk soft goat
Best City for Cheese - Amsterdam
Best Food Eaten - Gregada Fish Stew
Best Scenery - Plitvice Lakes National Park
Best Adventure - Hot Air Ballooning in Cappadocia
Best B**r - Prohjala Titaan Barleywine
Best Cats - Kotar
Best Architecture - Istanbul or Tirane
Best Ruins - Kusadasi
Best Castle - Marbork
Best Church - Ostrog Monastery
Best Cathedral - Koln
Best Mosque - Blue
Best Market - Heidelberg
Photos Taken - Countless

It's good to be home!

The cheesemonger is back, and so is the Raclette. But based on our European experiences we have upgraded our Raclette plate. Same delicious rosemary roasted potatoes, cornichon, and pickled onions, but now with salami and shaved smoked ham!

Another favourite is back as well, the Smoked Italian and Bacon toastie with Smoked Caciocavallo from Viavio Cheese and manuka smoked bacon.

Yum!

📣 Exciting news at Motueka isite!

Last Wednesday, AA officially moved into our building, and we are delighted to welcome them! 🎉

The lovely "Haley" will be available to assist you every:

📅 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
⏰ 9.00 am–5.00 pm
📍 Inside the Motueka isite Visitor Centre

Pop in, say hello and take advantage of having AA services conveniently available in the heart of Motueka. We look forward to seeing you! 💛

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 100 - Krakow

Wandering the Streets

To get ready for the quest ending we've slowed down quite a bit. Today's just another day wandering the streets looking for interesting things and not getting too tired.

The first thing we did was walk through the old Jewish section of town. Plenty of synagogues and sad pieces of history. On the bright side nearby there was an area under the train tracks full of approved graffiti art, which we love.

Other than that just more picture of statues and Barb hunting Baltic Porters.

Managed two cheeses from the stash for the end of the day.

Pariano Robusto - very standard delicious Dutch gouda.

Noord Holland - light milk cheese, texture a bit more crumbly like Red Leicester, mild despite maturity, and just a hint of funk.

Just noting on day 100 we just passed 1.5 million steps, so averaging a solid 15,000 per day. Still gaining weight though....



Quest: 548/500

Steps: 1,508,000

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 99 - Krakow

A Slow Recovery

We're over the worst of the lurgy, but are still planning to take it pretty easy today. So just a wander around town looking for places to pop into and statues to pictorally record.

Found some good ones but then it was time for cheese.

Black Truffle Brie - i wanted to try this to compare with the BTB from Over the Moon Dairy Company . I prefer the French style runny brie to the extra creamy OTM one, but that's just a preference thing. The Truffle in this one doesn't permeate the rest of the brie as well as the OTM one does.

Kirsch Washed Rind - never had cheese washed in Kirsch before so had to try it. Solid washed rind, funky without being stanky, and the Kirsch really came through as a nice flavour undernote.

Twarozek Tradycyjny Kozi - soft Goat's cheese made locally by a cheesemaker with a small herd of goats. Very traditional. Sharp and very fresh.

That left only dinner to do, so why not poutine in Poland eh?



Quest: 546/500

Steps: 1,491,700

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 98 - Krakow

A Hero of Two Worlds

Tadeusz Kościuszko was a young Polish aristocrat. He joined the military and went to Paris to train. There, in pre-revolutionary France, he decided to devote his life to helping the lower classes and fighting authoritarianism.

He heard about a small kerfuffle over in the British colonies so went to help out. After surviving a horrific shipwreck he volunteered to assist the USArmy. He put his military engineering skills to use right away and helped the USA tremendously.

During the war he designed multiple fortifications including West Point that saved countless lives. He also led the defenses many times and was promoted to brigadier general. Thomas Jefferson called him the greatest democrat he had ever met.

Only once after the war did he return to the states. That time he came for a year to push for abolition and freeing the enslaved people.

He returned to Poland just in time to see it destroyed by its three imperial neighbours. He immediately put together an uprising and drove Prussians and Russians out of many cities.

Alas, with no allies (France was busy exploding) they never had a chance. But the Kosciuszko uprising is still considered one of the great struggles of Polish history.

