NZ South island – Marlborough and North

Back to Christchurch. We did a full circle and returned for a game of rugby. And what a match it was. Local team the Crusaders (home of the most of All Blacks we have been told) played one of best South African teams - The Bulls. Kiwis re-confirmed their obsession for rugby with packed stadium and atmosphere to match. But guess what – we actually sat next to some Irish folk living in new Zealand (yes, they all do work in construction) and to our surprise (yeah, roysh) finished the night off in a pub. A bit of craic and a pint kept our homesickness at bay at least for the evening. Was back in the morning with the vengeance thou – it was St Paddy’s!

No point to dwell – we pressed on to Kaikoura and whale encounters. Well, the weather finally stopped us a bit. Due to high seas our trip was cancelled. We drowned our sorrows in the local Irish pub and celebrated the holiday in stile. With no trips in site even the next day we decided to give in and drove on Marlborough – our favourite white wine region.

Next few days we sampled and debated over the local wines, absolutely loving some and being smart about others. Bottom line – we just love NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in general. Plan to take it easy and have holiday from holiday here was not really working. Too much good wineries around. So, to save our heads and tummies in short run and our livers in long, we decided to go back south again and give Kaikoura another go. Wind was with us this time. We were exceptionally lucky and have seen not only Sperm whale but also Humpback whale (even to our guides astonishment!). Trip was great, although overpriced again (same story repeating in New Zealand). 

Only thing left on the South Island was the Marlborough sound. It was such a disappointment that it is not really worth writing about. However, little town of Picton was an absolute surprise. Although a big harbour, it is a lovely touristic gem – one out of only few in the South Island. We enjoyed our time here, but were also glad (Nives was bordering on ecstatic) to board the ferry and move on to more populated and richer in history North Island.

Some more pictures here.