Sunday, February 15, 2009
Today was a free day on the schedule and we had decided yesterday to head on out to Kaikoura and the Northeast, Pacific coast of the south island. Before going too far, we stopped in at Seresin Winery. Seresin is an organic winery and the quality really shows. They have an excellent line-up of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. During our tasting another couple came in, had a single taste, bought a magnum of Chardonnay and headed out to catch a flight. We too bought our next case of wine to ship home and the cellar door host gave us a bottle of Chardonnay to take along for the ride. I do like this gift giving tradition!
After a couple hours, a good portion traveling along the Pacific coastline, we arrived in Kaikoura. The scenery along the way to Kaikoura was spectacular! Mountains surrounded the blue ocean. Just what you think the scenery should look like when you think of New Zealand. We hit the I-Site and walked around a bit before heading up to the peninsula. From there we went on to a 2-hour hike. The first hour started with a steep climb up and into some open fields that followed along the coast. The second hour included a steep climb back down to the ocean picking up a trail that continued along the Oceanside. We ran into some fur seals, birds, and (we think) some penguins.
After the hike, we returned from the peninsula and headed back to town for lunch. After some deliberation, we resolved to hit the Craypot for crayfish (Rock Lobster), which is the local specialty. During our drive down earlier this morning, Mike expressed interested in hitting roadside stands, but Rita and I wanted to eat in a restaurant, and we simply did not want any crayfish. When our meal arrived, it was obvious the food had been prepared in advance and then re-heated in a microwave. Mike and Troy’s meal was $45 each for ½ a crayfish and it was nasty and rubbery. My pasta was okay, but the mussels were old and rubbery. Rita had some crayfish in her salad with squid. The squid was fried in old vegetable oil and the crayfish was also microwave rubbery. After a dissatisfying lunch, we started the drive back to Blenheim. We didn’t travel too far and made a stop a Nin’s Bin, a roadside stand. For $65 dollars we enjoyed a whole crayfish that was very fresh and tasted great! Rita wanted to point out that sometimes, although rare, Mike’s ideas are very good.
We ended the day with snacks and wine from Seresin. Rita and I were wiped out and we had our longest drive of the entire trip ahead of us tomorrow. We had to get up at 5 a.m. and have a 9-hour drive with many critical stops along the way. We are off to see the glaciers!
Observation: 4 days was the right amount of time in Marlborough. Dawn, like Troy, would have liked to visit Abel Tasman National Park and/or Queen Charlotte Track, but other than that we saw everything we wanted to. Also, the wine festival worked out and we were able to see the wineries we wanted to in one day. It wasn’t the best for getting in as many tastes as we would have liked at specific wineries, but certainly provided a retrospective of the region.
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