After we collected our new camper van in Christchurch and had another nice visit with Tony & Helen we headed north along the coast to Blenheim and most importantly wine country!
A BBQ picnic lunch by the beach!
On the way we stopped to see the Kaikoura Seal Colony and
most importantly the Kaikoura Seal pups. From April to October there can be up
to 200 seal pups that swim up the creek to a waterfall and stay there until
they are big enough to survive on their own in the sea. They swim down the
creek to meet their moms for milk every couple of days and seem to know when
their moms have returned from hunting. It was incredible to be able to walk up
and stand right at the edge of the pond and see these pups play. They ask
obviously that you don’t touch them and that you give them room to move. A few
of these pups were quite curious however and came towards us; one came right up
to our feet. They were fascinating, adorable and the best part was it was all
natural, nothing man made and no admission fees or souvenir stands. In fact it
isn’t even mentioned in the guide books for New Zealand, if my cousin Tony
hadn’t mentioned it we easily would have driven right by. Check out the video
and pictures below!!
We then made it up to Blenheim where we stayed for 2 nights.
It rained the day we had planned on doing a bike ride/ wine tour. Thankfully,
Neal knows how much I love my New Zealand (Marlborough) wines and he offered to
drive to some of the vineyards, so I could do the tastings. (I know such a
great husband!) We first went to Brancott Estates who is the original Sauvignon Blanc in the region and we tried quite a few of their wines.
We then visited
Allen Scott and had a very entertaining tasting with a very chatty and funny
girl named Kathy. We had a delicious lunch of chicken carbonara that was
perfect on a drizzly and damp day.
My two favorite wines to drink at home are
Kim Crawford and Oyster Bay; unfortunately neither brand has any tasting rooms
in their vineyards! I found a cellar door that did Kim Crawford tastings and we
bought some wines we can’t get at home.
After the 3 vineyards I was a little tipsy and since the weather was still awful we went and saw the Batman movie;
which was really good.
Blenheim itself has a cute town centre and the wines were
great. It was the first time we felt a little sketchy walking home at night
though. Not much else to report.
We are now off to Abel Tasman!
All the best,
Laura
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