Tuesday Oct 2
We headed off for Bleinheim (blenum), in the heart of the Marlborough wine country, today. We do night before planning for the transit days, looking for interesting places to stop along the way and then just take it as it comes. That works out pretty well in New Zealand as there are so many little towns and scenic reserves with nature walks.
Our first stop was in Nelson to journey to
I had read that it was a bit of a climb and that turned out to be a bit of an understatement. Let’s just say that we got our cardio in early in the day! The reward when we arrived was a beautiful view
It isn’t really the centre however. There is some lame explanation about survey maps and Nelson being the central district that attempts to explain why they have erected this signpost and made so many people scale a mountain to see their nice view but rather disappointing to learn that you are NOT in the real centre. They have built a monument which points to the spot on the ground which was used as the official survey marker from which all the regional survey markers are derived. The best benefit of the monument was the benches surrounding it.
Next was a nature walk at Pelorus Bridge which turned out to be way more interesting than expected. Check out these white pines which grow to be the tallest trees in New Zealand. Much thinner trunk than the kauri trees but just as straight.
and here are my favorite trees, the NZ fern trees
With plenty of exercise under our belts we treated ourselves to a nice lunch on the Havelock Marina with special attention paid to the Green Mussels (you may recall that Havelock is the green mussel capital of the world).
A quick grocery store stop and a tasting at Whitehaven winery had us well supplied for the evening.
Interesting that they have Blenheim boxed wine in the grocery store
And the sign for the day which we have now seen on quite a number of mailboxes
Wait, you can do that? Just say no? We will add this to our political party as well.
Wednesday, October 3rd
Today was Pelorus Mailboat day! New Zealand Post contracts with Pelorus Mailboat to deliver mail to the islands and other inaccessible locations in the Marlborough Sounds. They also deliver guests and supplies to the few resorts, walkers to the tracks, and just give the sound residents a ride when they need it. Inviting tourists along for the ride keeps them up and running.
It was a cloudy start
but the commentary was great and the inside section of the boat was nice and warm. A typical stop pulled up to a dock where one or more people would be waiting with various means of transporting their mail. Along with mail they were frequently getting groceries, fuel, and other supplies.
If there were dogs at the stops they got a treat. These two seemed very familiar with the routine
We stopped at one of the small resorts for lunch. Their kitchen is not yet open for the season so everyone had packed a lunch and they did have the bar open for those that wanted “a wee drink”. No, we did not have a wee drink. Saving it up for our ride around the wineries tomorrow!
The boat docked at about 10 different stops. In a few places the boat didn’t bother to tie up, just doing a quick swap with people on the dock or at one place one of the women working on the boat just ran up and put the mail bag in the shed at the end of the dock. Skipper Jim said that the owners had called them this morning and said that they wouldn’t be at the dock since they were out lambing. He said that the family has about 2000 sheep. He said that last year they brought in $30,000 NZ (about $20,000 US), but manage to keep themselves supported with their sheep, chickens and 2 cows, and hunting, fishing and a large garden. Their kids were home-schooled until high school. New Zealand has a distance learning program and the mail boat brings books and lessons and picks up the homework for grading.
We got a very decent education on the details of mussel farming. They scoop up the baby mussels from Ninety Mile Beach and Golden Bay (we have been to both), bring them to the sounds and basically get them attached to underwater ropes to finish growing. All very natural, no artificial food or anything supplied. 300 million dollar industry employing 1500 people. Here’s a not great picture of a farm
All of the dead trees on the mountain behind the mussel bed were intentionally killed. They are non-native pines which when left alone end up killing the native varieties in the bush. While there are many areas where timbering (clear cutting and then replanting) is a huge business, even in the Marlborough region, the Department of Conservation is very keen on protecting land and species and ridding these areas of non-native plant and animal species.
One of the final stops was on a beach so we could take a short bush walk. Boat owner said it was kind of rooty. If I ever hear bush walk again I will run in the other direction. It was indeed a tad rooty and muddy and slippery and narrow. I didn’t go all the way to the head but Tom did so he has supplied the picture looking back at the mailboat.
All in all, a glorious day. Skipper Jim has the best job in New Zealand!