Day 10

Today we are going to sample some of the best wines that the Marlborough region has to offer.  We chose a group called Bubbly Grape to be our guides, and most importantly our drivers.  We were surprised when Jonathon showed up and we were the only ones going out on the tour.  This led to a very fun and informative day, as he could focus his entire efforts towards our desires and questions.  Great fun!

There are some 40 odd wineries in the area, 20 or so with cellar doors.

Montana Brancott Estates was one of the first wineries in the region and is now one of the largest.  They used this rifle site to ensure that the vines were planted in a perfectly straight row.  Seems to have worked well.

The sheer number of plantings is beyond belief.  If I remember correctly, there are some 350 thousand individual vines planted in Marlborough.  They appear to go on forever.  There are small windmills in the background, pretty hard to see, that we thought were used for irrigation.  In actuality, they are used to move the air to keep the frost from settling on the plants.  In addition, they use over 100 helicopters on the frostiest of nights, as well as, smudge pots.

We visited 6 wineries, a couple also produce olive oil, and a chocolate factory on the tour and had a beautiful meat and cheese platter for lunch; Lawson's Dry Hills, Brancott, Spy Valley, Giesen, Bladen, and Bouldevines.  We left at 10AM and got back around 4:30PM. Thank god, we were up to the task!

Tomorrow, we cross the Cook Straits and head back home.  We'll spend the night in Taupo, and then drive the rest of the way on Tuesday.  That's it for this year's trip.

Day 9

The trip from Greymouth to Westport along the surf-pounded coastline offers fine Tasman Sea views; so fine that Lonely Planet’s Blue List dubbed the West Coast highway one of the planet’s 10 best road trips. Fill up in Runanga if you’re low on petrol – there’s no fuel until Westport, 92km away, and the next ATM after Greymouth is also in Westport.  The main attractions along this stretch are the geologically fascinating Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.  The coast is awash with iron clad sand and at times the road runs hundreds of feet above the thunderous Tasman sea. This road juts inland at times through beautiful untouched forests but mostly follows the roars and sights of the sea.

We have been on the Pacific Coast Highway in California and The Road to Hana in Hawaii, but his route is every bit, if not more, beautiful!

The blow holes create beautiful rainbows as the tide surges in and up through the holes.

Cape Foul Wind seal colony.

We love this signage.  Leaves nothing to the imagination!

Red deer farms are very prevalent throughout New Zealand.  Not only are they sold for meat, but deer velvet is renowned to have incredible healing and medicinal properties.  Korea is a big market for the deer velvet.

After a long days drive, a relaxing dinner riverside in Blenheim.  Tomorrow we are on a wine tour in the most famous wine region in New Zealand.

Day 8

Today we leave Queenstown and head north back towards the Southern Lakes Region.  Route 6 will take us up and over the Southern Alps and up the west coast to the city of Greymouth.  It is hard to really understand the roads here without seeing them for yourself.  When you look on the map you see these wide red lines and naturally equate them to what you are used to in the U.S.  The best way I can describe most of the roadways here is that they are like well maintained narrow two-lane country roads in the U.S., with an occasional 1 kilometer passing lane.  Additionally, they often cling to the side of nearly vertical cliffs as they wind their way through the countryside.  Because of the dramatic topographical changes of the country, and the often wild weather extremes, it can make for some interesting driving challenges.  As I have said before, many times bypassing a problem may require a day's drive, if it is even possible.

Prior to leaving on our trip, we had to change our planned routing because torrential rains had washed out a bridge on Route 6 south of Greymouth.  That was repaired within about three days, but the weather that had pretty much washed out our last two days in Queenstown, had closed the route up and over the mountains.  A check of the Department of Transportation website this morning says the road is open, so we are going to give it a go.  The road north of Wanaka takes us between lake Hawea on our right and Lake Wanaka on our left.

Lake Hawea

Lake Wanaka

Because of all the rain, the waterfalls were gushing at maximum flow.

 

We probably encountered four or five major slips that were in various stages of being cleared.  We also went through and area of minor flooding.  Not a trip for the faint of heart!

Finally we reached the coast and the small town of Haast.  The west coast of the South Island is known for many things, including the Whitebait Patty.  Whitebait is a bit of a delicacy in New Zealand, and whitebait from the West Coast of the South Island is the best. The idea is to have more whitebait than batter, however if you go to a restaurant you will probably find that it's the other way round! West Coasters also serve them with mint sauce which is very tasty.  Our view is, "when in Rome..."  Ours was more like very tiny minnows cooked in a scrambled egg.  Not fishy!

The remainder of the drive into Greymouth was uneventful and uninspiring.  We'll overnight here and then drive over to Blenheim and the Marlborough wine country tomorrow.