Short weekend away in Picton - Day 4 - time to come home

Monday - Queens birthday weekend - a public holiday!

Time to pack up and go home.

At least the front ripped through (again) and we started with a misty and somewhat polluted day! Still it promised to be sunny - all the way back to Christchurch - and so it should eventually proof!







Before we headed back, I tried to take some more pictures of the fore-shore and then stitch them together, later, once back home. (turned out ok - what do you think?!)

The Johanesshof brewery ( modeled on some Austrian / German wine-hof) was sadly closed for the day - so have to miss that (it will keep till next time) and thus we had no local wine to bring back home - oh wait there is the Giesen!!!   yusssss :)

Decided we would visit Renwick - the home of the next NZ Scout Jamboree and have a look-see!!!  Eventually found the location -  after driving through the town and having to turn around - main drag is VERY short.  Boy - this Jamboree is going to be a squeeze (and so it should prove later!!!)


Anyhow - from there we went and found the Omaka Air museum after getting lost a bit among the many roads around the many vineyards! A fantastic place with a lot of WWW I air craft models on display and some interesting stories behind them! We have certainly "improved" our planes since then!!!!



Check out the TIMBER propeller on Snoopy's main enemy!!! Nice Work!!











The ETRICH Taube - modeled by a German chap named  'Etrich' ,  on a specific bird - the Dove.  It was the only large-ish bird in his home town and he spent a lot of time studying the wings / feathers in Bird-flight - so to speak, he eventually modeled his first plane on those studies.  Funny how the war and the need for greater speed and height lead to all modern aircraft we know today.  Guess it is true --
'necessity IS the mother of all inventions!!! "









I was lucky enough
( a - not many folks in the museum - and b - having my camera gear on me) to take a shot of the model behind a extremely large mural, making it seem I flew OVER the battle field and used my camera to get this 3 dimensional shot . . . .

Close-by is the "Wine" museum - a place I am sure the scouts will NOT visit! It is worth it though - you see the history of NZ's burgeoning wine making - its beginnings to current day industry!  Marlborough supplies more then 50% (think from memory it is 73%) of ALL wines made in NZ - and they are still expanding.  A certain Timber-firm that Mamabear is working for is flat out making the posts that hold up the wines etc!!!  

Eventually had to face it and go back home but not before we struggled to find a SIMPLE cafe with SIMPLE sandwiches (in Blenheim) for lunch - so ended up going to Maccas instead! Then the 4 hour drive home.  A weekend well spent relaxing and a change from the last 10 or so year's being with the Scouts camping.  What will I do in June 2017????

Little did we know what the next 6-8 months would hold in store for us!!!!!



Have fun!

Short weekend away in Picton - Day 3

Sunday - a day of rest and recreation!!

A day to do things you would normally not do during the week.

A day - hmm to lie in bed for a bit and listen to the rain - again!

The promised 2nd front decided to rip through from midnight to early morning - so no hurry to get out of bed.  Eventually cleaned up post breakfast and got our raincoats and gumboots and trundled down to the Aquarium.  A local place that has many purposes - one being the rescue center for any bird or aquatic life that needs - urm - assistance. Found this little blue penguin who had his foot broken and needed a safe place to recuperate - so he took the opportunity to "sun"-bathe! The place also doubles as a breeding place for Tuatara! Informative lady took us on a tour and let some folks carry the old fossil!  They do not know their "sexes" until they reach about 30 years of age!! Thats a long time for going through your "teenage" years!  Once they safely navigate past those years - then the mating years begin - in slow motion! No wonder they are becoming extinct-ish - ok - an endangered species!!

By the time we watched the old fossil (The Tuatara that is - not Mamabear - just clarifying this :)  ) and the hand-feeding of the other various aquatic - things, it was lunch time - so of we went for urm lunch - Benedict eggs yusss!!! Despite bing Sunday, some shops were open and tried to make a living - including this store that sells a lot of wool - and I mean  a LOT of wool.  Had an interesting convo with the shop-owner about badges - and gave her a contact! Who knows next time we are up there we might actually see a Picton Badge for my blanket?!?!?!?!


The rest of the afternoon was spent doing what one is supposed to do on a lazy rainy Sunday - relaxing.  Eventually watched the rugby round up and caught up with the local news (some say gossip column) on TV and had late dinner.  Home again tomorrow!! At least I don't have to pack much - unlike the scout camp I would have been on!!

Oh and do not tell Mamabear - but we did admire a certain (made of local recycled Kauri) clock and agreed it would make for a good addition to the buffet in our lounge - so secretly went and arranged for a purchase! *grins* - Happy urm pre-birthday Mamabear!!!!!

