New Year's in Wine Country (Marlborough, NZ)

Blenheim, NZ might not be on the "hot 100" list of places to ring in the new year - but it oughta be. We rolled into town after a loooong drive from Waitomo (on the North Island). To make our 10:00 ferry ride between islands we calculated that we needed to get up at 4:45 am. Let me tell you, 4:45 am is an early start to what is traditionally a pretty late night. So on New Year's eve we trucked it south, winding our way through fantastic countryside to the port city of Wellington, which is famously cold and wet, which it was, of course. We made the ferry with 15 minutes to spare and turned in our trusty Nissan rental car. The ferry ride was pretty crazy. Not only was the passage pretty rough, but it was rough in a 350 foot cruise ship, and waves were coming across the bow and washing over windows that were 4 floors above the deck. Whoa. Daniela is like my mom: utterly impervious to motion sickness unless she's suspended upside down, reading a book in the windowless cab of a truck on the world's curviest rose. Me, on the other hand, am not the most seaworthy of people, and I spent most of the ferry ride on the upper deck, outside in the freezing rain, sucking on ginger beer and praying for the storm to let-up so I could fixate on the horizon. Once the south island came into sight the swells calmed down and we wound our way through unbelievable inland waterways to Picton. Most of the coastal homes we saw were accessible only via boat, and these waterfront hamlets were packed with vacationers out for the holidays. We procured our next rental - a diesel Kia, and rolled into Blenheim 20 minutes later. We managed to squeeze in a booking at a local restaurant, and ended up in the town square for a new year's countdown and fireworks. A band rang it in with a lively rendition of that song always gets played on New Year's (which I have never learned the words to).

Blenheim is in the heart of the Marlborough valley, which is internationally renowned for it's Sauvignon Blanc. It also boasts great Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio in the N. Hemi) and really tasty Pinot Noirs. We now because we went wine tasting on New Year's Day! We got picked up the next morning by a very eccentric and crazy wine tour lady, who took a group of us around to a host of great vineyards. We tasted a bunch and even procured a few bottles, which we hope will actually make it back to the states. On to Nelson for Abel Tasman National Park....