REPEAT WARNING: Once again, this is not a sailing related entry. This, as well as future entires through May 2025, reflect our effort to capture our experiences while we explore Australia, New Zealand and other places in the southern hemisphere across the world from the country we call home by land with some air travel assists. We are metaphorically putting our memories in a bottle to savor on some future date. If you are not interested in reading an amateur attempt to document travel experiences you may wish to skip these entries. No offense will be taken. You were warned!
Greetings from Wanaka! We have now completed our land based circumnavigation around the South Island of New Zealand. When we posted our last blog entry, we had just completed our travels up the West Coast of the South Island enjoying incredible and diverse scenery with rugged coastline, snow capped mountains, glaciers, gorges and rainforests. It was truly a visual feast and we know our blog post about our travels did not begin to do the magnificence of the land and seascape justice. You will just have to travel to the South Island for yourselves to see it! Definitely worth the trip.
As wonderful as our 8 days on the West Coast were, we were ready to transition to the East coast, if for no other reason than that we had a much less insane plan for our travels there. There was so much to see on the West coast that we literally packed every day with activities. Exhilarating but exhausting — especially when one of us is still on crutches adding extra effort to every step. Our first stop as we headed East was wine country. We reserved a lovely Villa in Vintners Retreat located close to Renwick in the heart of Marlborough’s vineyards and about 10 minutes by car from Blenheim, the closest town to the wineries. We were literally surrounded by vineyards and many were just a short walk (as in a few steps) from our front door. We planned 6 nights/5 full days in the area so that we could visit multiple wineries while also exploring other attractions. While we were in Central Otago (Pinot Noir country) our rule was 1 winery a day because we wanted to really enjoy each experience. That worked well for us and we planned to replicate that approach in Marlborough. After developing our list of target wineries though, we found that there were too many we didn’t want to miss and too few days so we had no choice but to double up on most days and visit 2 wineries. It was tough going but we made the supreme sacrifice! 😀 In total we visited 8 wineries including Clos Henri (where we purchased a delicious sparkling wine), Saint Claire (we enjoyed an amazing lunch there with our tasting), Nautilus Estate (which had the most wonderful sparkling rose with delicate bubbles necessitating another sparkling wine purchase), No. 1 Family Estate, Greywacke Winery (which produces the best Chardonnay ever, aged in mostly old oak casks — resulting in another purchase), Villa Maria, Fromm Wineries and Framingham Wineries.
Because we knew we had limited time to visit the wineries in the region we did a fair amount of research and were very selective when developing our visit list. Our goal was to visit a range of wineries from very small, family owned, to larger operations producing a variety of wines from the Sauvignon Blanc the region is known for to Chardonnays, sparkling wines and Pinot Noirs. Our research paid off and we would say with one exception (we weren’t impressed with our visit to Villa Maria, mostly because the cellar door host just seemed to be going through the motions), our experiences were excellent. The cellar door hosts were engaging and so knowledgeable. Importantly, we were impressed with the quality of the wines. We particularly enjoyed the oak barrel aged Sauvignon Blancs (not the traditional method for producing Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand which generally involves only steel casks) and the Chardonnays aged, as briefly mentioned, in mostly old oak casks giving the wine a rich, full bodied and complex flavor profile without that buttery texture that we don’t care for and that has given Chardonnays a bad name. Enhancing our visits was that in most cases we were the only ones present at the tasting (being winter in New Zealand, it is off-season and we had to make appointments for our visits). Only once was there another couple with us during a tasting. That meant that we had the full attention of our hosts and they seemed thrilled to have some social interaction.
