And then it rained...

Day 2 in Marlborough. It rained. A lot. Like the proverbial deluge. None of that misty British rain neither. Real NZ rain! Actually, in terms of seeing the sights (or, indeed, seeing anything!) misty rain would have been preferable. There went our plans for biking or walking or being outside admiring the scenery for any length of time. Ever resourceful, however, we braved the monsoon to wade into town and hire a car. Fortunately, the attractions of Marlborough are not solely limited to the Sounds, but also to the wine-growing region centred around the town of Blenheim. So instead of kamikaze bike-riding round the twisty roads and hills of Queen Charlotte Drive, we headed out east to where the wild grapes grow, along with olives, garlic and and a wee chocolate factory. Oh, the hardship....

Well, it was for me after a little while since I was doing the driving and had to severely curtail my tastings. Meanwhile, Dan soldiered bravely on by himself. We headed to the Village, Cloudy Bay, Allan Scott's, Hunter's, Montana and drove past countless others vineyards and wineries. Even though the weather was extremely inclement and the clouds were low on the hills, we managed to appreciate some of the spectacular scenery around the district. My favourite was the Wither Hills (also a winery) which put me in mind of plates of stacked up sandwiches. Mmm, sandwiches....

There's a picture of them above on a much nicer day.

After numerous tastings and lunch at Hunter's, we drove back to Picton via Havelock and the Queen Charlotte Drive. And boy, if I hadn't been sober by then I certainly was after that! (That was a joke, by the way...) We left Havelock about 5pm as the sun was starting to go down. We stopped briefly to look out over the Sounds on the way and they looked pretty spectacular in a spooky sort of a way even in the grey, rainy half-light. Darkness fell not long afterwards. And then the fun began. Even with the headlights on full and the rubbish windscreen wipers wiping their little hearts out, it was a pretty challenging drive back to Picton. The road was very windy and our side of the narrow one-lane road dropped sharply away into the Sounds. And did I mention the rain? After a while I gave up on the road rules and crawled up the white centre-line as it was the only way I could be sure we were still following the road and not driving off the edge of it into unknown peril. I was pretty relieved to see the welcoming lights of Picton - all fifteen of them - by the time we were finished.

Once again we ventured into town to sample the culinary delights of Picton. This time it was Le Cafe (witty name, huh?). It was ok. They had live music. It was not quite so ok. We went back to the motel and watched 'The West Wing'. It was more than ok.