Marlborough

We left Kaikoura under overcast skies for the 2 hour drive north to Blenheim.  This is the heart of the Marlborough wine country.  Some of the best white wines in the world are produced here.  It’s harvest time and we’ve seen quite a lot of grape harvesting machinery on the road.  We can see grapes on some of the vines close to the road.

One of the reasons we’re stopping off in Blenheim is to visit the Omaka Heritage Aviation Museum – Knights of the Skies.  This museum has many replica vintage planes from 1910-1930s as well as memorabilia.  Many of these types of planes flew in World War I, on both sides.  The interpretations are excellent with anecdotes and facts about the planes and their pilots.  There are excellent life sized dioramas too.  Some of these show aircraft construction and others show wartime scenes.  There is a section on The Red Baron, with an original cross insignia that was cut from the fuselage when he was shot down.  A diorama and story about a pilot who stood on the wing to land his plane also explained that the British Royal Flying Corps didn’t provide their pilots with parachutes, the Germans did.  We really enjoyed the exhibits which covered many nationalities.

On the same site was a Classic Car Museum with cars from the 1960s -1990s.  We found a Rover P6 similar to one we owned in the 1980s.  There were a number of Jaguars including an XJS, a Rolls Royce, Mini Cooper S, Lotus Cortina etc etc etc….  all immaculate and ready for the road.

We took a short tourist drive around Blenheim and stopped off at a boutique chocolate factory where we watched the chocolatier making mint sticks before we made some purchases of delicious handmade chocolates.

Then it was off to Picton for our last night on the South Island.