Oh -- and Happy Birthday Son!!! 

 Have fun!

Short weekend away in Picton - day 2

Having listened to the rain pounding away on the roof and wondered if we have to swim out - we awoke to near silence - and opened the door to a brilliant blue sky - free of any cloud! Stunning with a capital S!! 

So post breakfast we strolled down to the Marina and enjoyed the sun and wildlife (various birds circling for food) and took some pictures (testing the new lens attachments) of the marina and fore-shore! Some shops open late - no worry - we did spot a hmm left over or pre-christmas tree?!?!?!?  Maybe it is a permanent feature???  Anyhow - a novel way on an old theme!!!  

Picked up the car and drove to the lookout and participated in a favorite past time of many a tourist - watching the boat come in and berth - then giving birth - urm disgorge its belly (of cars and trucks).  More pics!!















From there we drove along the windy road towards Havelock  - a small town who's main income is from fishing and mussels (grown farm-like on the sea-bed)!! There is advertised a lookout point - which requires a decent walk up the hill and yes back down.  The view's were so-so.  Guess the tide being out and exposing the brown mudbed (especially following the rain) did not help "sell" the view! Although the crystal clear blue sky (free of ANY pollutants) was something to see!! More pics!!!   By that time it was lunch time - so yeah had a late lunch at the local Cafe in Havelock!

Given it was so nice a weather and we like driving on roads yet to be explored we decided to go back to Picton via the long way round (Blenheim) thus stopped at the Giesen Vineyard (and bought some VERY nice plonk - urm - crushed grape juice *cough* white wine).  Distance is not to great to travel and the roads nice and flat, most of the way with little traffic!

Arrived back at the Motel around 3pm and decided to just relax and catch up on reading / cross stitch etc.  Having eaten out previously and no cooking facilities in the motel unit - not even a pan - we had a traditional cheap NZ meal out - Fish and Chips!!!

Still feels weird NOT being on the westcoast and on scoutcamp.  Been taking notes of times etc and what we might usually do at this time of the day/ night!  Maybe next year?!?!?!  

While I waited for the Rugby to appear on TV, had a glass or two of the nice red and then spotted the lights - so without a tripod have risen to the challenge . . . . .
Did turn out ok - you think? Pity the clouds had rolled back in and blotted out all the stars . . . . 

Have fun!

Short weekend in Picton

Say what???? A non-scouting Queen's birthday weekend - how did that happen???
Yess astute (and regular) readers will remember that for the last 10 or more years, every NZ Queen's birthday weekend I had a trip away with some scouts to our gorgeous West-coast for various activities (Greenstone [Jade} carving / knife making / digging for gold or coal etc).  That particular weekend is always my and my son's Birthday - so a reasonable large sacrifice is/was made - very enjoyable though!

THIS year - urm - it was deemed everyone is to busy and with all effort going into fund-raising for jamboree - no scout was willing to make this trip work!
(sad face)

Urm - okay urm  *cough* urm     H u n n y     -   guess what - I am home this weekend - WHAT will we do???

This will feel weird!  Anyhow after a brief discussion early in May it was decided to treat me (yeah I know - lucky sod eh?)  to a weekend away in Picton.  We have been lately to much in Tekapo,  so Picton sounded just refreshing!

Soooooo we packed up and looked at the weather fore-cased with trepidation (heavy rain for Picton on Friday afternoon and maybe Saturday) and set of.
It was a very warm and sunny day in Kaikoura! We had lunch there (in short sleeves and sitting outside on a terraced cafe)  and then decided to stop at the waterfall with the seal-pup nursery.  A short stroll inland along a tiny stream which ended up in a hollow basin at the end of a waterfall full of seal-pups - enjoying a good frolicking swim in safety from predators.





From there, a non-eventful drive north towards Picton only to see dark and heavy clouds arriving and yes - before we even got to Blenheim - it started to urm rain - if you can call it that - it rained cats and dogs, ok not literally but it did came down large and full - enough to float Noah's Boat, which made driving a bit challenging - and slow going.
Eventually got to Picton - found our new temporary home on the main-street and unpacked - then strolled around main-street in search for dinner.  Found a good place - that served our entree (garlic-bread) post mains being served - they forgot the order!! Fell to bed for a good night sleep with the rain pounding on the roof - wondering what the morning would bring!


Have fun!








Post-script:
There are stories going round that with the massive earthquake in Kaikoura that this sanctuary is no longer.    I dunno - however - there  I S  a waterfall so would not take long to re-create a pool - I am sure mother nature will and can take care of that in no time!!!!