Sun's Shining Again

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Hi guys!
Was in the process of sending you a message yesterday from Picton but I was working on a system where you have to feed $2 coins into the computer every 20 minutes - problem was that the system didn't tell you how long you'd been and it died in the middle of the message. Must admit I much prefer the setups that let you start in and then pay when you're done!

All to say that yesterday was a brilliant day - as they say over here - sun was out and we were doing the winery rounds (I of course was dragged along as you all know how unwilling I am to taste of the grape!) We restrained ourselves as there are approximately 50 wineries in the Marlborough area and we did 1/10th so were very controlled. We certainly don't taste them all either and share our tastes so no worries there. Met some lovely people - we've done the boutique wineries because you meet the folks working the whole winery themselves and they're turning out some award-winning wines. We're also trying to bring home something that can't be obtained in Canada. Interesting though - that these folks who have distributers in Canada are usually going through Montreal or Nova Scotia whereas W.A. wineries seemed to have most contacts with Toronto. With the exception of one former Calgarian who's trying to establish a distributer in Calgary - could work to our advantage!

Today we headed up to Moteuka to stay two nights - it's at the beginning of the Abel Tasman National Park - NZ's smallest but reportedly most beautiful national park. Tomorrow we're booked to do a boat cruise - then a drop-off for a 2-hr. walk - and a pick-up again and back to Moteuka. Hopefully it's going to be a beautiful day as this is considered the best walk in the park - the hardy and fit actually can do a 3-5 day walk but we're into our creature comforts a little more than that!

When we headed out this am it rained but when we arrived the sun obligingly came out so all's well! We stopped in Nelson for something to eat and then headed off to the Museum of Collectible Cars and Wearable Art - a must see for anyone passing through. The Wearable Art is quite extraordinary - but couldn't take any pics for you to see because they ask you to protect the artist's proprietary rights. Outfits made out of origami - 6500 folded pieces, scrap metal, plastic drink bottles, you name it and they've included it. There are quite a few exhibitions for this stuff and there was even a Canadian entry that had gotten runner-up for one of the sections. The unbelieveable bra exhibits were just that - wish I could have taken pics!! As for the cars - well we got a little depressed when we saw 'vintage collectible cars' that were actually ones we'd either owned or, in my case, almost owned - remember the Pontiac Firebird - Brian?? How depressing to find that even the cars you owned are now antiques!! But I felt better because there was only 1 for me - 2 for Dad!!

On a happier note, I've mentioned how friendly folks are here before but when we went to mass last night the priest wanted to know where we were from etc. and, sure enough, he'd come to Canada with another priest and spent a week with Fr. Joe about 10 years ago. Lovely chap who suggested that 'with voices like that you two can come back and sing Christmas carols' - we got a shock when the opening piece was 'O Come All Ye Faithful'!! Hard to believe that Christmas is creeping up when they're selling swimsuits and the sun's beaming. Weather is around 21C - not that we want anyone to feel bad - we certainly don't!!

Anyway - have to go off and do some groceries as we're eating in tonight and supping on some Marlborough country wine. Hope you all are well and looking after yourselves. We'll keep in touch. Love Us.

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