Day 21 - Queen Charlotte Drive, Wine and Green Mussels

04.01.2015

It was quite chilly last night. The weather forecast says it's about 12 degrees. I slept well, but I have to wake up at 8:00 am because breakfast is only served until 9:00 am. You can have fruit (2 kinds from a can), cereal (3 kinds), and then the innkeeper brings you two slices of toast. I was hoping for eggs, but no. So I finish quickly and by shortly after 9:00 am, I'm already in the car. Today, I want to drive the Queen Charlotte Drive which goes from Picton to the west, towards Havelock. Picton and Havelock are practically the two tourist towns in this part of the Marlborough Sounds. Picton is bigger with 4000 inhabitants. The Queen Charlotte Drive is a beautiful, extremely winding road with breathtaking views of the Queen Charlotte Sound.

At first, I think I'll quickly find a cheap motel for the night before my return trip. But the supposedly cheap motel wants to charge me $165 and suggests I go to a backpacker if I'm looking for something under $100. Ok...before I waste any more time, I'll drive on the Queen Charlotte Drive and turn back after 8km, back to Picton.

The curves are annoying, that was clear, but driving from Picton to Havelock means you constantly have no view, because you can only see it on the right side of the road and I have to drive on the left. The lookouts are all on the right and even though you can turn there as a left driver, it's always dangerous because the oncoming cars can't see you in the tight curves and you can only drive onto these small lookout parking lots at very low speeds. What's extremely annoying is that in New Zealand, there are usually no trash cans or toilets at the lookouts or rest areas along the highways.

So I eventually reach Picton again and have now decided to first drive south on the almost straight highway to Blenheim, where many of the famous wines from Marlborough come from. Here, the most common grape variety is Sauvignon Blanc, but there's also Chardonnay and Riesling. In recent years, excellent red wines have also been added. But today, I'm not interested in wine. Wine tastings are generally not free here and can cost up to $40, and then you're at a winery and what do you have then? Tasted five wines, it's 12:00 pm and you can't take any of the wine with you or take a nap now, which would be nice.

But on Sundays in Blenheim, there's a Farmers Market. By the time I find it, it's already 11:30 am and it's only open for half an hour. It's set up on a grassy area. Maybe 20 stalls, plus many chairs, tables, benches, and people sitting in the sun and shade, enjoying their Sunday with fresh apricots or a real fruit ice cream. I take a walk - it's now gotten quite warm at 27 degrees - and decide to get a Boysenberry ice cream. Really delicious. Shortly after, I bought 400g of cherries for a proud $5 and then I'm already back at the car.

According to the travel guide, it's actually not Blenheim, but Renwick, which is about 8km away, that is the center of wine production. So off to Renwick! Here in the Wairau Plains, the wine is thriving, although the vines I see are still very young and carrying rather small grapes. A sign says that shooting is taking place here! I hope it's just crows, but I've never seen any here.

Vines lined up to the hills in the distance - wine is really being grown here. Just over 30 years ago, this was an orchard region. Due to the suitable climate and soil conditions, this has now become the most productive wine-growing area in New Zealand. It's not the only one, as I have also seen many wine-growing regions on the North Island, especially in the last few days before Wellington. I pass by Johanneshof and Fromm - so there are also German-speaking roots in wine growing. However, Fromm is a Swiss winemaker, whose wines are among the best in New Zealand.

Now vineyards are the same all over the world, so I continue towards Havelock, from where I will then take the return trip on the Queen Charlotte Drive to Picton. Havelock is only about 25km from Blenheim and can also be reached via a highway that runs through a flat plain between two chains of hills, so it's good and fast to drive. In total, it's about 50km on the highway from Picton to Havelock, or about 30km on the winding Queen Charlotte Drive.

Time-wise, there's hardly any difference. But at Havelock, you have to make sure you even notice it. The town stretches about 150m along the highway and then you're out again. The Pelorus Sound forms the body of water at the marina, but when I pass by, it's low tide, extremely low tide. So the views are rather cloudy and not nearly as nice as at the Queen Charlotte Sound. But there are black swans, I last saw them in Perth in January. So they're here too.

The true specialty of Havelock, however, is the green lip mussels. They look similar to our mussels but are significantly larger. In a restaurant with nice tables under shady trees, people are enjoying these mussels with a glass of white wine.

I go to a cafe next door that offers toasts - but unfortunately not anymore now. So I order a coffee to drink here and want to sit outside, but the lady starts cleaning the table: We are closing at 2! Well great, then don't sell me a coffee to drink here if I can only consume it at the speed of a shot with my throat on fire. Grrrr! The New Zealand work-life balance is quite pronounced. Store hours from 10-5 or Christmas breaks from 19th December - 12th January, restaurants that stop serving food mostly after 8:00 pm, and cafes that don't open before 9:00 am in the morning.

Feeling annoyed, I sit on a wall with my coffee cup (now made of cardboard) and think about what to do next. Only 16km away is the Pelorus Bridge over the Pelorus River. Scenes from The Lord of the Rings were shot here when the dwarves floated down the river in barrels. I drive the few kilometers and apparently reach a popular swimming spot at the bridge. The brave ones jump from the cliffs on one side into the clear river. On the other side, people lie on the rocks in the sun or simply sit in the river, which has the clearest water. A few kayakers also pass by, and it's nice to watch the hustle and bustle from the high old bridge.

But then I turn around and drive back to Havelock and then onto the Queen Charlotte Drive. Now I'm on the right side, but first at the Mahau Sound, which is practically empty due to the low tide. You actually pass a few tiny villages, one of them is Linkwater. Here the Kenepuru Road starts, which runs along the ridge of the peninsula, with its right bank overlooking the Queen Charlotte Sound and the left bank overlooking the Kenepuru Sound. Since this route is mostly unpaved, I better skip it and continue driving my curves towards Picton. Now I also have beautiful views because there's water in the Queen Charlotte Sound, boats can be seen, and the sun is still shining, now from the right direction.

By around 5:00 pm, I'm back in Picton and along the way, I found a cheap motel online where I'll stay on the night of January 21-22 before my return trip. Since it's towards Waikawa, in the next bay behind Picton, I drive the short 3km there. It looks acceptable and only costs $85.

I park my car at the B&B, walk down High Street to the waterfront, and see where I'll start my Mailboat Run tomorrow. I sit by the water, read, and when the sun slowly sets behind the hills, it immediately gets chilly. In front of me, a family sits in the grass with fish & chips, and to the right, a group of seniors with the same meal wrapped in paper. Fish & chips always come in paper and always without utensils. That's just the English way.

I go to the Seebreeze to eat, and for $23, I enjoy a salad that's really delicious. Since the local wine here costs $8-10 for only 0.15, I decide to get a Moa beer instead. At least I get some liquid for $8! Afterwards, I finally find a mailbox for my postcards from yesterday and then retreat to the porch of the B&B. I write in my diary until almost 11:00 pm. I have a really nice conversation with a young Indian woman who is a bit puzzled by the terrible internet and the unhelpful owners of this place, who only seem to tell you what not to do, but don't help when you're in need.

Well, with my SIM cards, I'm somewhat self-sufficient, of course I save data when I have hotel WLAN. I should actually have WLAN here, but it seems to not be working, not just for me.

Daily distance: 181km