Hi all,

Apologies for the delay in this follow-up blog. On the plus side, it shouldn't be long til the South Island instalment.

As the sun shone down on Wellington quayside, conditions were perfect for ice cream. Now, I've already talked about the gelato I bought so let's skip straight to the part where I'm scoffing pistachio ice cream. I'd barely had a lick before a guy comes up and says "Hi, I'm Graham, the owner of Gelissimo. I hear you're writing a blog about ice cream." In the next 30 minutes the only thing I can complain about is how difficult it is to eat a melty thing whilst holding an interesting conversation.

Graham is just a bottle rocket of passion, choosing to keep his company small so that he can maintain the quality of his gelati. He also has the wonderful glint of the mad scientist, always wanting to perfect unconventional flavours. He once made olive oil gelato to pep up a restaurant's smoked salmon starter. This flavour and pumpkin ice cream were offered to the public in blind taste tests. I tried the award winning 'Violet Crunch' as well as 'Hardieboys Ginger Beer'. The former is a bizarre beauty and the latter is a result of the following conversation:

Rebecca Hardieboy "I'd like to make a ginger beer ice block"

Graham "I can't do ice blocks, but we can make an ice cream."

Not only does this hair brained scheme taste great, but it really fizzes in your mouth.

So, having swapped stories about chasing Mr Whippy vans as kids, Graham ushers us back inside to taste some more. He gave us a huge scoop of this year's competition entry an asked my opinion. It's called 'Hazy P' and is both everything you remember from the old days and something really fresh and new. If you ever had a sprinkle of nuts and a swirl of chocolate sauce on your 99, then you'll know what I'm talking about. Now swap the sauce for a vein of crisp dark chocolate. Trade the Whippy for something fully organic and twice as creamy. Smother it in luscious caramel and replace the powdery nuts for chunks of peanuts and hazelnuts. It's an ice cream that gets better with every mouthful.

While we tuck into that, Graham disappears out back. He returns with a chiller tub in each hand filled with gelato. These are prototype flavours, as yet untested on the public. The first is raspberry and mascarpone, still a little too cheesy but should be pretty special once perfected. The second is feijoa, which I have since gone back and tried the end result which ranks among my top picks for New Zealand.

So what does the future hold for Gelissimo? Graham hopes to make bacon ice cream, with maple syrup and crispy bacon bits. I wish Gelissimo all the best and hope Graham's bold decisions are rewarded. The combination of using fresh organic ingredients, experimenting with flavour and staying boutique makes for a trio of big obstacles. The even bigger positive of course is that Gelissimo produces some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Whether by bus, train, plane or astral projection, do what you have to do to get there. Forget wine tasting, why not enjoy yourself doing something acceptable in a park.

Cheers for now, look out for Weezie's West Coast blog.

Mike.