Our tour of Picton and beyond can be summed up in two words: unbelievable scenery! Words cannot do justice to the scenery that we saw so we will let our photographs speak for us with minor commentary from our blog.
Our tour started at 9 a.m. in the small village of Picton and Picton Beach, which is very narrow, if not, nonexistent. The town did have a slight cosmopolitan feel but in fewer than five minutes, we were driving up a winding road with a stop at the top of the cliff that overlooked the area's biggest marina, Wakawa Sound. Our driver told us that once we left this scene, we would not see civilization again for the next few hours. It also was the first time we have ever seen a road sign with a double-S curve with "Next 40km" under it. We wound up a twisty road, climbing higher and higher into the bushland hills, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, this full-blown, spectacular view of the water's edge would appear. One minute, we would be stopping to view the bay, and then after a few minutes ride, we would be at the top of the cliff overlooking the same bay.
We experienced these sensations for the next three hours. Then we came off the unpaved gravel road to the intersection of State Highway 1, a major paved road, to learn we were only 18km from Picton. In essence, we had traveled the equivalent of 6km per hour on the back roads of life.
We stopped at Allan Scoot Wine & Estates Ltd in Blenheim for lunch and a winery tour, which was actually only a wine-tasting. We were perplexed by the sign that stated, "Intoxicated people are not permitted here. If you become intoxicated while here, you will be asked to leave the premises." This area wants to become a major tourist destination but has not yet got its tourist act together. However, with this scenery, no one seems to mind!
On the sail away, we admired scenery as spectacular as what we saw during our tour. While we know we could not afford to live in New Zealand with its high cost of living, we would love to visit this incredible country again in the not-too-distant future.
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