Need to keep moving…. we had an appointment with a ferry and there was still so much to see and do and tell you about!
We headed up the coast to Kumara Junction before turning east on SH73 towards Arthur’s Pass. The day had dawned glorious!
February 1864 Arthur Dobson and his brother Edward, rode horses up the Waimakariri River in search of a new route west to assist the European settlers access the gold fields of the west. Arthur pronounced the route extremely difficult, if not impossible, because of the precipitous descent from the pass on the western side. The search continued, but no better route was found. In 1865 Arthur’s father, Edward Dobson senior, decided a road would be cut through what is now known as Arthur’s Pass. About 1000 men toiled through a bitter alpine winter and less than a year from its commencement, using only hand tools, rudimentary rock drills and explosives, the road was completed in 1866.
Awesome ride, my right leg is sore breaking and I’m not driving!
Brunch stop…. We asked a biker leaving what the food was like – he said it was ok! He also told us there had been a review in the paper the week before that said the owner was grumpy – he tried his best to wind her up to no avail! Didn’t work for us either!
After overnighting at Waiau Beach our destination was the seaside town of Kiakoura.
Shortly after midnight on Monday 14th November 2016, Kiakoura suffered greatly from a 7.8 earthquake that ripped through 160km of land from Culverdon to Seddon. Two people died as the earthquake tore through fault lines, demolishing houses, ripping up roads and railways, causing massive landslides as it travelled. As a result of the devastation Kiakoura was cut off from the outside world. It wasn’t until 19th December that unrestricted access was allowed on the Kaikoura Emergency Access Road and two days later SH1 was also reopened though there is still significant work being carried out on it .
Kiakoura is also renowned for whale watching and seal colonies as the edge of the continental shelf is closer to the coast here than most other places on the planet, so we booked ourselves a boat trip! Totally amazing….. After about an hour bobbing about and adjusting our position a sperm whale did present himself on the surface of the water and took a few breaths, then, as quick as he appeared, he flicked his tale and was gone! We had seen a whale, no refund! However, our captain moved closer to land and we were entertained by a family of Orca and a few birds!
Time to move north for the main event, the whole reason Paul wanted to visit New Zealand all those years ago – Marlborough, the home of Sauvignon Blanc!
Rough facts from a wine maker…. There are 33000 hectares of vineyards in Marlborough producing roughly 12 tonnes per hectare, that’s about 400,000 tonnes of grapes!!! Which is worth 720 million NZdollars! Those grapes will make about 297million bottles of wine, worth 4.4bn NZD to the economy and 1% of world wine!
We stayed at Pete’s place, aka Watson’s Way – another site to add to your list! The place was spotless and had everything one would need – except a hairdryer but I’m learning to live without one!
Next day we hired bikes from Peter (that was fun in itself) and did a tour of the local wineries. The weather was stunning, the trusty steeds rideable…. can’t describe how it felt peddling along like Miss Daisy with a warm breeze on my face, vineyards on either side of the tracks and the smell of spring flowers and mint in the air!
I suppose the best way to record our day is with pictures!!
Cloudy Bay – would have been our favourite but the ladies there hadn’t the time of day for us – we weren’t rolling out a trolly with two dozen cases on it, unlike another couple!! However, the wine was good and set the bar (no pun intended) for the rest of the day!
On to Moa, a micro brewery of craft ales, I know, not wine, but a must stop at, according to Peter and a great spot! Joanna, the duty manager was excellent and Brit, the owner of the food stall wasn’t being left out of the photographs! A flight of six beers was maybe a tad too much at 11am but Paul managed, describing them as a broad range from light and fruity largers to heavy, hoppy ales – I’ll take his word for it, I found the rhubarb cidar refreshing!
Next stop was The Vines Village and Geoff who has just launched his new gin – Root! Very nice…. The ‘village’ is a really lovely area with shops, restaurants and a cellar door round a small lake.
https://www.thevinesvillage.co.nz/
We had a lovely tasting at Whitehaven It’s great to hear people’s stories of how they came to be where they are! We met some characters during the day!
Onwards to No1 Family. This turned out to be a producer of two sparkling wines – in another country way up north it would be called Champagne! We weren’t that fussed on it although Delphine did her best to sell it! By now we were playing tag with a few Germans, two young guys who kept being asked for ID and an older couple, who kept asking questions about acidity!
Further down the road was Giesen and our wine guide Victoria….
Owned by three German brothers who arrived in New Zealand in 1979 and planted a vineyard in 1981. Their grandfather was Sommelier and their great grandfather, a brewer, so there was a bit of history!! We had a glass or two here too! You can learn a bit more from the link below….
It was now nearly 4pm and we were starting to wonder were the day had gone and if we had enough time to do the rest of the cellar doors!! We were very relieved when a lovely lady in the car park of the ‘Big F’, otherwise called Framingham’s, advised that Bladon Cellar Door was closed. That was one off the list!
Framingham’s pride themselves with some of the oldest Riesling vines in Marlborough having planted their first Wairau Valley vines back in 1981. If your interested in the house I’ll let you check it out for yourself on their webpage, some interesting reading…
You can imagine from the pictures below this tasting was lots of fun!
We managed to fit in one more across the road – Forrest Estate Wines – just before closing! Established by Drs John and Bridget Forrest in 1988 this cellar had a very family feel about it. Beautiful setting, lovely staff and delicious wines.
Our tasting tray consisted of…
Forrest Sauvignon Blanc 2015 a lemon thyme, mineral
Forrest The Valleys’ Riesling, kaffir lime leaves, orange blossom, flinty
Forrest Chenin Blanc 2018, quince green apple rich – this was the first Chenin Blanc we had come across
Forrest Chardonnay 2015, creamy, almonds, pears
Forrest Pinot Noir 2017, plums, raspberries, black pepper
Tatty Bogler Pinot Noir 2015, earthy baked rhubarb, chalky
Waitaki Valley, North Otago
Forrest Botrytised Riesling 2017 orange marmalade, apricot, toffee
https://www.forrest.co.nz/ – you can find out more here if you are interested.
Time to head back to the van!
Next day we headed on up the Wairau Valley. We didn’t measure the distance from the first Marlborough vineyard we noticed to Renwick but we travelled another 63km of vineyards before climbing out of the valley! More stunning scenery, more winding roads….
Destination – Split Apple Rock!
Our overnight stop was in Motueka. It is, after Richmond, the second largest centre in the Tasman Region, with a population of 7125. It has a long, low main street which is very common here. It has the drive through liquor store, another regular sight on our trip. It has the no alcohol warnings like most towns, though painted on the footpath! What it had that we haven’t seen at all in nearly three weeks was a gun store!
Our final stop over on South Island was Picton from where we got the ferry to Wellington. On the way there we stopped off in Nelson. The oldest city in the South Island and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand, it was established in 1841 and was proclaimed a city by royal charter in 1858 and is named after Horatio Nelson. A pretty, busy little town on a sunny Saturday with a renowned market selling local crafts and goods.
Christ Church Cathedral sits on Church Hill. The first Church was a tent erected for the visit of Bishop Selwyn in 1842. It was replaced by a wooden structure until the Anglican Church bought an acre of land at the summit of the hill in 1848, and in June 1850 the foundation stone of a purpose-built church was laid. The new Christ Church was dedicated on 14 December, 1851. It is a beautiful building made all the more memorable for us as the organist was practicing during our visit.
We travelled on to Picton through the Ria Valley, Pelorus Bridge and along Queen Charlotte Drive. We have travelled 2880km on South Island this last 92km was amazing.
H&P Adventures 