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| Picton, on the South Island of NZ |
A short overnight cruise took us across Cook Strait from
Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island of New
Zealand. Established in the 1850s as a
fishing village, Picton is now a terminus of the ferry that runs between the
two islands. It is more built up because
of the tourism this has brought to the area and boasts large marinas.
As we sailed into Picton early on the 11th, we
chose not to be up for the scenic cruising – an option we rarely skip. Naturally this meant that we missed the large
pod of dolphins accompanying the ship on the port side. We’ve heard from various sources that there
were 30 to 60 dolphins; it would have been a marvelous sight to see, but I wasn’t
doing a lot of racing around at that point.
We had booked a full-day shore excursion called Marlborough High Country Safari, which
was scheduled to leave at 8:30. Because
I really needed a seat where I could extend my left foot into the aisle, we arrived
in the Queen’s Lounge extra early in order to get prime seats for the “mad
dash” when the excursion was called. I
wasn’t concerned about the difficulty because it was ranked as an easy tour,
but being gone for nearly nine hours, I needed to pamper my foot at every
opportunity.
After receiving our shore excursion stickers, Chuck was the
first one out and to the bus. I limped
along behind and was, I think, the last person on the bus, but it was fine
because he’d gotten a good seat – or as good as he could get. It was a small bus with about 16 seats for
our exclusive group of 13 passengers and one HAL rep. We were on our way right on schedule, heading
toward the town of Blenheim, so named for Blenheim, England. It appeared to be
a small town, but despite its English name, it certainly had an American
influence: Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s, KFC, to name a few familiar
places.
Not far beyond Blenheim, we made our first stop at a honey
factory. Here we learned about the
production of honey and were given samples of several types of honey, each
named for the plant that the bees pollinated to make the honey: “cream” clover,
blue borage, and manuka, to name a few.
As we have previously mentioned, manuka is used for medicinal purposes,
but the spokesperson here indicated that it could be used on the skin to reduce
scars. I felt silly, but I had to inquire if they meant the same kind of manuka
that a person eats. The answer was
yes. Somehow the idea of spreading honey
on one’s body seems to be contrary to what one would think. Wouldn’t it be
awfully sticky? A hive was brought in and we were asked to find the queen. Talk
about a black-and-yellow “Where’s Waldo” challenge! None of us could locate the queen, whose only
difference from the other bees was that she sported a yellow dot on her head! We then were given the opportunity to
purchase some of the delicious honey, and many of us walked out a little poorer
in NZ dollars but richer in sweets.
Not far from there, the driver pulled into a forested area
where we got out, wondering what there was to see (other than an outhouse). Apparently
the only purposes for this stop were a morning tea break and a chance to use
the facilities. He took out a collapsible table, covered it with a tablecloth,
and served us morning tea (or coffee or juice) and a muffin. (Three shore excursions in a row – three
muffins in a row! Kiwis certainly do like
their muffins, I guess!) As we stood
talking with some of the other people, we learned that one couple was from
Madison, WI. We commented that our aunt
and cousins lived in Madison, adding that our cousin’s husband was a doctor
associated with the University of Wisconsin.
The lady asked what his name was.
When we replied Priest, she immediately responded, “Oh, Dr.
Priest!” She had been a nurse at a
Madison hospital where Geoff has hospital rights, and being in cardiology and
pulmonology (Geoff’s field), she had seen his name on patient charts. She did say though that having worked the
night shift, she’d never met him.
However, it does remind us of how small the world really is! Last year we met someone in Ushuaia,
Argentina (southern tip of South America) with a Lancaster, NY, connection, and
this year we met someone in New Zealand with a connection to relatives in
Wisconsin!
On our way again, we left the forests of the coast and drove
inland and upward. Soon we were passing
vineyards, and before we knew it, we were winding our way up and down one-lane
mountainous roads that traversed a very rugged terrain as we drove up into the
Southern Alps. This made the third day
in a row for me of twisting, turning, and jarring, bumpy rides! Never a dull moment and today was anything
but dull! Our driver took these turns at
what seemed to be break-neck speed! He obviously
knew every twist and turn, but for us it was a white-knuckle ride! In the small bus, where the windows vibrated
at each bump, it was a noisy but amazingly beautiful hour-and-a-half journey to
our next destination. It would be almost
impossible to paint a word picture of what we saw, and even photos wouldn’t do
it justice! We saw high snow-capped
mountains, forests, a stream meandering through a wide riverbed, grazing lands
as far as the eye could see of brown grass and shrubs, dotted with sheep and/or
cattle, small homes nestled into valleys and miles from any neighbors.