Still, we have to single out two of our visits. As is often the case, these visit were special due to our connection with the hosts though both wineries also produced excellent wines. The first was our tasting at Clos Henri. To our delight, we knew the woman, Juliana, who was serving as the cellar door host that day. She and her partner, Roman, are young winemakers from France getting experience at different wineries around the world. Juliana is currently wearing multiple hats at Clos Henri — pruner, wine tester, social media producer and cellar door host. When she greeted us at the cellar door — which is housed in a very tiny quaint church reminiscent of what you might find in a small French village (the owners of the winery are from France) — she was just walking out of the adjacent vineyard where she had been pruning on a lovely crisp and sunny day. Her partner, Roman, works at Astrolabe Wines in Blenheim a small, family owned winery that also operates a restaurant and bar. We had met Juliana and Roman while we were taking a tour of Prophet’s Rock Winery in Central Otago. They were taking a brief holiday from their work in Marlborough to visit the Central Otago wineries. Our visit to Prophet’s Rock was one of our favorite experiences. That was in large part due to the fact that, aside from producing some of the best Pinot Noirs we had tasted, Prophet’s Rock is so small that the wine maker himself, Paul Pujol, personally took us on our tour and hosted the wine tasting. The other factor influencing our experience though was the presence of Juliana and Roman. With 2 oenophiles along with us, Paul went into much greater detail than he ordinarily would have regarding their wine production methods and philosophy. Admittedly, some of it went right over our heads but it was still really fun to have them along. It made it feel like we were getting an insiders tour. By the end of our nearly 2 hours together, Juliana and Roman felt like friends so we were thrilled when Juliana emerged from the rows of vines to greet us at the cellar door. We enjoyed tasting the Clos Henri wines (which included a few “friends and family” bonus tastes) but mostly we had fun learning more about Juliana and Roman including where they hope to go next (the USA) and their plans for the future (which may include their own winery in France). We were also taken with several of the Clos Henri wines and ended up purchasing their dry, but very fruit forward, sparkling white wine — a Blanc de Noir made from the Pinot Noir grape. We figured it would be nice to have a sparkling wine on hand to celebrate the liberation of Jill’s right leg when the brace eventually came off.
The second standout was our visit at Nautilus, a very small family owned winery in walking distance from our villa. Our knowledgeable host was Sarah who expertly walked us through our tasting. We enjoyed the Nautilus wines — particularly their vintage cuvée (more on that later) — but we most enjoyed getting to know Sarah. We were the only ones in attendance at the tasting and Sarah wasn’t expecting anyone else that day so our tasting was a very relaxed affair with lots of opportunity for casual chit chat. We learned that Sarah was a newlywed and a little bit about her family background which included spending parts of her youth in Vancouver and Singapore. She learned about Jill’s knee injury and our resultant month long stay in Wanaka during Jill’s early recovery period involving many cellar door visits and inspiring our visit to Marlborough. Importantly, she learned that we had purchased wines at many of our Central Otago wine tastings (mostly Pinot Noirs but a few others) and had amassed a collection of about 9 bottles — way too many to bring back to Australia with us. By the end of our time together we discussed a possible get together with her and husband to help us solve our wine problem. Following our visit, our loose plans turned into date and Sarah and her husband Clinton (who live across the street from Vintners Retreat) joined us one evening, helping us to finish off a bottle of Chardonnay as well as a Pinot Noir and enjoying a night cap of the red sweet vermouth we purchased at Prophet’s Rock. Sarah and Clinton were over for almost 3 hours and we so enjoyed getting to know them. They are the age (and at a very similar stage in life) as our youngest son and his wife so being with them felt a bit like being with family.
Okay, a few words about the Nautilus Vintage Cuvée because it was truly spectacular. Nautilus makes it Cuvée using traditional French champagne methods from 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay. It is aged for a minimum of 36 months prior to bottling and release. It is stunning to look at with its ever, ever so pale pink tint (think a delicate ballerina pink). More importantly, it is delightful on the palate with its fruit forward taste, velvety smooth tiny bubbles that feel great on the tongue and complex dry finish. We fell in love with this sparkling wine but we didn’t initially buy a bottle. The reason was that we had just bought a bottle of the Clos Henri sparkling wine the day before and following our visit to Nautilus we were headed to No. 1 Family vineyards. No. 1 Family vineyards is a small winery started by the son of renown champagne producers in France. Not surprisingly, they produce only sparkling wine — that’s what they do and they do it well. With one sparkling wine already in our collection we figured if we were going to buy another sparkling wine it would be at No. 1 Family vineyards. Turns out their sparkling wines were indeed lovely but just didn’t compare to the Nautilus Vintage Cuvée so we went back and purchased a bottle before we left Marlborough. We are going to need to do a lot of celebrating before we leave New Zealand!
