Goodbye south island

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Stayed one night in Picton as we thought it looked good when we arrived on the south island 18 days ago. This town is the ferry terminal and it has shops, hotels and restaurants so perfect for our last night in the south. On the way over from Westport, a drive of 4 hours we passed through Renwick in the Marlborough region. Of course we could not go by without visiting another winery and this time we chose a favourite of ours as drunk back home. Spy Mountain produces a wonderful savignon blanc as well as a few other varieties and is highly acclaimed by the wine writers (available only in Waitrose or Majestic).

Reasonably smooth crossing to the north island although Sue wished she had taken the last of the special pills. Driving north we marvelled at the ever changing scenery yet again and in the space of 100 miles we moved from fertile plains to forests and snow capped mountains to dessert. En route we passed Mt. Tongariro which unbeknown to us had errupted 1 hour prior to us passing, sending out an ash cloud that disrupted local flights. All we knew about it was a sulpherous odour coming through the car airvents. As I write this we are staying at a motel in Turangi at the foot of Mt. Tongariro so we hope the volcano behaves itself.

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Photos

Leaving the south island
POSH bird (port out starboard home) for the nautical type.

Leaving Picton
A sad departure from the magnificent south island

Mt. Tongariro
There she blows. An eruption occurred 1 hour before we passed this mountain.

Still smoking
We got get out of this place!! Only baby boomer will remember this song, unless they have older siblings.

Comments

[Louise]

Goodbye!
The photos and the memories must be amazing. However, are you going to remember which wine you liked the best?

[Louise]

Goodbye!
The photos and the memories must be amazing. However, are you going to remember which wine you liked the best?

[barryandsue]

Favourite wines
So many good ones and all for different reasons/situations but the one we are carrying round and hoping to bring home (if we don't encounter a dry zone) is the pinot noir from Hawkdun where we shared a meal with the owners.