Blogs from Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Lovely day when we left Wellington. Ferry was delayed by an hour 'cos of the wind! But crossing was fineaznd there was some lovely scenery as we sailed across the Cook Strait into Tory Sound then into Queen Charlotte Sound before arriving in Picton. Still,a 3 hour crossing! Only a half hour's run to St. Leonards Vineyard Cottages (Blenheim) where we are staying. Didn't arive till after 3,so it was too late to embark on a vineyard tour (everybody "aaaawwwwww!). So we went to the pool and took some sun for a couple of hours. Paul's (the owner) mother lives with his sister in Framlingham and his brother-in-law used to run Atco in Stowmarket! Lovely setting,among vineyards with mountains rising on both sides................and sheep,hens and deer on-site! We're in the "Old Dairy" - a ground level ... read more

We are heading across the Cook Straight to the South Island. Our check in for the ferry goes smoothly, which is more than can be said for the crossing – a blustery affair which requires an intense focus on the horizon in order to keep lunch down. We’re glad the choice of the now defunct catamaran - the vomit comet, as we’re told it was called, was not available to us. After a couple of hours, our Interislander ferry begins to navigate its way through the deep, and mercifully placid waters of Queen Charlotte Sound. The southern land seems to envelop us and draw us into its harbour, and we sense that nature will have a lot in store for us here. We’re going to be making our way down the East coast this week, before ... read more

On to wine country! It was delicious. After trying to find a hike in beautiful sheep country, but failing, we gave up and hit up the vineyards. We tried two establishments, Forrest and Hunter, and both were quite delicious. Giggling continued for a few hours after the wine tasting and we made our way to Picton. Beautiful place. The water is so blue and green mountains shoot straight out of the sound waters. We happened upon a tasty pastry place. I got an apple tart and Brian got a super brownie. We wandered around the bay taking in the sound. We found starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and a GIANT hermit crab, who gave a photo shoot for Brian (he told him he was sexy).... read more

Blenheim After dropping Laura off in Christchurch we headed up the coast to Kaikora, along the way we saw lots and lots of seals! We managed to get up close and personal with them, although, one of the them “yelled” at Tory sending her scooting back to the van. And relax …………. We had booked 3 nights in a self contained cottage at the Walnut Block vineyard and it was fantastic. We had a stock of excellent Pinot Noir, a great view over the vineyard (with sheep in it!) to the mountains and our own patio out the back to enjoy it all. We did a wine tasting tour of the surrounding vineyards (which were very numerous) and even managed a BBQ! We also visited the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre which is home to World War ... read more

Day 17 – Wednesday the 30th of March Wednesday was once again much of a relaxing (mostly... I’ll get to this shortly) day of driving from the lake to Blenheim. Perfectly straight and very long roads all the way... perfect for Renee to sink her teeth in to the driving ways of the beast. We can’t remember exactly the distance between the lake and Blenheim but we do know NOW that we did not have enough gas to make it! We had been watching the gas light with interest for quite some time (the beast has a countdown showing how many k’s left in the tank) and comparing this to the Navman. It was roughly 200km between the two and we got within 10km of Renwick, on the outer skirts of Blenheim... right in the heart ... read more