Dentures for Marlborough.

Katie and I caught the ferry from Wellington to Picton this morning. We called a cab from the Ohtel to the ferry terminal with a Fijian cabbie, who told us about the linguistic similarities between Fijian and Maori. We boarded the ferry after checking our luggage, and headed to the top deck for an outside view of the rising sun and the harbor. Watching the sun rise from the deck of the ferry was a great start to the day.

Good morning, Wellington.

On the ferry!

The ride to Picton was beautiful. Many people told us that the Cook Strait ferry ride is one of the most scenic trips one can take in New Zealand, and I'm inclined to agree. Every view was stunning. Eventually, we made our way downstairs to grab some breakfast and plan our time in Picton and beyond, but even from inside on the lower decks the view was spectacular. We really liked the trip, and arrived in Picton refreshed and excited.

Our view from the Picton B&B patio.

We picked up our new rental car, which happened to be the exact make and model as our old rental car, except it's electric blue (sick!) and it's a stick shift (double sick!). Our new B&B is amazing, and it's only 3 minutes from the ferry terminal, but somehow we made that trip a fifteen minute voyage through missed turns and passed side streets. Our host Gail agreed to do our laundry (the fee here is only $5!) before she had to run off to town, so Katie and I unpacked quickly and hit the road to do some wine tasting.

Katie loved her swing! (Okay, so did I.)

We stopped at Cloudy Bay Winery first, an open plan property with a roofed tasting room, patio oyster bar, and swings in giant trees on a huge lawn. Katie and I tasted several good wines, had a nice relaxing lunch, played in the swings, and left with three bottles of deliciousness. After Cloudy Bay, we headed to Spy Valley, a mid-sized winery that is very focused on environmental conscientiousness. They also happen to make good pinot noir and merlot (which we bought), and our server chatted us up about food and traveling. She even recommended a pizza place in town, where we ended up picking up dinner later.

More of the beautiful Cloudy Bay, because we couldn't get enough.

After Spy Valley, we stopped by Saint Clair winery as our final hurrah. We tasted some good wine there too, and picked up another bottle of pinot, this one being their reserve wine. Before we left, Katie wanted to walk out back and check out their grounds. As we stepped outside, we heard a familiar voice call out: Erin from KVN and her husband Steve were there! They've been traveling in New Zealand from south to north as we've been going north to south, and the only day we overlapped cities was today, so it is pretty awesome that we ran into each other. We talked about our trips so far and exchanged activity ideas for our island switch before parting ways.

Katie and I headed across the street to a gourmet chocolate factory and picked up some chocolate before driving back to Picton to pick up dinner at Cortado, an Italian restaurant and pizzeria. We grabbed a large pie and some risotto, and enjoyed some cider and beer until the food was ready. We brought it back to the B&B to watch some Top Gear and pop open the Spy Valley pinot. After dinner, we watched The Bachelor NZ (easily our favorite new show) and finished off the wine.

[Side story: we saw a car on our return trip up to the B&B that said "Dentures for Marlborough" on the side. We're assuming they're a denture outfitting and delivery service. Says a lot about the residents in this area, I think. Also, it's hilarious.]

I'm very sad to be leaving this B&B so quickly. The view is great, and having our own little house to ourselves has made Picton feel homey. Plus, the wineries are just a few minutes outside of town, and the downtown area is a cute little strip. Next time, we'll have to spend a couple days around here. (We keep saying that about this trip. We'll definitely have to make a second trip to NZ.)

Tomorrow is the long ride to Queenstown, which I'm actually looking forward to driving. We also have several stop-off stops we're planning on making, which will be nice rest points for the drive. To the Marlborough region: 4 stars out of 5, mostly for the wine. Speaking of, glad we stocked up on wine for tomorrow night! At least we won't have to go to the grocery for beverages.