Middle Park Motel Blenheim

... Picton to visit the other Dufftown quines. Donna and Adams home is beautiful as well and the scenery from her place is tremendous but it was a bit of a stormy night so we didn't get the full effect of the view. Angie and family were there too so it was great to catch up with them all. Had a few too many as they are a right bad influence. The others went on the hake round the shops as Dennis ...

... again with a touch of lychee. Good acidity. Good length and quite bold with roses on the palette. <br><br>2008 Leah Pinot Noir &#8211; Blended across three vineyards, bold start but hard to find fruit on the nose. Dark fruits on the palette, fresh acidity, silky tannins, fruit quite late on the palette. Needs more time. <br><br>Not bad for one day! I was shattered! So I settled in for an evening in front of the telly and some basic food.

... Pinot Noir. All really tasty and young (2008) but more often than not tasted as if it had been mellowed for at least 5 years. They are so very lucky here that they can just pop open a bottle from the year before and it will taste fantastic. We met some great people along the way and had long chats about wine, our travels, tastings and regional history. We have done 3 wine areas so far, Barossa in ...

... extra rooms in his house, so we moved to stay with him. It was so nice to stay in a home! We all got along great and spent many nights chatting and drinking great wine (he works for a winery!). I expressed my rugby interest and Rebecca hooked me up with some friends of hers and on one of the nights I played in the touch rugby league on two mixed teams! It was great fun and I must say I was a bit of a star, only b/c I knew how to play and many of the other women didn't! The ...

... wine country was under an hour, so we slept in -- what a luxury! At about 9:00 we headed out for our strenuous day of tasting wine, liqueurs, olive oils and chocolates. This was a scouting trip so we could personally make New Zealand wine recommendations to my brother. I hope he appreciates the extra lengths we had to go to on his behalf! Our original plan was to rent bikes to tour the area, but rains put a damper on the ...

... and "I wouldn't go that way" rang through my head. You know what I mean, right Rhys?! Next day, boat trip (again). It was a miserable day. Luckily the boat was enclosed so we weren't forced to stand outside. Now, one thing I must tell you. We arrived in Picton on the off season which means things were pretty quiet. They offered tours like "Harbour Cruise" (does what it says on the tin), Mail run (you get to go on the boat ...

... thats available since the cold war is over!- riighhtt! nutter. Anyway she was only on the half day morning tour so we thankfully got rid of her by the end of the first winery. The other 2 peole on the tour with us were a couple from Cairns who seemed nice and we got on well with for the day. Would well recommend Marlborough wine Tours for anyone thinking of doing winery tours in NZ.

... Wellington gehen. Um uns die Zeit bis dahin zu vertreiben, sind wir mit Emma, einer Freundin Gens nach Blenheim gefahren. Auf der Fahrt habe ich zum ersten Mal die Southern Alps gesehen, das war absolut atemberaubend!! Unterwegs haben wir dann von Genevieves Kollegen erfahren, dass die Abendfaehre total ausgebucht waere. Das war aber zum Glueck eine Fehlinfo! Ich musste naemlich unbedingt nach Wellington zurueck, da am Montagmorgen um 8 mein Flug ...

... around up there with the crampons on the boots. One of the most incredible things i´ve done. Our camp site aswell had great views of the glacier, so we spent the evening sitting out beside Betsy in the sunshine with the chairs and the beer and wine just looking at the view. Very groovy. Next stop was Queenstown. We spent a few days here chilling out here. Never got up the courage to do a bungy jump or a skydive though....nope....tooooo chicken for ...

... backpackers for a small fee. This was our first choice but once again, the same old story of the weather not playing along, so we were forced to use our trusty automobile, Sunny. I was just hoping that due to the appalling weather the traffic police had decided to take the day off or at least leave their breathalysers behind .? You might be thinking we rushed straight to Cloudy Bay and never left but I was a little apprehensive about going directly there and ...