Trail tales and more

  All good things must come to an end.   And so it was with our holiday.   It was time to return home.     But there were still things to enjoy such as going to the Marlborough Farmers Market.   It is one of the best I have been to (I am biased as I used to regularly go there when my mother was alive and lived in Picton).   Not as large as that in Hawkes Bay but it has a wonderful range of seasonal goodies.   Our little place amongst the vines   After packing up we headed to the market.   It was really busy and well set up for Covid times.   Mask wearing was mandatory and everyone complied.   Usually one sat in the area where the stalls were   to have coffee and something eat but this time it was set in a separate area.   We were able to get lots of goodies, in fact most of the vegetables I would need for the coming week.   What was surprising was how cheap the vegetables were compa...

Before the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake these rocks were underwater The AirBnB provided a continental breakfast in the communal space.  There were several other people there and eventually conversations started.  There were two men who were on a South Island motorcycle tour and were on their last leg of encircling it in seven days.  They were aircraft engineers at Woodburne.  There was an American couple with their daughter from Anchorage.  They had arrived last year on a critical worker visa as she was an emergency physician working at Thames Hospital.  They were enjoying the country and she had applied for a role at Wairau Hospital in Blenheim.  Coincidentally, I had been reading about doctors who were not from either Australia or the UK who had to undergo a whole lot more supervision to get registered.  The way she talked about it seemed really strange that she could be trusted to be the sole emergency physician at Thames yet that was only a tempor...

Vineyard on a limestone hill near Waipara   We had a late start for our short journey to Hanmer Springs.   On the way there we called into one of my favourite winery’s called Greystone where several rather nice wines were tasted and a couple purchased. We stopped at a café that had been recommended in Culverden for a coffee.   It was nice to see that some businesses have survived Covid in the small villages.   Finally we arrived in Hanmer Springs.   We stayed in the Hanmer Springs Hotel which is a lovely old heritage building and we were treated to a lovely room looking out over the extensive gardens.   One of the reasons to go to Hanmer is to enjoy the hot springs, so that is what we did spending around an hour and a half soaking our bodies.   It was rather nice!   The result of which, we think, was a very good sleep that night.    Day 20  This part of the trip (Hanmer Springs and then through to Kaikoura) is one that...

A grey day with rain threatening in Lyttleton     This was a quiet day for us.   In the morning, we went for a drive to Lyttleton with the in-laws and their grandchild for a coffee.   After we returned we had some lunch and then went and visited an old friend of mine who owns a lovely wine shop.   Of course I couldn't resist buying a bottle or two. This was a quiet day for us.   In the morning, we went for a drive to Lyttleton with the in-laws and their grandchild for a coffee.   After we returned we had some lunch and then went and visited an old friend of mine who owns a lovely wine shop.     Bev then insisted I had to visit some shops with her since she had indulged my passion for wine, even though the actual purpose was to catch up with some very good friends.  The outcome was that I was the one buying rather than Bev who closely supervised the purchase of a shirt.   The day ended with a meal in a local Asian restaurant...