Wine and Sandflies

Janie Sneddon shipwreck

There is a shipwreck on the beach where we are staying in Motueka that is amazing! Its called the Janie Sneddon, built in Scotland in 1901 and was beached in 1955, its so close to the prom wall, its only about 30 metres down on the sand, unfortunately it was too close to high tide to go out to it, as it was too wet/muddy to walk out to in the shoes we were wearing then but its amazing how preserved it looks considering how long its been there in the sea water, and amazing that you just walk out to it with no costs or fences or anything else there.

Pelorus swimming hole

We stopped briefly at the Pelorus river, a part where the river bends and creates a smoother area used a local swimming hole. Its also shown in the 2nd Hobbit film for the barrel race. You can see it from the bridge on the road, or you can walk a few minutes down a track to the swimming area. There were a few brave teens in there, but it was bitterly cold and the sandflies were rife- they are brutal critters, sting more than mossie bites and turn into nasty purple/red super-itchy lumps, and we have many of them between us- we decided to abandon the lake quickly as we had no spray with us!

No trip to the Blenheim/Marlborough region of Nz would be complete without a stop at a winery.. and it just happens that my fave wine is NZ Sauvignon Blanc (Oyster Bay specifically but they dont have a cellar door) so we chose the most child friendly one we could find, though you can do day-tours visiting 5-6 wineries!!

Sauvignon Blanc :)

The Vine Village was home to Whitehavens cellar door and had a great play area, football field, beanbag chill out area and local-produce cafe. It was idyllic- just bliss! My grilled local halloumi and fig salad went perfectly with my ice cold vino, views of grape field after grape field after grape field- perfect, especially when everyone else went off to play/investigate other stuff!!

Interislander ferry from our campsite

We stayed overnight near Picton in a really odd little campsite- it was a bit creepy for some reason if I am honest but we had a decent enough, if dated, cabin on the inside. The kids tried the pool here but it was an above ground unheated job and it was bloody freezing, but it was 10 minutes from the Ferry port to Wellington in the morning and cheap so served its purpose!

The ferry trip came recommended over flying to Wellington. They cost about the same, but the ferry crosses through the Marlborough sounds, Queen Charlotte Sound I think, it is very fjord-like and picturesque, and quite smooth for the first half of the journey- lots of people do it as a day out and apparently its not uncommon to see dolphins but we didnt see anything and despite anti-sickness tablets, as we left the Sounds into the open Cook Strait it got much choppier and we lost our pathetic sea legs, at least Adam, Liss and I did! Cant say I saw much for the second two hours as we found sofas to lie on, but we mostly kept our lunch down... Big win!