While we spent most days visiting cellar doors, we did set aside one free day to explore the broader area, relieving ourselves from the arduous task of wine tasting. Based on multiple recommendations, we took a field trip to Nelson, a small city about an hour northwest from Blenheim known for its galleries, locally owned shops and cafes. We enjoyed our brief visit to Nelson, meandering through the galleries and down the historic cobblestone South Street, New Zealand’s oldest fully preserved street lined with quaint, and beautifully maintained, Victorian cottages, lantern streetlights, planter boxes and white picket fences. (Interestingly, most of these cottages are available for rent on AreBnB.) The highlight of our excursion though was our side trip on the way back to our villa: the Tōtara Walk. The Tōtara Walk is a short walking track that winds through a forest to some of the South Island’s largest and oldest tōtara trees. There are not many tōtara tree forests left in the South Island because their wood was favored by the early settlers but this forest was never logged, sparing these glorious tall and quite hefty trees. The tall tōtara trees create a thick canopy over the forest while a wide range of ferns dominate the understory. The track ultimately leads you to the crystal clear Pelorus River with its shingle beach. Our favorite part of the walk was a detour off the main path that took us back through the forest to a wide open area just downstream from where another river, the Rai River, flows into the in the Pelorus River, creating a large swimming hole with lovely light stone banks. Mother Nature strategically placed a few ducks in the river, adding just the right flourish to the beautiful scene. We imagined this part of the river being filled with children during New Zealand’s summer months.
After 6 nights in the Marlborough Region it was time to move on to our next destination: Kaikoura. We planned to stay there 3 nights/2 full days because we heard it was another beautiful coastal town. Originally, our plan was to just enjoy a few days exploring the coast. A few weeks before our planned arrival though we heard about the Great Kaikoura Whale Count (GKWC). This is an annual event designed to bring the local community together while documenting the number of humpback whales passing through the area during their migration North to Fiji and Tonga for breeding and calving as a way of monitoring the health of the population. Our visit just happened to coincidence with the GKWC and learning that they were looking for volunteers we raised on hands. Fortuitously, our arrival in Kaikoura late in the day on June 27 coincided with the event kick-off at the local museum. We arrived in town just in time to check into our hotel, get our bearings and head over. The event kick-off involved a short presentation about what to expect. Having seen many humpback whales while sailing and having swam with them in Tonga during their migration period there — both of which prompted us to do a lot of our own Google research about these magnificent creatures — we didn’t learn much new information about the whales themselves. What we did learn though was that the observation point for the counting was on top of a very tall hill within the South Bay Recreation Reserves in Kaikoura peninsula. The walk from the carpark to the observation area would be about a mile but, of course, that didn’t daunt us — Jill had walked that far (and then some) on crutches before. What did daunt us was the description of the walk. Though you follow a brick path for a short distance at the start of the hike, the brick path very quickly gives way to a narrow, muddy and potentially slippery dirt path that runs along the coast (with precipitous drops in some places) and disappears as you ascend the steep grassy hill — which also happens to be covered with cow dung courtesy of the cows that graze there. We were so excited to be part of the counting team and were very worried that Jill wouldn’t be able to make her way up the hill. We almost bowed out but decided to just get an early start so we could take our time getting to our post. Our assigned time was 10 AM so we got to the carpark just before 9 AM. It took us a full hour but Jill was able to make it up to the observation area. Alas, our counting experience was a bit of a bust — we only saw a few blows from humpbacks off in the distance — but we enjoyed chatting with the other volunteers (some local and others visitors like us) and were very pleased with ourselves for getting up there (and back down again). In total, our 2 hour volunteer gig turned into a 4 hour gig taking up half the day. For the rest of that day and the full day that followed, we stuck to our original plan to simply enjoy the glorious coast. We walked along several different beaches taking in their distinct topography. Some were sandy, others were made up of small smooth stones and others were covered with large mostly smooth (but pitted) flat stone giving the appearance of an old, uneven, concrete floor. What all the beaches had in common were the huge waves which we could (and did) watch for hours. As we mentioned in another blog entry, the closest land mass to the East and West of the South Island of New Zealand is South America. (Argentina to the West and Chile to the East). This gives the New Zealand coast unimpeded access to the to swells coming up from the Southern Ocean as well as to the impact of storms in the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. The result is these incredible, powerful, New Zealand waves. In fact, New Zealand is known for having some of the highest waves in the world.
