Marlborough Region, New Zealand South Island – April 14th – 16th, 2017

Our fuel management on the way to Cable Bay could have been better (guess we should have paid more attention during Andy’s Formula 1 races). Although gasoline in New Zealand is usually expensive compared to US prices (usually about $5.25/gallon), we ended up being forced to stop for a few liters of extraordinarily pricey gasoline (over $6/gallon!) just to get us to the next town, where we hoped the fuel would be more affordable. Not only was the fuel even more expensive in the next town, the only gas station did not accept international credit cards leaving us SOL. Luckily, a nice local used their card for us in exchange for cash money so we could buy more juice for Freddy. Crisis averted.

Finally at Cable Bay, we did a steep hike to Sentinel Hill through sheep/cow pasture overlooking a magnificent bay. At the recommendation of Scott (the acclaimed NZ author extraordinaire), we made the hike a loop, descending off-piste (ski term meaning, “away from prepared ski runs”. After over a year of summer, I’m currently experiencing snow/skiing withdrawal) through a sheep flock (including one black sheep) onto a white sand beach surrounded by cliff faces. We finished the hike along the beach just as the tide was coming in. The entire hike was stupid beautiful. When I say, “stupid beautiful,” I mean, holy shit the views are so amazing that you literally turn thoughtless with your mouth open uttering exclamations like, “wow” and “woooah.” 

Hiking Sentinel Hill. 

Next on the day’s agenda, was a supposedly stunning drive out to Elaine Bay.  Unfortunately, the extraordinary view over bays, islands, and horizon galore were hindered by trees most of the time (pesky trees how dare they convert our pollution into breathable air in the way of my view). When we arrived, we set up camp on a patch of grass overlooking the bay, before heading out for a quick walk along the water. Although we beat the fast encroaching darkness, we were not so lucky with the rain, and returned to the van in a downpour… at least the weather was perfect earlier in the day.

Camping at Elaine Bay.

After a rainy night, we got up and hiked 10 km (6.2 mi) on Archer Track, a flat old forestry road along the coastline. We literally saw two people the entire hike and they were locals on a trail run. Again, the scenery was spectacular. Now back at Freddy, we drove the well-maintained 24 km dirt road to French Pass. The scenery along the drive to French Pass, made Sentinel Hill look like child’s play, and that was “stupid beautiful.” Daftly magnificent, ludicrously picturesque, or irresponsibly superb just don’t do French Pass justice. We enjoyed lunch at the bay with a handful of locals (apparently the tourists haven’t caught on to the splendor that is French Pass) at the end of the road before turning around and doing the drive again in reverse.

Archer Track.

The drive to French Pass.

 After successfully pulling off free illegal camping in an overcrowded parking lot (it was Easter Eve so we figured we’d get away with it), we went wine tasting in the Marlborough region (it was only too appropriate to consume the Blood of Christ on Easter… jokes 😊). Unlike the shitty weather and even shittier wine we experienced around Nelson, the Marlborough region did not disappoint. The wine was brilliant, the weather flawless, and the all-day Easter airshow was a serious added bonus! After getting our fill of wine, we spent a few hours watching the airshow. Well… to be fair, Andy spent a few hours engrossed by the airshow, while Paige and I had less of an attention span.

Wine tasting in the Marlborough region.

The Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow over Blenheim.