Blenheim to Christchurch

A view from Nelson
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Sunday 17 December 2006 – We were up early to drive to the airport which was not far. Our plane was quite small - only carries about 20 passengers. It was full and the flight was quite short and 25 minutes from take off we were on the ground at Blenheim in the South Island. We had flown over the lovely Marlborough Sound which we had sailed through in the other direction on our previous two trips. It was raining when we left Wellington but sunshine in Blemheim. The good weather continues to follow us!

Montana Winery
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We had a leisurely day in Blenheim doing a little shopping for essential supplies like shampoo, cereals and milk. In many places we have been getting our own breakfast, more for ensuring that we do not eat too much rather than cost. As it we are both likely to have put on weight but we have not been weighing ourselves just in case it is too much! We had another nice meal in the evening with a bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc for which the area is famous. Tomorrow we hit the wineries!

Snow in summer!

Snow on the Kaikoura Range
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Monday 18 December 2007 – We decide to visit Nelson first, the other major city of the region that is also known for its wineries. It was good to see the different landscapes with mountains and valleys, something that we had been looking forward to doing. It is a delightful city with an interesting modern Anglican cathedral on a hill. It was buzzing with Christmas shoppers and the air rang to the sound of buskers. After lunch we visited a couple of wineries and tasted some and bought a couple of bottles. We are in the process of putting together a case for Christmas in Dunedin. This is a much more enjoyable way of doing it than wandering down the aisles at Sainsbury’s. There was the added advantage of a temperature in the mid 20 degrees. We travelled back to Blenheim via the beautiful Wairau valley with mountain ranges on both sides. It was a round trip of over 300 kms and we were very tired at the end of it and had an early night.

Blenheim at Christmas
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Tuesday 19 December 2006 – We stayed around Blenheim and visited four wineries, having lunch at Montana which is a very well known brand in the UK. Another visited was Cloudy Bay where we bought a bottle of their renowned Sauvignon Blanc after a tasting. At Saint Clair we bought another Sauvignon Blanc but unfortunately were unable to taste as it is such short supply. It has won many gold medals and we are looking forward to tasting it at a later date! It was another hot sunny day but that is due to change as we move south tomorrow.

Wednesday 20 December 2006 – We left the Marlborough Hotel with some regrets as it had been the friendliest hotel to date and made our way south to Kaikoura to go whale watching. The weather took a turn for the worse in the afternoon with temperatures dropping, wind getting up and showers arriving. It does not look good for tomorrow.

Thursday 21 December 2006 – As we feared the seas are too high for the whale watching boats to go out and all sailings for the day are cancelled – our first setback on the holiday. However, it is tempered by the fact that we had sighted whales whilst on a boat trip in the Bay of Islands and so we are not too disappointed. Neither of us was too sure about going out in those seas anyway!

Overnight the temperatures had been so low that there was snow on the mountain rang behind the town and we were informed that this was the third time in the first three weeks of summer. It should be borne in mind that this is not a tropical paradise – most of the time it is not too dissimilar to the climate in the UK. All Brits will know what a British summer is like!

We moved on to Christchurch a bit earlier in the day than we had planned and did a little shopping (again!). Tomorrow we are going to Dunedin for 11 days covering Christmas and the New Year which we are both looking forward too so that we can have a break from living out of a suitcase. Also we will be seeing my Aunt Iris and friends of her and us – Joyce and Mike. We will be returning to Christchurch for a longer stay in January so more on it then.

It is probable that the next episode to the blog will not be posted until the beginning of January. Best wishes to all our readers for Christmas and for a peaceful 2007.