Well, today the new part of our holiday started but with an element of déjà vu! We were sitting in the motor van readying ourselves for the off when there was a loud bang as if something had flown into the side. We went out to investigate and there was another loud bang and a blast of hot air from the grille over the water heater! Fortunately neither of us were close enough to be caught by the blast but it meant a phone call to Maui, authority to take the 'van to a local garage, finding the garage and getting the problem sorted (a build up of carbon somewhere in the system) before we could start our journey to Blenheim.
Not being on a rigid timetable any more we were able to enjoy the drive.
We stopped on the way at the Pelorus River Scenic Site, next to a one lane bridge (there are a lot of these in New Zealand which work extremely well, we have not yet had to stop at one!), and had our belated morning tea and coffee. And yes, you have guessed it, despite Pelorus being in the back of beyond, Sue could have her gluten free cake!
Bert had intended going on a wine tour when we arrived in Blenheim but the delay with the 'van meant he would not be in time to join one of the organised trips. So, not to be thwarted, we turned off the main road into Blenheim and went down a road called Rapaura Road, which seems to be the road on which every winery in the Marlborough area is located. And, unbelievably, there was also a 'quilting barn'. Bert had no idea what that was so agreed to let Sue go and find out for an hour whilst he went and visited a couple of wineries.
The so-called quilting barn was, of course, a lovely quilt and patchwork supplies store with some yarn thrown in for good measure. An hour was nowhere near long enough to see all it had to offer but I had a blissful time looking and choosing a few items and spending time chatting with the owner and other customers. Cyclone Wilma is still the big topic of conversation here and I have now heard many stories of lucky escapes and extreme damage. It seems we were either very intuitive or extremely lucky to have removed ourselves from the Bay of Islands to Whangerai when we did and have local Kiwis to thank for offering their advice.
Bert only managed two wineries; sadly, driving a very large motor van means that wine tasting is more closely allied to wine sniffing! It would have been nice to have loaded up the van but regrettably getting it back to the U.K. would be a problem. We could have had some shipped but it would have cost at least $10 a bottle (£5) on top of the cost of the wine. Bert bought two bottles which we shall look to drink before we return. However he did obtain outlet lists from both so we may well be able to toast New Zealand in their own wine when we have returned.
We drove on to Blenheim and found our campsite, the first Top 10 (the premier chain of campsites in NZ) site we have stayed at. It was large with the railway on one side and the main road on the other and we thought it probably wouldn't be very conducive to a good night's sleep. However, there was very little choice, as it was, unusually, the only holiday park (campsite) we could find actually in the town.
We then ventured into town to do some grocery shopping. We found a large New World store, (a supermarket we had not come across before – New Zealand seems to have far more supermarket chains than we do) but had obviously chosen the wrong time to shop, the car park was almost full, the roads far too narrow for a campervan the size of a decent sized bus, the store was heaving with customers and, of course, we didn't know where anything was! However, we were impressed with the 'pick your own' leaf salad and the helpfulness of staff when we asked for things.
We eventually completed our shop and arrived at the tills. The lady in front of us got chatting and introduced us to the New World coupon card. This is a card at the back of their special offer/money off coupon book, which you hand to the cashier before you pay (just like your Tesco Clubcard.) If you have bought anything listed in the coupon book then the price is automatically reduced. No handing over sheafs of paper coupons, each one of which has to be swiped through individually. Very smart! The cashier duly produced a coupon book and card for us and we were set. Is there no end to the helpfulness of Kiwis?
Later, we reviewed our day and decided that, as the one thing we wanted to see but had not found along Rapaura Road, (The Chocolate Factory) was still a “can't miss”, we would look for it again the next day. Having the laptop proved to be a huge boon here, as we were able to search for it on Google maps and even view the building in satellite mode! We'll let you know if it measures up to Cadbury World!
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