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Published: November 12th 2006
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Marlborough, an area renowned for its great wine (especially Sauvignon Blanc), its green-lipped mussels, its Sounds (long fingers of water that stretch out of the northern coast), its sunshine hours (highest in NZ) and for having absolutely nothing to do with the tobacco industry. It also serves as the point of transition to the north island - ferries depart from Picton to Wellington (and vice versa) several times a day. Four towns each with its own unique character (whether good or bad), service the area but once again it's natures influence that has the greatest impact.
Blenheim Travelling north from Kaikoura on the east coast, the first stop is Blenheim - unique in being the one town with absolutely no character whatsoever! There is a small green space in the centre and a Taylor River Reserve but apart from that it's soulless. The beautiful childhood home of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace is unfortuate to be associated with this drab pile of concrete, incidentally, it's named after a famous battle of the same name and they could do with another one here to flatten the place! (There you go Ingo, proof I'm not working for the NZ tourism
board!) I'm probably being a little harsh but I'd certainly say that NZ towns sometimes have an identikit look about them and few exude a distinctive charm.
The only redeeming feature to our very brief stopover in Blenheim was found in the local pet store. I can't remember why we ended up there - I suspect we were clutching at straws but it nearly resulted in our two-person travelling team becoming three. Laura (the cat lover) was somewhat surprisingly charmed by a very cute Shih Tzu/Poodle cross or "Shoodle" as he was known. Fortunately, I was "Mr Sensible" and prevented a rash decision - "a dog is for life not just for travelling"!
Havelock Havelock is a tiddly place dominated by its oversize yacht harbour. It does have the distinction of being the "green-lipped mussel capital of the world" - self-proclaimed of course! We stopped here twice - my love of these tasty proteinous treats being the main reason. You can sample them in various forms - grilled, steamed, boiled or smoked and they're irresistible. Laura doesn't agree. Her unrefined veggie palate wasn't ready for these scrumptious snacks. Being 4 times the size of normal mussels
like those black ones in Britain and much tastier, it's hard to resist them.
Nelson Easily the largest town in the area - it is dominated by a gigantic metallic church that looks like its just the scaffolding for a proper building to come. The main road is Trafalgar Street and it's the hub for shopping, drinking and dining. We both felt Nelson was quite an attractive place, especially lit up at night - we enjoyed our brief stay. We didn't do too much of note other than relaxing and soothing weary muscles after our Abel Tasman exertions. We did briefly see one of many versions of the "One Ring" displayed at Jens Hanssen's jewellers, the official makers of the LOTR gold bands, based in the town.
Picton & The Sounds Piction is the embarkation point for the N. Island ferries and so is dominated by its harbour and large marine vessels. Driving into Picton gives you a good overview of the town nestled on the Sound shore and climbing up the hillside. This town is fast becoming the most inflated real estate in NZ and so some pretty swish properties are popping up
all over.
The town is small and peaceful and the hostel we stayed in, "The Villa" was one of the best we've been to so far - its main main crowd pulling card being a free bowl of apple crumble and ice cream, served each night - delicious! Picton is also home to "Seahorse World", a marine life centre whose main attraction are those little water-based equine creatures. Laura was keen to see fishies and the unusual looking NZ fish and interactive displays kept us occupied for hours!
The Sounds around Picton are absolutely beautiful and since the greatest number of sunshine hours in NZ are attributed to this area, they are almost always enjoyed on a beautiful day - our case being no exception. We took a scenic drive up above Pelorus Sound, along the edge of Kenepuru Sound where we enjoyed picturesque views whilst enjoying some good nosh before heading to Picton along Queen Charlotte Sound. Given more time we would have loved to have done the Queen Charlotte tramp but instead we had to catch the ferry and move on to the North Island, where Wellington awaited.
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Lindsay
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Yummee
I am with laura - apple pie, wine and ice cream win hands down. But the mussels- they look absolutely disgusting. Gordon disagrees - they look gorgeous.