Blogs from Blenheim, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Geo: -41.5116, 173.957Took a 4-hour ferry ride across the Cook Straight, through Marlborough Sound. It was quite an adventure. We left Wellington at 9:00 am on the 590' InterIsland Ferry. It was raining and very windy. Once we left the channel and got into open water, the wind picked up to 50-60 knots, and the seas swelled to about 10'. (The crew was walking though the lounges passing out "distress bags". Fortunately, it did not bother us and we did not see anyone hurling.)Once we crossed the open water and headed into the channels on the south island, the seas calmed, the wind died, and the sun came out. It was a beautiful finish to the ferry ride.Upon docking, we took a taxi/shuttle from Picton to Blenheim, passing through the Marlborough wine region. There are 150 ... read more

C: We left Wellington on Good Friday heading across the Cook Strait on the aptly named Interislander ferry. It was really busy due to it being the start of the Easter weekend but we were very excited when they brought round (free!) hot cross buns. The crossing takes a little over three hours but the last hour is spent travelling through the dramatic Marlborough sounds which meant beautiful views all around. We collected our next hire car at Picton and then headed off to the centre of the Marlborough wine region, Blenheim. Very little is open on Good Friday so we were relieved to see a nice-looking pub directly opposite our motel. However, they have strange licensing laws which means you can't have a drink on Good Friday without ordering food. As we wanted dinner, this ... read more

Geo: -41.5116, 173.957Well what an awesome day today has been. I'm sitting here now at our comfy room at the Two Tree Lodge in Blenheim, with slight sunburn, a full stomach and half a bottle of Shingle Peak wine to finish. After-all, we have now arrived in the Marlborough region!The day started off in Christchurch. We were up (barely) with weary eyes around 8.30am to grab breakfast and explore Christchurch. I found a nice spot called Vics Bakery and Cafe. Wasn't a bargain at 45nzd for us both but our eggs Benedict/Florentine and freshly squeezed juices hit the spot. Subsequent exploration of Christchurch was actually a brisk, sad and largely uneventful affair. Of course Id read/heard about the extensive damage done by the 2010-11 earthquakes, but actually exploring the CBD and seeing it for myself first ... read more

As soon as we arrived in Picton, we went to the information centre/i-site (every town has one of these and they give you all sorts of info about where you are going and suggestions of what to see) where a really nice woman helped us with our south island itinerary for the next 10 days, as we had been struggling to decide how to do this island, she then said that as we were near a lot of wineries and vineyards, why didn’t we do some wine tasting? Good idea! We got a map of the vineyards, which were based in the Marlborough region of Blenheim about 30 minutes from Picton, and set off to start our first ever wine tasting afternoon. We first stopped at a winery called Saint Claire (all the wineries have ... read more

Today we got up and drove to Wine Tours by Bike and got our bikes, some water, helmets (they are required by law here), and a map of where to go. Also were some wine holders if you bought any bottles, and the service of them coming to pick up wine (if you bought more than your bike could hold!) Nigel was incredibly nice and helpful in helping us plan what route to take and which wineries to visit. He gave us the specialties of each winery and told us which wines were worth trying. It was really windy, so the biking wasn't very easy. We visited about 7 wineries (there were way more, but we ran out of time). They ranged from very small, family run places, to bigger, more commercial places. There were three ... read more