One more installment from DREPS

Hi again,

Today was fantastic! It was an absolutely beautiful day with bright sunshine. This area has the highest sunshine hours in NZ. (Even here, the weather apparently was not so hot yesterday.) The ship reached Picton about 7:00 AM. We boarded our mini-van at 8:30 AM. After leaving Picton, the van traveled through the Koromiko Valley to a large wine growing area in the Wairau Valley. We continued to Havelock—the mussel capital of the world—which is located in the Southern end of Pelorus Sound.

In Havelock we boarded a chartered catamaran launch and cruised out onto the Pelorus Sound—the largest of the Marlborough Sounds. We had morning tea served with homemade blueberry muffins and cookies and sat back enjoying the scenery, which was really beautiful. Along the way, we saw many mussel farms, and I have great pictures of a boat harvesting mussels. The farms were established since the 1970s in both Kenepuru and Pelorus Sounds.

Then we stopped at Dillon Bell and took a beautiful “bush” walk to Jacobs Bay, which took about 40 minutes. The path we were on followed the foreshore of Pelorus Sound though a native beech forest.

We rejoined the catamaran, and the crew steamed fresh mussels and served them with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. They were delicious. This was followed by a terrific lunch. They grilled fresh salmon, chicken, and lamb kebabs on the ship, and served the kebabs with fresh asparagus, terrific white potatoes, and a salad with more NZ wines. They also had a plate of sweets and fruits for dessert that included native kiwis.

We then cruised back to Havelock and reboarded the mini-vans. We stopped en route at Mudhouse Village to further sample Marlborough wines, local olive oils, and liquors. Some of us also went to a cherry farm nearby and bought some delicious cherries. I put some in the fridge and in our cabin and intend to have them with my breakfast—I knew I should have brought my cherry pitter!

We returned to the ship at about 3:30 PM. We almost had time to stop at a chocolate factory, but the tour guide was concerned about the time. There almost was a mutiny led by yours truly. We departed Picton at 4:00 PM.

That’s it for today. We’re off to Napier and a Gannet Safari tomorrow. Hope the weather holds.