Following Kaikoura we were off to Geraldine. On the way there we made a brief stop in Christchurch. We stopped there to meet one of our daughter’s camp friends, Montana, who coincidentally, is on an extended holiday in New Zealand due to an injury sustained while on vacation in the country. In her case it’s a broken leg (also requiring surgical repair) she suffered when she was picking up a friend at the airport who was flying in to join her in New Zealand and they fell on the ground together due to an over exuberant greeting. Like Jill’s injury, you just can’t make this stuff up. Montana is unable to put any weight on her leg so she’s currently in a wheelchair and is not able to drive. Though Montana does a great job getting herself around in her chair (she uses her good leg expertly and impressively to propel herself forward), given her limitations, Christchurch is the best place for her to be. It’s the largest city on the South Island with a vibrant downtown and plenty of cafes and shops in “walking” (or, in her case, wheeling) distance from her hotel room. We promised to stop by and visit her and were glad to provide her with some company for at least a few hours. It’s always nice to meet our daughter’s camp friends and we enjoyed comparing our experiences with New Zealand’s ACC system. How many American’s have that in common!
After our brief detour we continued our drive to Geraldine. Geraldine was not part of our original (pre-knee injury) 5 week itinerary but it is only about 30 minutes up the coast from Timaru and when we visited the hospital there many locals suggested it as a worthy stop. With extra time to explore, and it being a convenient stop as we traveled South down the East Coast, we decided to spend 2 nights there. We stayed in The Vicarage which, as the name implies, is a now renovated historic home that housed generations of local vicars. Over a 2 year period (2017 – 2019) the current owners lovingly restored it into a six room boutique hotel, tastefully appointed in a way that reflects the charming character of this period property while avoiding that over the top cluttered and cloying look that historic accommodations sometimes fall into. (The complimentary port in the public sitting rooms also added a lovely touch.) Though Geraldine is a small town we found plenty to do to fill our full day. This included a walk around town visiting the locally owned shops, a 45-minute walk that started right behind our hotel, leading us through the rhododendrons (some even still in bloom) alongside the Waihi River and a hike through the Talbot Forest Scenic Reserve where we followed 2 short tracks through native bush. We also had a “small world” encounter that made us really feel like locals. While walking through town we ran into Patrick and Amber, the owners of Valley Views Glamping where Zack stayed a few days while Jill was in the hospital. We talked about Zack’s stay there and our subsequent joint visit with Amber and Patrick in earlier New Zealand blog entries. Nothing makes you feel like you belong somewhere like running into people you know and being greeted like long friends. We thoroughly enjoyed our brief visit to Geraldine and would encourage anyone visiting the South Island to include at least one night there — specifically at the Vicarage — particularly if traveling up and down the east coast between the Caitlins to Kaikoura.
We were sad to leave Geraldine but were very excited about our next destination: Mt. Cook, the scene of the crime! (AKA the place where Jill tripped on the way to the carpark following a lovely hike.) While we enjoyed our hike along the Hooker Valley Trail, our visit — cut short by Jill’s accident — gave us the feeling of unfinished business. So we decided to go back just for one night to take in more of those stunning views of Mt. Cook. To maximize our viewing time, we booked a room in the Hermitage which is built into a hillside looking directly out onto Mt. Cook. The Hooker Valley Trail was just a short 5 minute drive from the hotel so we decided to return there before checking in. We knew that we wouldn’t be able to do that hike again. Aside from the fact that we didn’t have the 3 hours required, parts of the terrain were tricky involving climbing over large rocks. Definitely not crutch friendly. But we figured we had time to walk the start of the trail which is largely a smooth gravel path so we did that for about an hour. It was a beautiful clear day making the mountains, now almost completely covered in glistening white snow, pop against the deep blue sky. As we left the trail following our abbreviated hike we made sure to find and, for prosperity’s sake, photograph the offending rock that changed the course of our New Zealand trip as well as our plans through October. With that mission accomplished we checked into our hotel and enjoyed unparalleled views of Mt. Cook from the large window which took up much of the exterior wall of our room. Our feature image for this blog post captures that spectacular view.
