End of our travels

Sorry I haven't posted last few days. I hope to fill in later when I have access to better internet. Tonight we opened up a bottle of wine from the first winery we visited and shared with others at our b & b. 

We have been in Christchurch and today we walked around and saw all the destruction from the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Tomorrow we leave at 4 am for an early flight. Long day traveling ahead but will spend the time with pleasant thoughts of the memories we have created. 

East coast of New Zealand. Seals. And more.

We headed from Blenheim and wine country down the east coast to the small town of Kaikoura. This is a real coastal town full of kayakers and surfers and hikers. On the way there we passed this really old bridge still being used for trains on the top but no longer using the bottom part of the bridge for cars

Stopped for some waves crashing on the rocks. 

Then we stopped to see the big seal colony. There were lots of young pups playing in the water while the moms sunned on the rocks. They were a hoot to watch. 

We back tracked a little to go to the Ohau water falls which is about a 10 minute walk in. At the base of the water fall were 5 seal pups playing. We got to watch a couple of them start to make their way back down to the ocean. Quite fascinating. 

On the coastal route and through much of NZ the train tracks and the roads run close to parallel. Lots of train tunnels through the mountains. 

After checking into our bed and breakfast and making sure George liked the room we headed out for a hike at the end of the peninsula.

We saw another seal colony and lots of ocean views. As much as I love living in the mountains there is something magical about being on the coast. 

Walkway up to where the walk started. We were on top of the cliff with great views. 

We ended the day with a glass of wine outside our room which had a great ocean view. 

Nelson. Aviation museum and lunch at a vinyard.

Sir Peter Jackson a famous film director worked with the Blenheim aviation museum to create scenes to show off World War I aircraft and tell stories about the airplanes. What is so amazing is that he helped them essentially build movie sets around ,out of the aircraft instead of what the air and space museum does in DC which is just display the aircraft all by themselves hanging from the ceilings.   So the next few pictures are from the museum. I went around once with Dana and then he went around another 2 times by himself. 

The next plane is one that was used for the Blue Max movie. They would not normally paint the undersides of the wings like this. 

After this we went to another small museum that had some buildings we walked around and the. We went and Saw the exhibit of the history of wine in the region. From their we went to the Hertzog winery for lunch (but no wine tasting other than the glass we had at lunch). We sat outside and it was quite nice. 

These sheep are made of grape vines. 

We went for a hot afternoon walk at wither hills farm which is a working farm and we used these to cross the fences. 

With nothing else much to do before supper we went to another winery for a tasting. 

We returned to a restaurant we had gone to the night before for some delicious tapas and Dana had an unusual beer that was beprewed with corn flakes. 

Thus ended our stay in Blenheim. After a nice breakfast at a cafe called Ritual the next morning we headed down the coast. 

Sauvignon blanc. Marlborough region of New Zealand. Updated with pictures.

75 percent of the New Zealand wines are grown in this region but it amounts to less than 1% of the worlds wines. And there are about 500 million vines. 

So what did we do today? Go on a wine tour of course. We hit six vineyards with a van full of 11 of us and a paid sober driver. 

And a really nice lunch at one of the vineyards. Many vinyards in this region have either restaurants or offer tasting plates of foods such as cheeses and meats. 

Some pictures from the wineries. Hunters is run by one of the first female winemakers in the area. She took it over after her husband died. 

Some of the wineries had grapes out for us to taste.  It is now harvest season in this area so that really added to our understanding of the different varietals. 

At highfields we were able to climb up the tower and look around. The person pouring wine was originally from Maine. 

An old wine press. Now they use all modern methods including machine picking of the grapes. We got to see the big machines going down the rows harvesting or as they call it vintage time. 

We walked along the greenway afterwards and came across these beavers commemorating that the town used to be called Beaverton because of all the lumber coming down the river. However there were no beavers here. 

Today I had oatmeal for breakfast, nice healthy lunch, and a big fat New Zealand burger on a brioche roll for supper along with really good fries. I knew we were heading for a bar tonight with a Monday night special on burger fries and a drink. Drink of choice after all that wine today. A nice wheat beer for me and an IPA for Dana. (Who by the way had a fish sandwich) 

All in all a good day with drizzly weather not putting a damper on our fun.  

On the road again. Queen Charlotte highway to Blenheim.

We sadly left our inn in Nelson and set out to new territory in the main wine country of New Zealand. 

We took the Queen Charlotte scenic highway although with an overcast day it wasn't brilliantly scenic but still a pleasant if albeit curvy drive. We stopped for a couple of walks and managed to see a silver leaf fern which is New Zealand's symbol. 

We also saw the other thing that is plentiful around here. Brightly painted cars and vans. 

Did I mention that my camera has a really good zoom? Dana didn't bring binoculars so I zoom in on birds shoot their pictures so that he can use them to help identify them. The one below is a tui.

This one is a weka. 

Coming into our first stop in Picton we saw a huge barge waiting to be loaded with logs. 

Picture from Picton. This is where you could catch a ferry to the north island of NZ. 

On our way to Blenheim we stopped at a winery but nothing worth mentioning in terms of their offerings. We are at a moderate sized hotel for the next 3 nights doesn't look like much from the outside but the rooms are modern and very clean. Next to a park and close to a walking trail which meanders along side a river and old train bed. Every where in New Zealand are walking trails and sidewalks and parks. So easy to get out and walk. Wish the USA was like this. We walked for quite a while before supper and then around the town checking out restaurants of which a lot were closed on Sunday night. 

This monument is at the park across from our hotel. 

New Zealand is such a young country compared to Italy. With a lot of modern architecture such as this one. 

Occasionally an old building, but it looks like they built a modern building around the old one maybe just keeping the facade. 

We had rain tonight but so far we've had excellent weather during our trip. 

Tomorrow we start exploring the wineries which are in a flat valley surrounded by mountains on either side. Should be fun to see.