Days 19-20: Come to Marlborough Country
Although the 12th Sweethearts’ Day started out with cold, damp bay-wading, it ended with a hang-dog dinner in a fantastic hotel in Renwick. Renwick and Blenheim are wine making towns in the Marlborough region. We decided to make the wine circuit and sample the local goods (by “we”, we mean Marcus because Kel isn’t a big fan). So Kel chauffered Marcus around the area and pretended not to be bored while Marcus got liquored up and pretened to know something about wine.
Just to give you an idea of how little that is, Marcus picked the wineries based on them making reds, only to find out that the region is famous for whites (particularly sauv blanc) because of the cool climate (or at least that’s what they told us).
We went to 8 wineries and bought a few bottles of stuff we’d never heard of but liked (Gerwurtzraminer and Chenin Blanc) along with a big ol’ bottle of belgian style beer named after the extinct Moa.
Sampling the goods in Renwick. It’s a rough life.
Local scenery.
For dinner, we bought stuff to make pizzas at the grocery store, and as we were shopping Kel asked if they had an oven at the hotel. To which I replied something to the effect of “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life”. Which of course meant that there wasn’t one when we got back. So we fired up the BBQ and grilled some pizzas on the the communal grill (they ended up tasting quite good).
Marcus rests his exhausted palate.
Speaking of the hotel, in NZ they have a class of hotel called a “backpacker” that we’ve come to love. They have booth dorm and individual rooms with either communal or “en suite” bathrooms. But the best feature is the communal kitchen; this has allowed us to cook most of our meals and save a ton of $ in one of the most expensive countries we’ll be travelling.
Keep on falling Kiwi dollar!
Tags: New Zealand
Kelly & Marcus
March 31st, 2005 at 8:54 pm
JC would be proud!
March 31st, 2005 at 9:24 pm
12th. Sweetheart’s Day – Congratulations…. That makes me feel almost as old as Jon turning 29 – WOW!
Keep the pics coming – love ’em!
Hugs, xoxox
April 1st, 2005 at 7:00 am
Everyone knows that you only drink a cabernet with grilled whole peeled lamb’s tounge pizza…
I thought I taught you better than that!