Criterion Hotel Blenheim

... notes on the nose. Sweet luscious honey palette, sweet start with acidity behind. A touch simple for my tastes but pretty damn good.

Villa Maria - Again, a large establishment with an award winning tasting room and a restaurant.

2008 Sauvignon Blanc – Almost like water to look at. Big Marlborough Savvie – lots of tropical fruit, touch of herbs.

2007 Taylor's Pass C******nay – 30 ...

... just go watch Transformers 2 or something if I can't find anything else, which seems likely. I'd hike a bit out of town if it weren't for my knee, so I'm just going to wait for the bikes. Other than that, I can read or watch TV, and I'm well more than half-way done with "The Stand" (I've had to do a lot of sitting and waiting, both for and on transport, the past couple of days). Almost all the other backpackers are gone working as well. Guess I'll just have to wander around some more.

... driving to Picton where we arrived with plenty of time to spare before our ferry. From Picton the ferry sails along the Queen Charlotte Sound all the way to the Cook Straight, so the first part of the ferry trip was very nice and we could enjoy the amazing scenery. We loved the South Island and we were a bit sad to leave. Having spent longer than planned there, we found ourselves with just over a week for the North Island, so we ...

In Christchurch riefen wir dann de Scholle (alias Eugen Stark) an. Den Kontakt hatten wir von de Ruth Spitznagel bekommen, die, als se gehoert hat, dass wir nach NZ gehen, sofort gsagt hat : He gönn doch zum Scholle!! Das hatten wir dann auch vor. De Scholle ist vor 7 Jahren ausgewandert und kommt urspruenglich aus Riedern am Sand. Simon and Simon gingen dann am 4. Feb mit einem Schild auf dem Kaikoura/ Blenheim draufstand an die Northern Road in Christchurch um nach Blenheim zu ...

Kia Ora, am dritten Tag geht es in die Hoehe, dies ist der Tag an dem man die meisten Steigungen hat, und teilweise auch ungeschuetzt ueber die Bergruecken laeuft. Es war aber nicht mehr ganz so warm. Nachdem ich den uebervoelkerten Campground gesehen hatte, habe ich beschlossen nicht zum eigentlich Tagesziel zu wandern, ein Campground wieder an einer Bucht ...

... building (shed) in the grounds of a house which has citrus fruit trees growing everywhere and chickens, sheep and deer grazing / prowling around. We are just 3 minutes drive from the metropolis of Blenheim. We have fresh eggs from the "chucks" fresh oranges and lemons from the trees, what could be better? oh the fact that its right in the middle of one of the world's best wine regions, and the sun is shining. Hurrah. So we were up ...

... si llegamos a estar en el cacahuete de Tailandia ni lo contamos). Una vez mas tranquilos y, abiertos los bares, la gente corrio a llenar de nuevo sus estomagos y pudimos salir a admirar la entrada a la isla. De camino a Nelson (donde cenamos un estupendo salmon) paramos a ver lo que se llama Malborough Sounds, unas vistas muy bonitas de bahias. By Pato

We found ourselves back in Wellington again, it had definately become our favourite city in New Zealand and this was the last time we'd be there. It was the Thursday before Easter when we got there, so the hostels were all absolutely packed, we managed to get the last room in the 'Lodge'. Booked our ferry tickets for the following day in case it got even busier over the weekend! We caught the ...

... I could be for a long period of time. I hike almost everyday after work. It relaxes me and gives me a little time to myself. The management rewarded the staff for their hard work by sending us out for a sunset cruise. I was able to skeet shoot which was a lot of fun. However, I was probably the worst one. The sunset that night was magnificient. I don't think that I have ever seen a more beautiful sunset. We had quite a few drinks and laughs.

... inform all the ISites from Geraldine on that my passport is missing. Somehow, I think I will get better results using THIS network than the police.....sure enough, the Geraldine site responds immediately to say that they will contact their local constables to see whether I might have left it anywhere thereabouts. We drive out to the Pier on the peninsula for lunch. We had originally planned to stay here, and now I wish I had tried a little harder to reach them (they did NOT respond ...