South Island, New Zealand

Blenheim – Marlborough

When we decided to take a trip to New Zealand, I instantly knew we would make a trip to the Marlborough region to taste my favorite Sauvignon Blancs. For years, Sauvignon Blanc has been my favorite type of wine and the best of it comes from Marlborough (in my opinion). After doing some research I quickly realized the best way to see the wine region would be on bike so I found a guided half day wine tour. Explore Marlborough Wine Tours was great. We could not have picked a better company or tour. The morning of the tour, they picked us up at our lodge so we didn’t have to worry about driving at all; perfect since we were planning on sipping wine all day. When we arrived at their store, we received a safety orientation, helmets, safety vests and new bikes according to our size. Soon after, we were on our way to our first winery. The tour focused more on medium to boutique sized wineries, which I thought was a great way to try wines I would have never had otherwise. During the tour we visited Framingham Wines, Forrest and Wairau River Wines. At Wairau River Wines, after our tasting our guide left us and we had a private lunch. As part of the tour, we were able to keep our bicycles until 4pm so we had the afternoon to explore the region or do more wine tasting on our own. We found a bicycle path close to the river and chose to follow it for a while and spend some time relaxing near the water since we planned to do more wine tasting the following day.

Day two in Marlborough I wasn’t feeling very well so we did some quick, low-key wine tasting at Cloudy Bay and Wither Hills Winery. After, we headed to Brancott Estate to have lunch. The view of their vineyard and several neighboring ones from their hilltop restaurant was gorgeous. And the wine paired so well with the delicious lunch! My favorite wine from the places we stopped over these two days came from Brancott. We brought home a few bottles – dessert wine, a classic Sauvingnon Blanc and a Chardonnay.

Driving on the Left Side

The next and final stop on our trip was Queenstown, located in the southern half of South Island. This time instead of taking a flight we decided to rent a car and slowly take 2 days to drive down from the Marlborough region. We knew they drove on the left side of the road there so I was feeling a little anxious/nervous about this part of the trip. For the weeks leading up I couldn’t help but wonder how we would do driving on the other side of the road. We’ve visited other countries where this is the practice but this would be the first time we’ve driven ourselves on the “other” side of the road. I took a go at it first; it was awkward but not as hard as I thought it would be. At first, before I would make a turn I would visualize which lane I needed to turn into. That was the weird part at first.

Once I got the hang of that, both Andrew and I found ourselves hugging the left side of the left lane pretty closely. I think it was because we’re so used to being in the left seat and how your view of the road looks and also it’s weird to be in the right seat and hard cars whizzing by your right!

All in all it was a cool experience and I think I’d feel comfortable enough if I found myself in a country where they drive on the left side of the road again.

Queenstown

After a one-night stopover in Christchurch we arrived in Queenstown. Driving into the town was incredibly gorgeous. We were driving in between mountains and rivers and valleys. It was some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve seen. After about 9 hours total of driving we made it to our hotel for the next few nights - Azur Luxury Lodge. I cannot recommend this place enough. Each “room” is actually a very large stand alone suite that includes a living room, wet bar area, closets, bedroom, private back porch and a large master bathroom. And the whole back of the room were glass windows with the most incredible view of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains. We have been lucky to stay in some gorgeous places worldwide and this one may have been my favorite and had the best view. It’s definitely in the top 3. The hotel didn’t have a restaurant on site but they had a delivery service where they provided you with menus to many local restaurants and they would go and pick it up for you and deliver it to your room. But not only did they deliver it to your room, they bring it in on trays and set up silverware, your drinks, plates, the whole nine yards, as if you were receiving room service from a kitchen on site. It was a great extra touch that Andrew and I used almost every night for dinner.

During the days, we were out exploring the beautiful region. On day one, we went to Milford Sound, located in Fiordland National Park, via airplane. There’s a less expensive bus transfer option but you have to add 6 hours to the day (3 hours each way) and we felt like the airplane costs were worth the time saved. Also, the views of the glaciers from the air were amazing. When we arrived, we deplaned and headed towards a cruise boat that would take us around the full length of the fjord for about 2 hours. The scenergy was again so gorgeous. We passed by countless waterfalls, cliffs and even penguins and seals. We cruised all the way out to where the fjord met the Tasman sea and then made a u-turn to head back to the wharf. I took so many pictures (too many) on this excursion because around every turn there was such beauty that I wanted to capture.

The next day we tried out the Shotover Jet boat. We had so much fun screaming and laughing that we decided to buy a second round and do it again. The jet boat basically goes up and down a river in a very narrow canyon and high speeds. It’s basically a roller coaster on a thin river. The drivers are well trained and they’ve never had an incident but you feel like you’re inches from the canyon walls and like you could crash at any moment. If that sounds more scary than thrilling to you then you should probably skip it. But I promise it was so so much fun and I basically screamed the whole time.

On our final day in Queenstown we wanted to explore some more but keep it low key since we were heading back to Argentina the next day so we decided to check out some wineries in Gibbston Valley. They’re known for great Pinot Noir and we had focused more on white wines in Marlborough. In case you haven't noticed, we love visiting wineries.. We started the day off at Gibbston Valley winery and cheesery. The wine was good but the cheese was so tasty and creamy. We ended up taking four packets home with us. (Yes, I put cheese in my check-in bags and it’s fine when I arrive back home). We also had a Rose wine there they we especially enjoyed and took a bottle home with us. For lunch, we ate at a winery that actually grows grapes for several different wine makers. So we tasted wine from different companies and then picked a glass to accompany a delicious salmon salad and a cheese plate. I think the main food groups we ate on this trip were wine and cheese, which is the way vacation should be!

After two amazing weeks in New Zealand our time came to an end. As I reflect back on the trip and the country as a whole I’m thinking I can’t wait to go back and I’m so glad Houston has a direct flight (so does Buenos Aires). New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries I have been to. The people are so happy and nice. And an extra bonus was how environmentally conscious New Zealand seemed to be. It’s refreshing for a whole country to be taking deliberate steps to keeping our planet healthy.

Make sure you read about our time on the North Island too to help you plan better!