Blenheim

There was one day we spent in France a few years ago, in a small town called Tain L'Hermitage in the Rhone Valley, that was close to perfect (go there if you are ever nearby). Today came close to that...

We left Nelson this morning and drove to the Marlborough region. Our first stop was Havelock, where we stopped at Cullen Point (thought of you Katherine!) and walked up to the viewpoint where we could see across Pelorus Sound, a beautiful view. Havelock calls itself "The mussel capital of NZ", so we couldn't resist the restaurant called The Mussel Pot for lunch. We all shared a mussel platter, with green-lipped mussels cooked a number of different ways, plus chips - delicious, especially washed down with a glass of local sauvignon blanc.

We then drove on to Blenheim, the "capital" of the Marlborough region, where we're staying for a couple of nights. We arrived mid-afternoon, so we decided to visit one of the many wineries on the way to our motel. One of the first wineries we passed was the iconic Cloudy Bay - we called in and saw the vines, full of grapes ready to be harvested, and fittingly the sky was indeed cloudy! We indulged in a wine tasting experience there, where we got to taste 9 different wines in all and we treated ourselves to a couple of bottles (including a Pelorus fizz, named after the Sound we saw earlier today). It was a great experience, even if we did blow the budget there! Afterwards we called into an artisan chocolate shop and got some free samples to taste. We then spent the evening relaxing in our surprisingly spacious motel room and planning our last few days here in the South Island before we get the ferry across to the North Island. And to top it all off, the clocks go back an hour here tonight, so we get an extra hour in bed (Solana permitting!).Read more