Nelson to Blenheim

The weather overnight changed to lots of rain. We left the motel and headed in the direction of Blenheim via Picton and immediately started mountain climbing in the heavy rain. There was mist all around and after a while we stopped for a ‘cuppa’ at Pelorus Bridge at the top of the Rai Valley. They sold great cakes there which of course we should not have, (but Noel did!).

Next place that appeared out of the rain was Havelock the home of the Green Tip Mussel but as it was too early we did not stop and try them. The route from there to Picton offered the main road and also the ‘Grove track’ which we, of course, had to try. It is actually called the Queen Charlotte Drive but we prefer for some reason the first version. The journey along the cliff edge in the pouring rain and mist with odd views of sea inlets below was really nice and a great pity it was not dry and sunny.

We had though of having lunch in Picton but it was all Burgers and Chips or Chicken and Chips and so we slide right through and headed off to Blenheim where we found a ‘Subway’ outlet.

Our plan was to spend the afternoon visiting some of the Vineyards and so we tried to check in early at our Hotel. We are not quite sure why we had booked a 5 Star Hotel (perhaps Noel had had a drink the night he booked it or it just sounded good) but we had and anyway it was not too expensive. So when we tried to check in they could not find our booking. B Great! And they were full tonight. They rang the local tourist board office and asked them if they could find us a room. We were told that every room in town was fully booked and we had no chance except perhaps if we tried this B & B slightly out of town. With no choice, we thought, we headed of this B & B and passed four Motels showing Vacancies, strange we thought. Anyway the B &B was nice but neither Jennifer nor I are keen on this type of accommodation and it would have also meant that we would have to eat out again. We then asked how much and she said how much were we paying at the 5 star Hotel and she would equal it. ‘No way’ I thought. So we back tracked into town and tried the first Motel we had seen where we had a great choice of rooms and five minutes later we were in our room next to our original hotel.

We then headed off for our wine tour and went to the Vineyard where they make Cloudy Bay, which we like, but the prices seem very high, NZ$ 39.00 for a 2006 Chardonnay (around £17.00), we don’t normally pay this at home. We then went to another Vineyard where they want to charge you for wine tasting, bugger that and so we left and went to the local supermarket where we got a good Australian Chardonnay for NZ 10.00. I really cannot understand these prices for NZ wine, it is local yet they all seem so expensive compared to wine prices that we see in UK. I am sure we have bought Cloudy Bay Chardonnay in England but not at £ 17.00 per bottle we haven’t.

So as I am writing this, the sun is beginning to show through and the temperature is beginning to rise as the wine chills nicely in the fridge.

We picked up a nice punnet of strawberries on the way back to the Motel and so they will complete a simple meal tonight. Interesting, in the supermarket was a notice referring to kids who stray from school and are visiting shops instead and this particular brand of supermarket has a notice saying that will not serve kids during school hours and if they do come in to the store the police will be called. Perhaps they could try this in UK.

Whilst reading the newspaper tonight it would appear the North Island has had huge amounts of rain and high winds, cutting off towns, blowing boats inshore and cutting off electricity to homes in Auckland. The South Island which should get more rain, 300 days in Doubtful Sound, has had hardly any rain and the power output from the Lake Manapouri reservoir is low as they are limited to the amount of water they can use therefore the smelter plant is not receiving enough electricity. It’s a strange old world.