Back in Christchurch -Vineyards -Glass Studio- Picton - Lockmara Lodge - Tony - Blenhem: Rolled into Christchurch last night after a few more days at the north end of the Island.
Everyday when you get up on one of these trips and you are around people their first question is where are you headed. It may sound crazy but I never say where I just give them a direction - like yesterday I said "we are headed south but I don't know where we will end up. Generally I have an idea of where our max range is. Yesterday it would have been two hours east of Christchurch.
We took off from Moteuka a few days ago and headed toward Picton based on a suggestion by a young swiss couple in their 20s. They recommended this eco-art-lodge on some island in the Marbrough Sound that you had to get to by water taxi. So I used skype and called to make a tenetive reservation the morning we left because not only do you have to make sure they have room you also have to know if there is water taxi service at your arrival time. There was space and the water taxi was leaving at 3:15 if we could make it. I was about 300km and we had the day so if figured we could do it. We were up in the NZ wine country supposedly the sunshine belt so as we made our way we stopped at a well know vineyard Neubauer. Moving on toward Nelson our tour book mentioned a glass blowing studio we saw the sign an checked it out, first class work!! Back in the car and on to Picton. Picton is where the north island - south island ferries land. The place would be crazy in the US but here there was activity but not craziness. We figured out where the water taxi was and had a picnic lunch. When we got to the dock out transportation had just left but another boat owmer called the taxi a the guy turned around and picked us up. After about a 20 minute ride we arrived at the lodge. The taxi driver let two school kids off at a home on the way turns out he is the lodge owner and those were his kids. The place was only a few years old but it seemed older than that. About 20 units ours was 115NZ per night or about $70 US.
Shawn the owner supports the arts and has a studion and art director there to provide space for artists. They in turn provide art which is all over the place. The immedate grounds involve about 5 acres and have llamas, an aviary, reptile enclosures, sheep, chickens, glow worms, a hot tub and a true gormet restaurant with a great wine list.
Here is Kathy holding a palm fron
They provided free kayaks and snorkeling gear - I went for a great perosonal kayak one morning, I used the snorkel gear one afternoon (not much going on underwater) and Kathy and I hiked a bit of the Queen Charlotte Tract which this area is known for. That night we drank a bottle of wine and had salmon at the restaurant - it was great. Many travelers from the track and sea kayak outfitters spend a night or two during their journeys stay here. The next morning I got up and saw this guy paddeling his kayak in. He was a Brit who had recently moved his family to the area after essentially retiring at age 38 from building a high risk window cleaning business in London. What a character - he dropped out of school when he was 13 and had traveled spending about 5 years in Australia being among other things a toilet cleaner, camping guide and camel driver on a ranch-station near Ayers Rock. His body was all tatooed with sayings. On his chest was never give up and on his back was "time and tide wait for no one". He gave us a couple of recommendations on things to see - we listened to his great stories for a couple of hours before the water taxi took us back. He says the New Zealanders don't care for the "bloody pom's" I guess POM stands for "prisioners of her magesty"which is pretty much all Brits and it may also be Australians. After another 6 hour session of NZ championship driving I was cooked so we stopped in Christchurch - we will be heading for Akaroa on the coast later this morning. 3 more days and it is off to Melbourne for a 24 layover and then Tasmania for 4 days before heading back.
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