It was a three hour drive southward from Napier to Martinborough, the next region on our tour. While the North Island is volcanic in nature, this part reminded us of eastern Colorado. Indeed, the size of New Zealand is comparable to the state of Colorado and in much the same fashion, sometimes there is no easy way to get from here to there.
Martinborough the town was founded in 1879 by John Martin and the central area of the town laid out as the Union Flag. He named the streets for places he had visited, giving it a most international flair, with everything from Dublin and Strasbourge to Oxford and Texas! The man got around.
Known for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the wine industry in Martinborough began in the late 1970s and the quickly established itself as a certified region. Our guide for this portion seemed to know everyone and every where we visited. We began not with a tour of a winery, but by visiting an olive grove. Our tour of Olivo was given by the owner and as we walked among the trees, we learned about the varieties and the various ways of maintaining a grove and harvesting a crop.
Then it was time for tea—or coffee—in downtown Martinborough before visiting one of the founding wineries, Martinborough. Here the assistant winemaker showed us the vineyards and we learned about leaf-plucking, the practice of picking the leaves from the east side of the north-south row so the grapes could enjoy the morning sun, but leaving the leaves on the west side in order to shelter the fruit from the harsh afternoon light. Then we went inside and “barrel tasted.”
In this process, the winemaker draws the fermenting wine from the barrel through a pipette called a wine thief and then samples it. Not only did we taste wines in various stages of maturity, we learned how the oak (the country, the forest, the amount of toasting) in the barrel and even the cooper who makes the barrel can affect the quality of the wine. What fun!
After a few more wineries and a visit to Greytown, a picturesque village a few miles up the road, we returned to our lodging and prepared for the next day’s drive to Wellington.
The capital of New Zealand, Wellington sits at the southwestern tip of the North Island, making it centrally located in the country if you discount Cook Strait and the three and a half hour ferry ride between the islands. Or you can fly. No bridge. On our drive down we visited Kaitoke Regional Park, walked among some truly huge trees, spied the silver fern frond (Koru), symbol of Air New Zealand, and saw where part of Lord of the Rings had been filmed within the park.
Once to Wellington, we visited Old Saint Paul’s, an Anglican Church and one of New Zealand’s heritage sites. Constructed in 1866 of native timbers, it is an excellent example of Gothic Revival architecture. The interior glows with the wood and the stained glass. In 1964, after the construction of the new St. Paul’s, a heritage battle erupted between the diocese and a citizen group opposed to the demolition of this historic building. Finally, the government purchased the church and it was restored and reopened to the public in 1970. What a shame had it been torn down.
Flags decorate the interior in honor of the US Marines, 2nd Division, as well as a 48-star US flag. In 1942, the United States needed a strategic base in the Pacific and came to New Zealand. Congregation families took in the young soldiers and the church became a special place with a unique history between the two countries.
The Wellington waterfront was just across the street from our hotel. It abounded in restaurants (Have I said yet how wonderful the cuisine of New Zealand is?) and it was but a short walk to two museums: The National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and The Museum of Wellington City and Sea. Both museums were free to the public with informative exhibits and excellent shops.
‘Te Papa Tongarewa’ literally means container of treasure and that is what its floors and exhibits reveal, the treasure that is New Zealand, both to the Maori and the early European immigrants. Exhibit explanations are in English and Maori. There are interactive displays, fun displays (A long explanation of alien species ends up with a mirror and YOU as the most harmful alien species), and holographic images of the crossing of the Maoris to New Zealand from Polynesia. We wandered Te Papa until our minds could absorb no more.
The Museum of Wellington City and Sea incorporates a maritime museum with the history of Wellington. In May of 2013, The Times of London ranked it in the Top 50 Museums in the World and I see no reason to quibble about that. From the animatronic cat and mouse which greet you “on the dock” to the history of the disaster of the inter-island ferry Wahine which went down in high seas in 1968, the Museum gives the visitor a look at the events which shaped Wellington from beginning to present day.
I wasn’t sure if I was up to our next adventure: going to the South Island via float plane. In retrospect, it was that or the ferry ride followed by an hour ride in a water taxi to get to the resort. A regular airplane would not have gotten where we wanted to go. So, a float plane it was.
I admit to quizzing the pilot about his float plane history and being convinced that if he could fly people into and out of the Alaskan outback, then we should be able to make it in a 40 minute ride over the Cook Strait and into the Marlborough Sounds. And it was worth it.
The Bay of Many Coves reminded us of Fantasy Island: cottages perched on the hillside and the only way in was by water or an arduous trek on the Queen Charlotte Track. It was a very pleasant break from the city and the touring.
The next day we boarded a water taxi to the town of Picton, then onto Blenheim, the center of the Marlborough wine district. Here is where Sauvignon Blanc rules and you have to search out a piece of the countryside not planted in vines.
We stayed in a lovely B&B called The Peppertree. The owners had a vineyard and made their own wine which they generously shared with their guests each evening at 6:30 on the front. The first night we had a lengthy discussion with a German couple which revolved around the raccoons invading our basement. She and I searched our respective mobile devices until we found what I was talking about, the waschbar. Should have two dots over the last ‘a’ and when you say it, it becomes wash bear. What a perfect name for a raccoon!
Our tour in Marlborough started at a local farmer’s market, sampling coffee and locally grown produce. Then we visited a local garden, but to call it a garden is to give short shrift to the expanse and beauty of the place, not to mention the hard work that such an enterprise demands. Photos truly do not do it justice.
Then of course it was on to the wineries. Our guide was very accommodating, mentioning where we were supposed to go and then where he thought we might really like to go (since, of course, we’d known each other for an hour by then), and our itinerary changed. We crossed off the biodynamic and went for the scenery and the differently grown.
Marlborough is the home of Cloudy Bay, Villa Maria, and Brancott, all labels we see here. We visited the Brancott Estate Heritage Centre for the view, something equaled only when we took off from the Blenheim airport the next day. Vineyards stretched from peripheral vision to peripheral vision. Everywhere—grapes!
Lunch at Wairau River Wines was fun. We each ordered a different item and split. Along with a glass of wine, perfection!
The next day we were scheduled to visit the much touted fjord and glacier region of New Zealand and a wine region we were not familiar with at all, the Central Otago.
Kay Layton Sisk's latest is a woman's fiction novel, After the Thunder Rolls Away, available for Kindle, Nook, and iOS devices. Visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks for your copy.