Finally we arrived at the Upcot Station, where we were to watch
a(nother) sheep-shearing and sheepdog demonstration. We learned that a station is a name given
only to places that have 5000 or more acres of land. In this case, the family that runs Upcot
Station owns 17,000 acres and leases 17,000 from the government, making their
station a very impressive 34,000 acres of land.
Their station has all merino sheep; we saw some of the raw wool already
packaged for shipping with more ready to be bundled up. The owner, Bill, demonstrated shearing one of
the sheep, which appeared to be very reluctant to have his coat removed. Bill
even commented that the sheep was getting “angry”, a term I’ve never heard when
referring to a sheep.
We went outside to watch two of his dogs handle the
sheep. One was a Huntaway, a large dog
specially bred for herding on the farms.
Eager to show his skills, this dog leapt the four-foot fences in the
paddock with ease, herding the sheep through a gate into a very narrow passage
in the corral. It was amazing to see
this dog bounding over the fences with virtually no effort!
About a dozen of these sheep were separated out and set
loose for the Border collie Tim to show his skills. Unlike the Border collie Squeak that we saw
in Auckland, Tim obeyed not voice commands but whistles to quickly round up the
sheep that had scattered in the open fields.
At one point all the sheep appeared to be running directly at me, quite
a disconcerting feeling when I was being so ginger about walking and not
causing more problems with my foot! But
Tim gathered them into a huddle and skillfully brought them back into the
paddock. No matter how many times I see
this done, I am totally amazed at the skill these animals have, and the love
they have for their work. They
absolutely can’t wait to get out and do their jobs (reminiscent of the eagerness
of sled dogs we’ve seen in Arctic regions). Someone asked how many sheep one
dog could handle, and the answer was an absolutely incredible 400, even more so
considering the fact that in the remote areas where these stations are, there
is an average of one sheep per five acres while farther down near town, the
ratio is five sheep per acre. Because
the sheep stray so far, the dogs really have their work cut out for them to
round them up when the time comes, but they find virtually all the sheep. Sometimes the dogs are brought to different
areas of the station by helicopter and are dropped off to find sheep in more
remote areas.
After the demonstrations, we rode a very short distance down
the road where Bill’s wife Nickie had prepared lunch for us. We were kind of dreading it – we fully
expected to be served lamb, not something either of us enjoys. Nickie greeted us warmly and invited us in
for lunch. She had a tossed salad, delicious
homemade bread, zucchini fritters, and a casserole of some kind. We asked what the meat was and she replied,
“Rabbit.” Gulp! Okay, I
thought, here we go… Never having
tried rabbit before, I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but both Chuck and I
found that we had enjoyed it far more than we thought we would! The two of us sat down outside at a table
with two other couples, a German couple from near Hamburg, Germany, and fellow
(and rather iconic Cruise Critic) bloggers Bill & Mary Ann. Nickie also sat down and ate with us while
Bill remained inside, eating and visiting with others. It was such an pleasant afternoon, chatting
with Nickie, who had as many questions for us as we had for her! Then we were free to roam the gardens and
house. I found it quite interesting to
see the fuse box in the kitchen – very, very unique! The house had been in the family’s possession
since about 1902, and the electricity was put in before that. It was the original wiring. I’m sure our friend Jim Maxim would find it
very fascinating!
Once again we were on our way – back down the mountains,
back through the gravel roads at seemingly breakneck speed. About a half hour on the way, we were left in
the dust by a car. Our guide’s
comment? “That’s Nickie on her way to
pick her daughter up from school.”
That’s quite a trip to have to do a few times a day! And bus service would be very impractical
with so many remote stations!
Our final stop was at the Yealands Estate Wines, where we
saw a video and were given the opportunity to sample wines. Unlike the honey earlier, the wine didn’t
draw us in. I was afraid after having
had so little water to drink that any amount of wine I tasted would really
hit! So I took a complete pass. Surrounding the winery was acre after acre of
vineyards; our guide told us that some rows of vineyards are as long as 4.5
kilometers (or just under three miles)!
We believed it when we saw those rows and rows of vineyards extending as
far as the eye could see!
Scheduled to arrive back at the ship at 5:15, we pulled up to
the port gate at that exact time. No
wonder the guide had traveled so quickly in order to cover that vast amount of
territory! It had been an amazing trip,
covering approximately 175 miles with exceptionally beautiful vistas!
Regretfully we boarded the ship, leaving New Zealand
behind. Our friend Carole will be very
pleased to know that it was definitely on its best behavior, with beautifully
sunny skies, warm people, and fantastic scenery! What a wonderful country,
Carole! No wonder you are so proud of
New Zealand!!! We wish you had been with us to share your love of your country
of birth.
Now as we cross the Tasman Sea, we eagerly anticipate our
arrival in another favorite country – Australia!
BT
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