Chateau Marlborough Blenheim

These past few weeks have been some of the best times of my life. We have traveled through both islands in 10 days, it's pretty crazy to think about. I have done some amazing things such as hiking, sailing, zorbing, and kayaking some of the most beautiful places in the world.<br><br>Internet is really hard to access here because it is slow and expensive so my time is limited. I'm currently living in Blenheim at the Duncannon Hostel and working 40-50 hours ...

... the one I&#8217;d just left in Wellington, and headed off towards Blenheim and Marlborough just 30 minutes up the road. <br><br>Man, the scale of Marlborough is amazing &#8211; it&#8217;s pancake flat and surrounded by beautiful snow capped hills and there are vines everywhere. My new digs were the Vintners Retreat Villas where I had the largest place yet &#8211; I kid you not, this was really a semi-detached house with a garage. There is ...

... with our rucksacks being pretty much the first bags off the boat, we met up with our B&amp;B host for the next 3 days, a lovely ex-pat English lady called Jayne, and headed in the car towards Blenheim where many wonders were waiting for us. The mountains didn't stop as we travelled south, the road winding in between and around them on the 30 minute journey as we looked on in amazement. More amazement back at the B&amp;B, as the house ...

... Campground war 5km entfernt, der naechste dann weitere 20km entfernt. Also habe ich in Schoolhouse Bay mein Zelt aufgeschlagen und habe noch im Meer geschwommen. Jetzt ist das Meer warm genug um darin ordentlich schwimmen zu koennen, nicht mehr so frisch wie im Oktober im Abel Tasman Park. Allerdings haben recht viele Boote in der Bucht geankert, der Nachteil der Ferienzeit... Gruss Ralf P.S. Fun Fact Captain Cook spent 170 days in Ship Cove in the Marlborough Sounds.

... a look as it was sunny, but didn't find any hoped for cafes on the waterfront, so we came back into Picton for brunch. Got on the ferry and had comfy seats until the children's magician turned up so we were "forced" to adjourn to the bar. Got back to our usual Mana Motel and soon headed to the Monteith's pub down the road.

... So much for our vacation it is back to work again! The funds were starting to get rather low, so this was more of a necessity for me! I have been traveling with a guy by the name of Mike who is from Holland and who I met about a month ago. I met up with him and 2 other German girls (there are a TON of Germans traveling here right now!!) in Rotorua and we all traveled together for a couple of weeks before going separate ways when Mike and I came to the south island. Anyway, he ...

... on our way. We the two and a half hour windy but extremely beautiful drive to Renwick. It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and a perfect drive through green rolling hills - it was like teletubby land! When we arrived in Renwick we checked with tourist information for a local campsite as there didn't appear to be any in the guide book but unfortunately the nearest campsite was in Blenheim. We wanted to do the Renwick cycle route around the wineries tomorrow so ideally needed to stay in ...

... common way of sourcing seafood. Incidently, absolutely huge live green lipped mussels are for sale in the supermarkets for sale by the kilo at a price less than the cost of a bag of crisps (about 80p per kilo). In summer time the done thing is to buy a bag of mussels and a bottle of "Sauvie" (Sauvignon Blanc) at the supermarket and head of to the beach to barbeque the mussels for a picnic - fast food as it should be ...

... stories. I took the interislander ferry (which is massive!). A nice glass of lindauer on the deck and sit in the sunshine and I was really beginning to feel I was on holiday! The trip was 3 hours but the last hour was spent weaving through the 'sounds' - fingers of rocky outcrops with still water running in between. Some areas are only accessible by boat or on foot. Its so peaceful. Saw dolphins and seals and lots of horrible jellyfish ...

... mostly French in origin. We eventually bought a bottle of Voignier which was very tasty. The day was drawing to a close and the last stops on the list were two of the more famous vineyards - Allan Scott and Cloudy Bay. We dropped into Allan Scott first, and did both some fizz tasting (we needed a bottle for the following day) and some beer tasting as well. We picked a good bottle of pop (can't call it champagne coming from NZ can you ?) and I bought a ...