Wine, Surf, Kayak

We headed to the Marlborough region to the flat town of Blenheim.  Blenheim doesn’t have any tasty waves but it definitely has some tasty wines.  It was the first region to grow grapes successfully on the South Island with world class results.  Seemingly endless rows of grapes sprawl out around this wine lovers paradise.  Although, you’d have to be a little buzzed up to want to live in Blenheim or take a job there because for NZ standards “it’s pretty much a shithole”.  We were offered a job making wine for two months, 12hrs a day, and 7 days a week working the graveyard shift.  We took the job.  We thought about it. And then we said, no thank you.  We’ve been enjoying our freedom too much here in New Zealand to work like that. 

So back to Kaikoura we went in search of some tasty waves.  Tasty waves and fantastic weather is what we found.  We camped on the beach for free right in front of the surf spot for a week.  Eugene was in heaven!! After enjoying ourselves we returned to Blenheim to finish off the vehicle requirements for Ol’ Frenchy.  We had to get a new windshield and new tires with an alignment; so now Frenchy is flasher than ever with her new Warrant of Fitness.

Voluntarily jobless we decided to go for an overdue kayak trip for Katy’s Birthday.  We stocked up on supplies and drove to Elaine Bay where we met Neil who rented us a beast of a double kayak for our trip.  The next day we set off into the sounds to paddle from Elaine Bay to Okiwi Bay via D’Urville Island.  We spent the first two days in the Outer Pelorus Sound where we saw Gannets dive-bombing for fish; found a sunken kayak that we tried to revive to no avail; and caught our first Blue Cod. 

The third and fourth days were spent on D’Urville Island, where we had our own private bay with Fur Seal and Penguin friends to keep us company.  On D’Urville we caught three more Blue Cod; went snorkeling for Green Mussels; and paddled the clear waters while looking across the Cook Straight to the North Island.  On our last day we woke up early to time the low tide so we could safely paddle through the French Pass.  It is a narrow crossing which can be treacherous at times.  The waters were calm and our timing was smooth to make the slack tide.  With the worry of the trickiest part of the paddle behind us we dropped in our line to hook one more Blue Cod to have on our last evening at Papawai Bay.  They are so delicious!!  We ate better on our kayak trip than we do normally in good Ol’ Frenchy. 

The Marlborough Sounds kayak trip was a definite highlight of our New Zealand adventure.  After Neil picked us up in Okiwi Bay he let us shower and recharge before we headed out to the next adventure.  Which is less exciting…….picking Apples!!!!?  So we now find ourselves set up to pick apples for 4weeks in the Tasman region.  So be on the lookout for those imported Braeburn Apples from New Zealand picked by us truly!!!!