Monday, February 03, 2014

Sunday 2nd January 2014- Via Picton to Martinborough

We were up quite early so ads to get the tent up but we were able to raise it on the grass in front of the motel rather than the church fields. So by 1015 the tent was very dry (almost) but certainly dry enough to pack up again and stow in the boot of the car.
We had a coffee nearby in Blenheim then to kill a little time we walked around a Toyota car dealership looking at the various models and then drove the thirty minutes or so to Picton. We arrived at the ferry port just after 1215 and so were early in the queue and then we were loaded around 1315 for a 1400 departure. Our previous experience on the Interislander has been poor in the past but this time we had a better ship and it had the equivalent of club class which provided free booze, which we ignored, and also free lunch which we did not know about either having just eaten our lunch rolls in the car whist waiting for loading so will need to check the website more carefully next time to see what is included.
When we got on board suddenly the weather really changed and the clouds disappeared and the sea was a sparkling blue and the crossing was very attractive but due to the poor weather when we arrived I did not bother to bring the camera from the car which was a real shame but never mind the photos are now in our brains.

By 1715 we were off the ferry and driving to a place in the hills called Martinborough where we were due to stay at the old fashioned Martinborough Hotel which turned out to be quite nice really. The room was large and with a large balcony where we sat and enjoyed a glass of wine and then went down to bar and we sampled a pint of prawns and a plate of BBQ spare ribs which we shared as neither of us was really hungry. We then walked around this little town which seems to rely on the vineyards for its main business.
Coming back to the drive from Wellington it was great as we climbed and climbed with very winding roads with several thousand feet drops and only protected by a light wooden fence, Umm not good to make a mistake here but it was a great journey.
We have a long day tomorrow so bed was early.