Nov 2nd – This was a somewhat slower day as the Picton area is wine country, so we decided to do a wine tour. We drove a short journey to Blenheim and got directions and suggestions for the various wineries.

Our first stop was Waiparu River where we dined al fresco in the vineyard with the mountains as a backdrop. It was a nice sunny day but the breeze was still a bit cool.

We then went to Framingham winery where the courtyard alone was worth the visit – beautiful gardens and the most fragrant roses.    We tasted a number of their new wines and ended up purchasing a Riesling, which is their specialty. While there we were able to visit the cellars and see a brief DVD about the winery and then walked out to see the grapes just beginning to form on the vines. This was one of the larger wineries in the area and the vineyard extended in every direction as far as the eye could see.

The next stop was the Chocolate Factory but since chocolate doesn’t travel very well it was tasters only. On the way to the next winery we found a little local quilt shop, a gift shop and an ice cream shop…so you know what we did. The next winery was Forrest and the server was very friendly, having grown up in the northern US before marrying a Kiwi. We had a great conversation while sampling some of their wines. We purchased a Sauvignon Blanc for one night in Christchurch.

Since we’d had such a big lunch, we just stopped for a light supper at a local hotel on our way back into town.  George walked back to the B&B and I went back to do banking and email stuff. Later, we entertained other B&B guests as our hosts were away for the evening. One couple were Christians from Ohio and had already done most of the south island so we got lots of tips from them. The other threesome were from North Carolina and the daughter had just sailed from Sidney to Wellington on the Spirit of New Zealand (a tall ship). We heard lots of harrowing tales of the bad weather that had roared through the Tasman Sea and which we experienced while in Wellington.

I forgot to mention yesterday about the strange guy we met in the restaurant where we ate dinner. He was there with a group of people and greeted us as we were getting ready to leave. When he heard that we were from Ontario, he wanted to know if we had ever been to Picton or Blenheim Ontario. He is trying to get the Picton mayor to twin his city with Picton, ON since they are evidently the only two Pictons in the world! Who would have guessed. Anyway, I promised I’d gather some information about Picton when we return and send him an email.