Wine tour

Thursday, 27th February 2008

Hello all!

We're still in Blenheim, and we've done a tour of the wine companies in the area today. It was a lovely day, and we had a smashing lunch at one of them. Even managed to find a quilting shop at one, lovely place. Richard managed to buy 5 bottles of wine - just for tasting you understand! It'll be cheaper to buy it at Tesco than to have it shipped from here!

It's very hot today, I think the hottest we've had so far. Tomorrow, we're up at the crack of dawn to catch the ferry at Picton across to Wellington. It's quite a long crossing, so it should be very pleasant. We stay near Wellington tomorrow night before moving up north again on Saturday. The furthest north we get to is Russell on the Bay of Islands, which is quite a way up, and then we return to Auckland for our last night before the tour ends. Don't think we'll have time to see your friends, T and V, but we will try.

Talk to you all tomorrow from the north island.
Christine and Richard

Blenheim

Wednesday, 27th February 2008

Hello everyone. We've arrived at Blenheim, in the north of the south island. We had the most amazing day, going out in a super catamaran to see whales (we found 2 sperm whales) and then about 100 dolphins playing alongside the boat. They were gorgeous. Another boat nearby had people swimming with them. It was very hot, but the sea made things cooler. Another long drive from Kaikoura up to Blenheim, and then a rather grotty site here alongside a river. Lots of traffic noise and grotty grass. Looks more like a hippy encampment!

We're just about to have tea now and perhaps a stroll before turning in. I'm sitting here typing and I'm still swaying as though I'm out at sea.

Wendy - many thanks for your comments, but don't think we'll have too much time here before the ferry on Friday

Von - thanks for the email. So pleased things seem to be turning out OK. We were worried when we didn't hear from you yesterday - but thanks for today's message.

Love to all
Christine and Richard