After his death they built a mound in Krakow. It was built over three years by people from all over Poland bringing a handful of their local sand and just adding it to the pile. In 2026 the USA added handfuls of soil from all the battlefields he had fought at in the USA.

This is why i am sharing a lot of pictures of a barren hill. It's amazing.

Now, enough history. Where's the cheese? Well I found one of the two real cheesemongers in Krakow (the other is on holiday). His shop obviously has a srong focus of the best cheeses from other European countries. The Cheeseshop sells many of the exact same cheeses. But he had some polish cheese and some other novelty cheeses I wanted to try so they went in the stash.

Irish Old Cheddar - not really old, but he let me try a bit. Not even as nice as mainland tasty. He had some better cheddar, but it was too big.

Piast - a salty hard local cheese from less than 100km away. Nice enough, very typical bergkase style.

Went for food at an old communist hotel that has been abandoned and now new businesses has started using it as a base. Big and cementy.

Lasty, found this wierd romanesque statue in the hotel hallway.



Quest: 543/500

Steps: 1,475,400

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 97 - Wieliczka Salt Mine

Workin' in a Salt Mine, Goin' Down Down Down

You're supposed to gargle with salt to help a sore throat. Didn't have any salt handy so took a tour to a salt mine that's been running for 750 years.

It has enough tunnels to reach from Krakow to Warsaw. Made from an ancient seabed, the miners have been tunneling from pocket to pocket in the rock to find the salt. All the tunnels are reinforced by wood, literally millions of logs. They even used to use horses down here to turn pumps.

The tour which is over 4km long shows you several rooms still in use for things like weddings. There are also plenty of educational exhibits. Of course, the coolest bits are the statues all carved out of salt. And yes, i did lick the wall. Not a recommendation.

That took up most of the day so there was just time for a little shopping. What does the average Pole have to choose from at the market? Quite a bit really. We tried some cheese from there and found a gem in the stash back at the hotel.

Dziugas (36) - this is the famous Latvian cheese. Clearly a parmesan clone, it's a fine cheese. This one was well aged, great flavour, but pasturization makes it second to the real thing.

Lavender Cheese - had to try it, but yes, just a cheap quality gouda from the Netherlands with added flavour. Barely edible.

Ser Krowlewski Sierpc - the standard household cheese in Poland. Like a very mild cheddar or colby. Pleasant, but sandwiches only for me.



Quest: 541/500

Steps: 1,458,800

CHEESEQUEST2026

DAY 96 - Krakow

How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down

So, a new city, it must be walking tour time.

Unfortunately, the tour took almost the exact route we had wandered yesterday. So I didn't bother with more pictures of the same things. However, it was worthwhile as we learned some interesting history and stories.

Then, as usual, museum time. Spent several hours here and could have spent more, but really just wanted a lie down. Took lots of pictures.

No time for cheese. Having a lie down.



Quest: 538/500

Steps: 1,444,300

CHEESEQUEST2026

Day 95 - Krakow

Here There Be Dragons

Still Ill, but the quest must go on. Wandered old town today starting with the bastion fortress by the wall. The wall itself gave us a great view down the street our hotel is on, all the way to the central cathedral.

Wandered the market again. May have purchased presents.

Took pictures of statues as usual, and ended up at the Krakow castle. Amazing to see since it didn't get destroyed in WW2, so you can see the impact of centuries of change on it.

Of course we ended the walk beneath the castle where the dragon lives. And yes, that is real fire he's breathing in one of the pictures...

Other than that I really just needed more rest. Was well enough to crack into our Polish cheese vault.

Oscypek - the most famous cheese in Poland. Hard sheep cheese rolled and patterned with traditional designs. Like a fairly basic manchego but without as much flavour. Fries well.

Redykolka - baby Oscypek. Sold usually already grilled and with cranberry sauce. Often wrapped with bacon. Same flavor as Oscypek.

Serek Weijski - cottage cheese. Yup.

Bryndza Podhalanska - like a pressed sheep feta. Sliceable, but not a lot of flavour. Used in pirogis mostly.

Korycinski - a more traditional gouda style cheese, just without the flavour or aging.



Quest: 538/500

Steps: 1,430,700