Day 11: Two tarts at the vineyard

Spirits uplifted after our relaxing stay at the motel, up and out nice and early to the bike hire place.

We set off on our bikes at a keen pace, ready and eager for our light and fruity breakfast wines.

There are lots of lovely vineyards around, and thankfully a lot of them not more than a few minutes apart. All of them are very keen to invite you into their cellar door to taste (FOR FREE!) their wares.

We stopped for lunch at Highfield winery where they had a really nice restaurant. We were sat at a nice shady spot perusing our menus when we both got hit by a case on inappropriate giggles all brought on by the childish humour of the waitress bringing the meals for the next table and shouting out "Two tarts here" and the couple responding dead pan "That's us".

The odd couple (no, not us) also had an exchange where the wife told her husband that he had to go to the toilet. We thought he could probably have worked this out for himself, but understood what she meant later as the toilets are right by the observation deck for the wine making process. So the next time you have a Highfield Sauvignon Blanc and think it tastes a bit 'catty', you know the reason why.

We got in quite a number of vineyards, although towards the end the cycling got a bit much and the vineyards more spaced out.

At the last wineyard, Cloudy Bay, the two women working the incredibly posh tasting area were muttering to themselves sotto voce about a colleague who hadn't cleaned out the glass drawer properly. They finished with the brilliant line "Hoenstly, that Helen. Anyway, only two more days. Pinot Gris anyone?."


We were initially booked in to the motel for 2 nights, but being less than impressed with it (we do have standards after all, no matter how low) we decided to move on further down the coast towards Christchurch, stopping at the Pacific town of Kaikoura - litterally meaning where the crayfish is good to eat. We haven't had any.

The drive down was spectacular again, winding roads hugging the coastline on one side and snow-peaked mountains on the other. The waters are pretty deep coming in to the coast which meant there were some massive waves tonking directly onto the beach.

We are very much in the shoulder months of the tourist season now and this is quite keenly felt in Kaikoura. Despite the town being famous for great seafood, the restaurant selection is pretty feeble, with mainly set menus that look a bit like the pub combination of freeze and fry.


A quiet night, ready for our onward journey to Christchurch. Thank Christ.