January 25, 2023
“I may not have ended up where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”
- Douglas Adams
With sympathies to my friend Guy who at the time of this post is snowbound and wet under classic gray Indiana skies.
Colleen does most of the planning for our episodes. We talk about a location months in advance then, at her own timetable, she begins her research. For weeks she will scour the internet, consult bloggers, and research the best deals, routes, and most interesting stops.
When we are at last ready to leave, she has a large stack, kept in order mind you, of papers she has printed out that is several inches high. It is filled with confirmations, boarding passes, and reservation information in order of the trip. Yes, she could do much of it on line, but she has a system. And it works. Spectacularly. As the trip progresses she discards the top papers working her way to the bottom and like a lumberjack who has conquered a particularly tough tree, she walks away, dusting off her hands, and knows she has prevailed. I have learned a long time ago to stay out of her way.
She is rarely wrong.
Rarely.
But today was one of those days. We went through our morning ritual and I asked her what was the plan today. She told me we had a 4 hour drive from Picton to Christchurch.
It was a considerably longer drive. The South Island in New Zealand is the size of England. The roads, as you move in and out of the hills are often tortuous. You rarely get to highway speeds so it is difficult to advance quickly.
However, that is just fine. We stopped several times along the way for breaks that were all the more sweeter because we were not in a hurry. Although the trip was ultimately closer to 7 hours, it was sublime due to excellent weather, gorgeous scenery, and sweet indulgences.
As we drove out of Picton we were once again surrounded by wine country. Vineyards lined the road on both sides. We stopped to visit some of them, I realize that wine cellar visits are not for everyone. You may not even like wine and the costs of running such an operation are astronomical.
“Adequate sun, heat, and water during the growing season, and enough cold during the dormancy phase are crucial for healthy growth of vines and production of premium quality grapes. Grapevines thrive best in climates with long warm summers, and rainy winters. Warm weather during the growing period enables grapevine to flower, fruit set and ripen.”
- eVineyard Blog
New Zealand, particularly here on the South Island in Marlborough, has these qualities in abundance. The wines here are among the best in the world.
From some the whole thing may seem an exercise in pretentiousness, but It is hard not to enjoy the beauty of the venues, the passion of the sales people, the rich history, and the taste of a really quality product. Its a lovely experience and an oasis from the outside world.
As if good wines were not enough, in the middle of all the vineyards we discovered a “Chocolate Factory”. They take the same approach as the wine cellars when you enter - beautiful showroom, passionate sales people extolling you on the virtues of their chocolate, and….well, it’s chocolate. An indulgence indeed.
We shopped a bit in local stores where Colleen found a painting she liked. At the time of this writing, we still do not know how we will get it home.
We returned to the road. The scenery, as it often does here changed. Now we were surrounded by rolling hills of grassland that was mostly tawny with a rare clump of trees of the deepest green. We moved Southeast towards the coast.
Here is Ward’s Beach. This is a wild stretch of undeveloped coast line that we mostly had to ourselves. The surf here is moderate to at times heavy as it crashes against the exposed rocks.
During the Christchurch earthquake a crevasse opened here in the shore line. The white colored rocks turned upward over 20 meters from the crumbling brown colored stones beyond. What they revealed, now covered by the incoming tide was a strata of rock from the time of the last dinosaurs. This layer was almost 70 million years old and was present when the colossal asteroid hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs!
There is much more here among the driftwood that humble stone. There is the story of creation, right here among the surf.
The sea is the most remarkable shade of turquoise abruptly changing to a deep blue. That is where the shore line drops to the Hikurangi Trench. This a oceanic trough that extends southward from the even deeper Kermadic Trench. The flow from these canyons brings rich sea life to the coast here making it ideal for seals, dolphins, and whales.
Paparow point is here. According to Maori legend Paleka, ‘The Whale Rider’, came to shore here. After a fight with his brothers Paleka got the upper hand when they planned to kill min out of jealousy. Paleka was saved by a benevolent whale who brought him out of danger to these shores.
Some Fur Seals were near by. Due to the distance they were a challenge to photograph. But a group of 50 or so were sunning themselves along the rocks. There were a number of pups despite their youthful awkwardness were able to negotiate the rock fall surprisingly well and rather far away from the surf.
We continued the long drive, refueled by Tim Tams and the passing landscape. That evening, with the sun hanging low we finally made it to our hotel.
We are in Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city.
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