Lobster and Wine on the E coast
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2006
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Trip End
Jan 19, 2007
Renwick,
New Zealand
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Further north we stopped at Ohau to see the seal colony - loads of seals on the rocks pretty much next to the road. Then further north to the Marlborough region, part of the trip we both were looking forward to but particularly, wine-obsessed Dave. First winery we 'bumped' into was our fave at home - Montana. Is the biggest producer of wine here and a huge winery so tried a few here (mainly for free) which is very nice but resisted buying any
1-East Coast north of Kaikoura
. We then drove into Blenheim (the main town here) and to the information place (which are all fab here) before going out to Renwick which is actually where most of the wineries are. We found a great place to stay, Watsons Way, is a backpackers but has spaces for vans too and a great kitchen, living area. The main reason we went here was to hire bikes as they were $10 a day as opposed to 50 elsewhere so effectively our nights accommodation was free.Up next morning to another glorious day and got our bikes and out by 9.30. Thankfully the land is mainly flat here so it made it a lot easier (esp after a lot of wine!). First winery was the posh Kathy Lynskey (where we had to pay to try) was v good and one of my faves but a bit out of our league! Then to Highfield which, as the name implies, is higher and has great views of the area and an outdoor restaurant. Unfortunately it was too early for lunch but not too early for more wine so we tried some more there - also v nice. Then headed to Matua (think is pretty available at home and nice 2004 Sauv Blanc and Muscat - bought some of both as cheap!), Cloudy Bay (people dead friendly spent ages talking to them about our trip), Allan Scott (nice wine too), Mudhouse (poss my fave) before we had a lovely tapas lunch outside at Vintners Retreat. Then to the boutique winery of Huia and finished off at Waira River as they were closing at 5pm. All in all we tried 48 wines at 9 vineyards - not bad for a day's work. Fantastic day and only Dave nearly fell off as he drove into a field by mistake (claiming that he was looking at the view!). Marlborough is def the place for white wine - which is good seeing as I still am not friends with red wine after the Great Ocean Road trip.
After all that we slumped into the couches back at the hostel and watched BBC tv all night - Supernanny, some business programme and Spooks - great stuff!
