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Published: June 15th 2009
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Lisa and Gregg on Train
Christchurch to Picton via Kaikoura and Blenheim Queen's Birthday Weekend - May 30-June 1 - Ugh, this is the abbreviated version, as I wrote for an hour and lost it all!!
Friday May 29th - Sydney left yesterday for Wellington with her drama group. They are competing in the Sheilah Wynn Shakespeare competition. Gregg and I opted to stick around Timaru Friday night so that Graham could go to Brayden's for a birthday dinner, Avery could go to Blake's birthday party and we could go to Boy"s High to see and hear "The Musical Island Boys", a International award winning Kiwi barbershop group. They were only in their 20s and fabulously entertaining!
Saturday May 30th - This meant a 4am departure from Timaru in order to catch our train to Picton that leaves Christchurch at 7am and requires that you check in at 6:40am - ugh. At least we can sleep on the train! The train travels along the Pacific Coast with stops in Kaikoura, Blenheim and Picton. We arrived around 1pm in Picton. None of us could decide what to we wanted to do, the boys wanted to sleep, Gregg and I wanted to hike. After hiring our car, we checked into our backpackers, The
Sequioa, and headed along the coast of the Marlborough Sounds towards Havelock. We stopped and saw parts of the Queen Charlotte Track and let the boys sleep until we reached Havelock. We did a quick run through the museum there and woke the boys up for tea (dinner). Havelock is the Green Shelled Mussel Capital of the World, but no one was feeling adventurous enough. Instead, it was Fish and Chips, rapidly becoming a staple part of our diets, ugh. Havelock is also home to two world renowned scientists - Ernest Rutherford, a Nobel Prize Winning Physicist, and William Pickering, former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. And this is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere! After a windy ride back to Picton, we opted for Hot Chocolate Pudding, a nightly special at the Sequioa Backpackers, a few games, and early to bed.
Sunday May 31st - We took our time getting up and going to Blenheim. We opted to take the scenic route over the hills and along the coast. Most of this road was windy and gravel. Gregg and I loved it, but after two hours the boys were much less impressed with the scenery
and were hungry and starting to feel car sick. We arrived in Blenheim, a community located in a valley along the Pacific and a perfect wine growing region. Our first stop was at the Makana Confectionery Factory for some free samples and shopping. Once the boys had some chocolate in them, we were able to convince them that lunch at the Saint Claire Estate Winery would be okay. We had a lovely leisurely lunch before heading to Omaka Air Museum. Omaka is a museum dedicated to WWI and WWII bi- and tri-planes. It was partly designed by Peter Jackson and Weke Studios of the acclaimed "Lord of the Rings". It was a great museum and since it had begun to snow in Blenheim, something we heard never happens, we let Gregg take his time. I had a nice coffee and enjoyed watching the snow! And the boys, actually, really enjoyed the museum. We then had to follow up on our bribe to the boys and go indoor go karting. This was great fun for all of us! However, 20 minutes of careening around in circles was just plenty! Next stop, Montana Winery, one of my favorites. Although I am partial
Lisa and Gregg
Marlborough Sounds to red wines, this region in mainly known for its Sauvignon Blancs. And we tasted several lovely whites, both at Saint Claire's and Montana. I do wonder why wine is so much more expensive at the vineyards than in the supermarkets? Needless to say, we enjoyed the tastings but left empty handed. Next bribe, Mackers (McDonalds) drive thru on the way back to Picton. Gregg and I settled for a lovely Indian Takeaway once back at our backpackers in Picton. We did opt to take the more direct route back and it was only 20 minutes, as opposed to the 2 plus hours of windy roads on the way along the coast! The boys were much happier with this route.
Monday June 1st - On this day we fell in love with the Marlborough Sounds region. It was a perfect, albeit cold and frosty, day. We did take the hike to Bob's Bay and we let the boys run around on the beach for awhile. We really understand now why our friends, the Woods, love to spend Christmas up in the Sounds at Dave's family home. It is only reachable by water and when the weather is warm, must
be fabulous! We had to settle for cold and sunny. We also visited the aquarium on Picton, took a stroll around Picton harbor, had a nice coffee, grabbed Subway and hopped on the the train back to Christchurch. It was a very dramatic day and Gregg got some wonderful photos. We spent the 5 hours playing games - Scrabble, cards, Monopoly, PSP, etc... Arrived in Christchurch at 6pm, got Hell's Pizza for the drive back to Timaru, and were home by 9pm. Sydney had just returned home from "Once on the Island" musical rehersal and was anxious to tell us all about her weekend in Wellington.
Everyone seemed to have a great weekend and the Tranz Coastal Train was really the way to go!
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Kiwi Cousins
How are our Kiwi cousins? Can't wait to see you in Australia!!