Day 21 – Blenheim – a Harvest treat

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 temporary arrangement.  I would have thought there must be a better way of assessing competence than that which they Medical Council seemed to have especially given that many of our top specialists do their training in the US. 

We had both decided that a bike ride would be a nice way to have a look around Kaikoura.  Jennifer, our host, provided us with a map and some information about the trails plus the best way to get into town. 

The cycle trail alongside the coast towards Kaikoura

 

It was a bit cool when we headed out into calm conditions.  The ride took us along a couple of country roads before we found the route to a cycle trail alongside the bay.  The first part of the route was a bit narrow due to long grass on each side, but it was pleasant enough.  About halfway along the path the wind started to blow.  It was side on so did not worry us.  The trail came out by the Whale Watch HQ and then we found our way to the town centre before riding out to the pier.  On the way back along the road we came across a small farmers market and we were lucky enough to score some blueberries. We talked briefly to the couple who owned a small holding nearby.  Like many others we have spoken to during our travels, they had decided to sell their place in Central Hawkes Bay and for a couple of years lived in a camper van until they decided to downsize and settle in Kaikoura.  The mountains and the sea were the attraction for the husband who had grown up in Wellington and loved seeing snow on the ranges, something he missed in Hawkes Bay.  

 

Our AirBnB in Blenheim was on a property surrounded by vineyards between Grovetown and Spring Creek.  It was a sleep out and while basic, it had all we needed for one night. 

 

Looking out on the vineyards

As a way to celebrate the end of our trip, I had booked us into Harvest, a restaurant attached to the Hotel Marlborough.  There was a little hiccup in our booking as there was a miscommunication about the booking time.  I had asked for 7pm but it seems the Restaurant Manager had mistaken it for 6pm.  They sent an email confirming the booking but I failed to see that it was indeed 6pm.  At about 6:15pm I noticed an email from them asking whether we were coming.  I rang and that was when we both discovered the misunderstanding.  They could not accommodate 7pm, so we went a little later.  In the end it did not matter. 

 

The entrance to the restaurant is through a forest glade of trees.  It was getting dark when we arrived and the lighting made it almost magical.  We then walked through the trees to the restaurant.  The building is very old and was the St Mary’s Convent in Blenheim. I remember it being situated on a bare paddock back in 1980.  There were no trees then but the plantings have grown into a lovely grove of mature trees. 

 

It was a lovely meal with very good service, although a young man was a bit overly eager asking Bev for her plate before she had finished.  Bev was very firm but polite saying she had not.  We think he was just learning, comparing him to  the competent young women who served us. 

 

The walk back to the car was just as magical as darkness had fallen.  Our car seemed so small amongst the Utes and SUVs that seem to predominate in small town New Zealand.