Now that we brought closure to our Mt. Cook loose end, we were ready to move on and continue down the East coast to Dunedin. As you know, we had already spent a few days in Dunedin — our daughter’s study abroad stumping grounds — but there were still a few more things we wanted to do. Top of our list was a wildlife cruise of the Otago Peninsula which we did the afternoon of our arrival. Not surprisingly, winter is not the best time for a wildlife cruise — it was cold and rainy — but we still enjoyed exploring the Otago Peninsula from the water. As we know from years of sailing, seeing the contours of the shoreline from a boat gives you an entirely different perspective. There are things you simply can’t see from land. On this cruise, in addition to certain rock formations, that included a series of small bunkers built during WWI into the side of the tall cliff to help protect the harbor from feared invaders. We were also fortunate to have up close encounters with several different species of albatross as they flew very near to our boat, likely because they thought we might be a fishing vessel and hoped to score some cast off bait for dinner. It is really fascinating to watch an albatross fly because they don’t flap their wings, even as they ascend and descend to different heights above the water. They use the unique aerodynamics of their large wingspans to literally glide forward through the air, levitating up and back down, for incredibly long distances without using much energy. It’s almost as if there is a remote control devise wirelessly operating their flight. It was a treat to observe up close and made the cruise worth it, notwithstanding the highly unpleasant weather conditions.
In addition to the cruise, we were interested in learning more about the history of Dunedin which, at one time, was the biggest city on the South Island and is now unique for the large number of buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s that are still standing. In Dunedin’s case that is mostly because the city struggled financially after the flush years of the gold rush so they didn’t have the money to tear the old buildings down. Our historical education included a tour of the Olveston Mansion, Speight’s Brewery which is the oldest brewery in continuous operation in New Zealand (we had to tour at least one brewery after all of our winery tours) and a historic walking tour of the city. Uncharacteristically, we will not bore you with all that we learned about Dunedin’s early years in the days of New Zealand’s gold rush — there’s just too much information to capture — but we will briefly touch upon the Olveston Mansion because it was a very unique experience. The mansion was build by David and Marie Theomin between 1904 and 1906. Before and during the construction, David and Marie travelled the world to select furnishing, tiles, metals, wallpaper (which they found in Buffalo, NY — we found that factoid fascinating), upholstery and other decorative elements for their new home. By the time they moved in their children, Edward and Dorothy, were adolescents. The house very much reflects the grandeur of the time without any of the limitations you might have placed on yourself if you were moving in with young children. Unfortunately, their son Edward died fairly young without any children so Dorothy inherited the mansion upon her parents’ deaths. She was a fascinating woman who never married, preferring to live a life of adventure which included, among other things, climbing mountain peaks. (She was a member of the New Zealand Alpine Club, scaling numerous peaks — in a dress — between 1914 and 1933.) As a single woman, Dorothy never moved out of the mansion (though she spent considerable time in the Southern Alps and in Franz Joseph Glacier) and lived there until her death in 1966 at the age of 78. With no heirs to bequeath the mansion to Dorothy left the mansion, and all of its contents as is, to the City of Dunedin. Because the mansion was lived in continuously and well maintained, it is like a a time capsule. Everything you see in the mansion with is original to the house. It was such a treat to tour a historic mansion just they way it was when its inhabitants lived there.
As you can see, we packed a lot into our 2 nights and 1 full day in Dunedin. Following Dunedin we had just one final stopped planned as we continued down the East Coast: Balclutha. Balclutha was just a short drive South from Dunedin so, on the way there, we planned a stop at Tunnel Beach. (This visit was highly recommended by Sarah and Clinton.) To reach the beach you walk just shy of a mile down a sometimes steep but always well manicured gravel path. In view during most of the hike is a spectacular rocky arch formation attached to a large club shaped rock the juts out from the land as well as the magnificent rocky coastline with its pounding waves. At the end of the track you reach a narrow hand carved tunnel that takes you through the limestone rock. Unfortunately, Jill was unable to navigate the single file tunnel on crutches — its wet and very slippery uneven rock surface descends down steeply with only the tunnel walls to steady yourself. Had we ventured through the tunnel we would have reached a small sliver of sandy beach. Sarah and Clinton were definitely right. It was a lovely detour on our way to Balclutha.
