After our beast of a travel day through Gita, we had the perfect activity planned to ease all our worries: wine touring in the famous Marlborough wine region.
Thankfully we had been well fed the night before with delicious pasta (honestly who goes all day driving on crazy roads without eating lunch or dinner and saying that cheese is enough?? Oh? You didn’t know that we also didn’t have lunch? Conveniently left out of the last blog post…)
We woke up nice and early for our day of wining, but there was an added element of challenge: biking! After checking out TripAdvisor, we found there was a bit of a wine trail that was all accessible by bike, and with great reviews we were sold.
Steve, the owner of Wine Tours by Bike, picked us up from our Holiday Park (safety first folks) and drove us out to their business (and home). We first got fitted with our bikes and helmets. After a test ride, we got into the logistics bit. This tour was designed to be totally independent, meaning that once we had our bikes we could choose any wineries we’d like and just had to be back by 3pm sharp (with our glass slippers personal belongings, potentially harder than it sounds). To get a bit more acquainted with the area, we were given a map and watched a video with details. I took notes on the map throughout the video to help prepare us on the journey (which wineries had snacks, which had picnic areas, etc.) . Another amazing detail is that we have a friend from college who lives in the area! She gave us great suggestions that helped narrow down our choices.
With a plan set, we were off! Steve encouraged us to start far and cycle back throughout the day because, “It’s much better to do more cycling now then after your fourth tasting.” Fair point, Steve.
Our first stop was the lovely Cloudy Bay. We had to pay for this tasting (local family run wineries cannot charge for tastings), and it was a delicious way to start our tour. Additionally, the winery itself was gorgeous – the back patio was lovely. My favorite was the bubbles actually, a really nice champagne style wine. Adam’s choice was the Pinot Noir.
Next up, exclusively bubbles! We made our way to the small but incredible No. 1. The winery is owned by a 12th generation champagne making family from France. The owner moved from France to NZ in the late 70’s and started making a name for himself.
Our third stop was Nautilus, and while it was slightly snooty, the lady serving us was our favorite all day. She was super friendly and just kept pouring us more wine. Because of her warmth (and maybe the wine) we ended up buying a bottle of Pinot Gris here, and enjoyed a cheese plate outside.
And finally at this point, the hard cycling was over – we had made it to the bike path! Up until this point, we were on main roads. Which is about as terrifying as it sounds. The path wound around and we were very close to Steve and Jo’s place (again, a very strategic route).
Our fourth stop was Framingham and we loved both the wine and prices. The front courtyard was also lovely.
And last but not least, Forest. Conveniently this winery had a picnic table AND was only about 5 minutes back to the start. We stayed here for a long time and just enjoyed the beautiful weather, our packed picnic lunch, and the amazing wine. They had a bubbly RED which I just couldn’t get over. It was truly the perfect afternoon to just relax with no agenda. It was so relaxing, I only took two photos. I was officially off the clock.
We hopped on our bikes one final time to return back to the home base. I told Steve that it was so fantastic that we easily could’ve done another hour or two. He laughed and said that they used to do longer tours, but one of two things happens: the bikes get hurt, or the people do. And he had a fair point, with 5 hours of biking and wining we were left wanting more as opposed to being in rough shape. All in all, 10/10 activity!
Once we arrived back home, we took a little time to look at what was coming up over the next few days and realized that we had made our second big mistake of the trip. Our van drop off and flight departing NZ were scheduled on Tuesday, but we had both been mentally planning that our last day was Wednesday. Any warm & tingly feelings leftover from the wine were instantly neutralized. In a fever, we started contacting excursions and reworking some of the planning we had just done the day before while driving. It was a bit of a nail-biter, but everything was pretty easily rearranged. We also breathed a sigh of relief that we discovered this on Thursday and not Tuesday night (the night of our flight to Taiwan)!!
That evening we had arranged dinner with our friend from college, Alyssa Beatty. She works as a lab manager doing some of the analysis that goes to the wine makers to help them make their decisions about the wine. It was such a fun evening to catch up with someone “from home” and learn all about her new life in New Zealand. And like true idiots, we did not remember to take a picture. But, it was lovely!
The next morning we were off with two missions: haircut for me and riding the ferry to Wellington and the North Island! The first was handled pretty painlessly and she did a great job. In general haircuts were around $70 EVERYWHERE we looked (we had been searching since Sydney) and I wanted an English speaking experience before heading to Asia for 5 weeks, so finally just caved for the expense. With our 25% “American discount” (exchange rate, but Adam loves calling it our American discount), it worked out to be not too bad. Check!
With the ferry experience looming (we were a little nervous about how it all worked), we wanted to arrive nice and early in anticipation of our departure from Picton. It ended up working out perfectly because Picton was just adorable. We walked out to the ocean and it felt like we were in the Mediterranean. Just gorgeous. After a delicious lunch, we made our way over to the Ferry.
The entire Ferry experience was really pretty cool. We drove our van onboard the boat, left it, and basically got a 3.5 hour boat ride on a glorious day. It was a really neat way to efficiently travel. The boat was also really nice with multiple cafes, bars, and even a movie theatre! We spent most of the ride up top sightseeing and reading, but there would’ve been plenty to do otherwise.
(Click the first photo to see in slideshow mode with captions)
Arriving in Wellington, we had the good fortune of being one of the first ones to drive off the boat. With sunny skies and just a few days left in NZ, we made our way onto the North Island!
-Kelly
Around the World in 180 Days 
Awww… Kelly, I miss your face!!! That was a fun read!! Loving all the pics.Now, when you’re done traveling the world, come back to me!
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Awww I miss YOUR face!! I hope you are doing wonderfully and 2018 is treating you well! So happy you’re enjoying the blog- we’re having a ball!
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