Today was our tour day, which didn't start too well when we were picked up by the wrong bus, but we found the right bus at the first winery, only 100m up the road. That sorted, we took to sampling some wines at three wineries, all within the proverbial stone's throw from our villa.
Over here, it's pay-as-you-taste at the wineries, but on a tour it's all taken care of, as is the driving. All you have to do is relax and taste a bunch of wines you would probably never buy at random in the shop.
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| Nautilus Winery. Renwick NZ |
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| Allan Scott Winery. Renwick NZ |
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| Hunter'sWinery. Renwick NZ |
From the last winery we went down into Picton and had a nice enough lunch in one of the many cafes in the town. Then it was down to the docks to board our boat for the afternoon seafood cruise. We had one other lady with us and given that it was a huge big power catamaran that we were ushered onto, we rightly expected a bunch more people to show. But it wasn't to be, it was just the three of us and off we went for a four hour cruise up the Queen Charlotte Sound. The fellow driving the boat owned the company and was a really good and informative guide as he had grown up right here and worked in an around many of the industries based around the bay, starting in his parent's winery and mussel growing business.
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Judy getting a snap of 'our' boat. We couldn't believe they'd go out in this with just 3 people. Dusky Dolphin.
Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Sound NZ |
We saw a King Salmon farm, a mussel farm, ate a plate of lightly manuka smoked salmon, checked out dusky dolphins playing around the front of the boat, visited a 'secret' cove and finally stopped at a place called Double Cove where we sat out on the deck and ate green shell mussels and tiny clams. Instructed to toss the shells overboard, we were delighted to see heaps of fish coming up to see what was going on (they don't eat the shells!), including the brightly coloured Blue Cod. Oh, and washed the lot down with glasses of a local Sauvignon Blanc.
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| Rows of floats from which the strings hang upon which the mussels grow. One of the inter island ferries heading out in the background. Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Sound NZ |
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| Dusky Dolphin. Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Sound NZ |
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| Dusky Dolphin. Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Sound NZ |
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| Afternoon snack #1. Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Soun |
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| Afternoon snack #2. Marlborough Tours. Queen Charlotte Sound NZ |
Pretty good day out all round.
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