Balclutha is often called the gateway to the Catlins. Though the Catlins region does see some tourists, particularly in the summer months, it is a very much off the beaten track gem with no city center. Just a few small villages and lots of untouched coastline, waterfalls and temperate rainforests. Though we had a previous 2 night stay there as we made our way South and West towards Te Anau (Fiordland), we decided to return there as our final stop on our trip down the East Coast so we could take take advantage of a tour credit we had. We had booked a sunrise wildlife walking tour with a local guide as part of our original itinerary. Unfortunately, Jill’s injury occurred less than a week before we were schedule to take that tour. That meant we weren’t able to get back our payment but the gracious tour operator offered to allow us to take the tour at a later date. The sunrise walking tour was out of the question because it involved hiking along rugged, unmanicured, trails. The same tour company, however, also offered a tour on an ATV so we decided to rebook on that experience. We were very glad that we did. The guided ATV tour was awesome. Our guide, Lyndon (named after Lyndon B Johnson if you can believe it), drove us through private land he has permission to access along coastline that you could not get to any other way. The views, from high on top of the sheer, white lichen, covered cliffs, was stunning. We’ve mentioned the huge waves in New Zealand on several occasions. Due to its exposed position, the Catlins’ coastline sees some of the country’s largest ocean swells, creating the impressive waves that makes the Catlins one of the best surf spots in New Zealand. Watching these huge wave crash over the rocky coast never gets old! Aside from the scenery, during the drive Lyndon, who had a really great sense of humor, regaled us with stories about the early settlers so it was a great experience on multiple levels.
We give our land-based circumnavigation around the South Island a solid A+. Truly amazing. While we had many incredible experiences at each of our destinations — of which, unfortunately for you, we wrote copious amounts — the journey was half the magic. As we said in our subtitle, in New Zealand, the shortest distance between 2 points involves a corkscrew drive through the mountains. Mountain ranges with high peaks over 3000 meters (~10,000 ft) cover about 60% of the South Island. The most famous range in the South Island, the Southern Alps (which includes Mt. Cook), runs the length of the South Island from Nelson to Milford Sound. That’s 500km (~310 miles) of rugged mountains. Though the Southern Alps are the most well known of the South Island ranges, other ranges also cover a lot of ground. There’s the Fiord ranges just South of the Southern Alps, which continue for 220 kilometres (~135 miles) to the south-west corner of the island, the Paparoa, Victoria and north-west Nelson ranges which blanket the Northwest and the Kaikōura ranges which splinter eastwards from the Southern Alps covering the Northeast. The point is that you can’t travel across or around the South Island without crossing these ranges with their snow capped peaks and, in some cases, glaciers. This entails driving on narrow roads (often single lane even though they accommodate 2 way traffic) that wind their way through spectacular mountains with a series of often harrowing hairpin turns. As you corkscrews around the mountains the scenery is gobsmackingly gorgeous — on your one side alternating between sheer rock face and walls awash with lush green native bush and waterfalls and, on your other side, alternating between ocean with rugged coast line and bucolic valleys with farmland and lakes. And, of course, you also traverse those beautiful valleys between the ranges which vary between gentle pastures with rolling hills, reclaimed forest and areas with impressive boulders. Small towns, often with nothing more than a cafe, general store and an unmanned self-service gas pump (and we truly mean unmanned — there is no live person anywhere), dot the journey. This resulted in a series of roadtrips that were every bit a part of the adventure as the ultimate destinations.
But here we are now back in Wanaka. Our plan is to just enjoy Annabel’s lovely house. We may do some hiking now that Jill can tolerate longer walks, we may revisit some of the lovely small local towns and we may also visit a few more wineries — most likely, all of the above. The only thing definite on our agenda is repeat visits to our favorite restaurants and Jill’s 3 physiotherapy appointments. (Though Jill’s leg brace is now adjusted to allow some range of motion, apparently her knee didn’t get the memo because she can only bend it about 30 degrees — hopefully the physiotherapy visits will help.) We also hope to host a few wine and cheese gatherings to reduce the number of wine bottles in our “cellar” to the limit we are allowed to carry back on the plane to Australia. (That’s 2 each for those curious.) We depart Wanaka on July 23 — the date of Jill’s final visit in Timaru when (hopefully) she gets her brace off — and we then plan to drive up North (with some great stops along the way) to catch the ferry to the North Island on July 29. Our next entry will probably be around that date as we conclude (very sadly we are sure) our extended South Island visit. Until then, cheers!
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