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Published: April 30th 2010
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It was with some amusement that we realised our campsite for the night was next door to Colonial Knob Park ... unfortunately we didn’t have time for a visit!!
A very orderly morning saw us at the ferry terminal in Wellington nearly an hour early, but we were directed straight on to the ferry - giving us the chance to stake our claim to two seats right at the front on the top deck (in the bar). I was a little concerned that being right at the front would not be good in rough seas, but needn’t have worried - the whole crossing was as smooth as can be ... Phew! We sat back and relaxed for the 3 hour crossing - it was really good to have to put our feet up and chill out for a while.
You may be interested to know that we have managed to drive over 1,411 miles in the North Island, and I apologise, but I’d forgotten to mention yet more of the top 101 that we’ve managed to tick off: #47 Rotorua Geothermals, #45 Orakei Korako Geothermal, #66 Lake Taupo. #63 Te Papa, #90 Interislander Ferry.
As we neared the
South Island, Queen Charlotte Sound came into view - and it was spectacular! I’ve read that this is one of the world’s most scenic ferry journeys, and I can see why - for nearly an hour we slowly navigated our way past fingers of land plunging into the sea ... I’d call them fjords, but we’ve yet to visit Fjordland down south, and I’ll run out of words!! It was stunning.
Eventually we arrived at Picton, and set off for the Blenheim (pronounced Blen-um according to the guidebook!) and the Marlborough region. Although the skies were grey, there had only been a slight spattering of rain - which was fortunate as we’d just heard that further south were having floods as the river waters were 4 metres above normal ... we’re just hoping that everything is back to normal by the time we get there!
We visited the Tourist Information for some guidance and a map of the wineries in the Marlborough region and then sat in the van to decide where to go first. John took one look and pointed at the Hunter’s name on the map and said ‘there’ - of all the vineyards in Marlborough,
this was the one John most wanted to visit. A former colleague, Jasper Blomfield, had ordered a bottle whilst they were away on business in Birmingham about 20 years ago, and it had opened John’s eyes to the delights of New Zealand wines and he has raved about it ever since (endlessly!!).
Well, I have to say we weren’t disappointed - the wines that we tasted were absolutely fantastic - there were obviously some likes and dislikes, but I have to say that the wines were all of the finest quality. The Sav Blonk obviously my favourite, but surprisingly the Riesling was good - and the Gewürztraminer... had an amazing bouquet which John adored.
My choice was next, and although we’d originally said we wouldn’t bother with a visit, I opted for Cloudy Bay - it just holds too many memories to ignore it as a Marlborough wine. And, the Sav Blonk didn’t disappoint - it really was superlative (and
Simon: we raised a glass to you in memory of all the good times when we’ve ordered this!!). We were chatting to an American mother and daughter who we pointed towards Hunter’s and they pointed us towards an ‘English Pub’ where we all agreed to have dinner.
So eventually we set off, found the pub, went to do a U-turn as we’d passed it when I saw a sign for a winery with an award for the best cellar door in the region. So we decided to poke our noses in and have a look. What a wonderful place. Ten years’ ago, this couple living in Auckland bought 6 acres of land in the Marlborough Wine region - he handplanted all 5000 odd vines himself and they have been specialising in high quality wines ever since. And my goodness they were good - surprisingly no sav blonks (Julie says everyone else is doing them!), but award winning pinot gris - the label is Gibson Bridge. They call themselves a boutique vineyard - its boutique everything here - boutique hotels, boutique restaurants, boutique wineries ... I’ll start celebrating the day I come across a boutique campsite!! We stood and chatted for ages, and they asked where we were staying, we explained we hadn’t found anywhere yet and the upshot was that we find ourselves camping on a vineyard in the Marlborough region! How lucky is that?!
We parked up and walked down to the English pub to meet the Americans and have our evening meal. The pub was done out really
well, and really did have the look and feel of an English pub - what I especially liked was the huge log fire roaring in the fireplace (remember it is autumn here!) It was really odd to be out and about - and it was a nice change not to have to cook for a change!! What a wonderful, wonderful day!
And another two must-do’s ... #11 the Marlborough Sounds and #58 the Marlborough Wine Trail (I’d have put that at No 1 if I’d had a choice!) (Meryl: couldn’t find your Selaks!)
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Nick Smith
non-member comment
Oh yes it is!
Glad to see your pilgrimage to Marlborough was everything you hoped! From (admittedly hazy) memory, Selaks was the first place we called into on the way down from Picton: deffo in the Blenheim / Wairau area but might have been a little apart from the others. Anyway, hope you have better weather down the West coast than we did - Greymouth was very aptly named! Am enjoying the photos John :-)