Marlborough

From Christchurch, we squiggled our way up the east coast towards Marlborough. A few noteworthy stops along the way:

• Hanmer Springs: A tiny resort town boasting an enormous complex of geothermal spring pools. After all of our hikes down south, soaking in the hot water felt great; although, Kay couldn’t get Hans to sit in the sulfur pools for more than 30 seconds. (How relaxed can you really be as you’re asphyxiated by the smell of rotten eggs? -Hans)
• Kaikoura: A cute coastal town where you can go whale watching or swim with dolphins. We didn’t do either of those, but instead got attacked by seagulls! Okay, well not really, but we did see some literally dive-bombing people! At lunch (a really tasty fish and chips shop), we had to sit inside because the birds were just that keen on stealing your fish. No thank you!

It was mid-December when we finally made it to the Sauv Blanc capital of the world, Marlborough. We rented a tandem in Blenheim, the biggest town in the region, and pedaled lazily through vineyards. We really enjoyed each of the wineries we went to & would highly recommend:

• Forrest: started by two Doctors and has a really beautiful and peaceful outdoor area
• Giesen: founded by three German brothers whose parents’ nightmares came true when the boys announced that instead of just backpacking around NZ, they’d be staying and starting this winery. They serve an awesome platter, and Hans discovered he’s a big fan of chicken pate.
• Bladen: a small family-owned vineyard with another great outdoor area and cute dogs running around

We should also note that, by this time, we couldn’t handle another backpacking meal, so we actually began cooking! The prep / cooking turned out to be easier than expected – we became pros at cooking stir fry, quesadillas, pasta, and hamburgers out of a minivan trunk (Phish tour, here we come). The tough part, we found, was washing our dishes! Our tiny little sink didn’t quite do the trick - when food remnants got into the dirty water tank in our trunk, the whole van quickly became quite…ripe… (TMI, we know). We got used to replacing that water often!

At our campsite in Blenheim, we met a super friendly fellow backpacker named Dan. He’s lived in Hawaii his whole life and flew commercial airliners for most of his career as a pilot. We chatted with him through a few dinners and breakfasts, and since he now lives part-time in Japan, told us to give him a call if we’re ever there!

From Blenheim, we took the ferry up to Wellington. As we could’ve guessed, but hoped wouldn’t be the case, finding jobs in Wellington right before the holidays wasn’t particularly fruitful. We arrived in Wellington on December 15 and spent a few days there job hunting, but found that most companies were already on holiday. With no prospects in sight, Hans took a remote, contract project, so during these few days, we spent tons of time at various suburban libraries. We now consider ourselves NZ public library pros - comprehensive review coming soon ;)

Hans finished up his contract on Christmas Eve so we darted off to celebrate in Lake Taupo. We settled in at a beautiful campsite right along the shore of the lake and enjoyed some wine and a charcuterie board while watching Elf. We woke up on Christmas morning to sunshine and took a long walk around the lake before heading up to the Coromandel Peninsula. Once in Coromandel, we spent the afternoon catching some waves on Waihi Beach – it was unlike any Christmas either of us has ever had, but it sure was great! Replace pesky seagulls with our families and it would have been perfect 😊