Christmas in Marlborough

Our Kiwi Guide meets our flight at Christchurch airport. We drive northwards to stop for lunch and wine tasting at Waipara Hills winery. Continuing over the Hunderlee Hills to Kaikoura we visit Fyffe House, Kaikoura’s oldest building dating back to the 1840s and the nearby seal colony.

At the museum the “New Normal, the Kaikoura Earthquake Exhibition” looks at the quake’s impact on the community. No visit to Kaikoura is complete without the stunning views and wildlife of the Peninsula lookout. We stay at the White Morph Inn.

We drive the perimeter of Yealands vineyard to enjoy the views. In Blenheim we lunch and wine taste at Brancott Estate vineyard and visit the outstanding Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre which features a large collection of First and Second World War flying memorabilia.

This evening we take a relaxed, private dinner cruise to explore the bays and stunning beauty of Queen Charlotte Sound. We return to Picton to stay two nights at the Picton Yacht Club Hotel.

We breakfast at our hotel and start the day on the Picton waterfront where we board our launch to cruise down beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound to Endeavour Inlet where we celebrate Christmas with lunch at Furneaux Lodge, only reached by water or walking or biking the Queen Charlotte Track. Stroll the lawns and enjoy the views out to the Inlet.

In the mid afternoon we return back down the Sound to Picton. Tonight Margaret and Bill McHugh host us for dinner at Kippilaw House in Picton. 

This morning we find out the history of the old sailing ship “Edwin Fox”  n the Picton waterfront - from troop carrier to immigrant ship, even convict transporter. Built in 1853, today it is a massive restoration project and gives a fascinating insight into life on board a sailing ship.

We drive to Havelock for a short stroll and lunch at the Slip Inn on the edge of Pelorus Sound.

Continuing to Nelson we check out the city's sights before checking into the Trailways Hotel where we dine this evening.  

We drive through the stunning scenery of the Buller Gorge and on to visit the seal colony at Cape Foulwind. At Charleston we stop for lunch and take a ride on the rainforest train to see the stunning limestone formations of the Nile River Valley in the Paparoa National Park.

It's just a short walk out to see the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and the coastal views are fantastic. If the tide is right the blowholes will be spreading clouds of spray. We stay nearby at the Punakaiki Resort Hotel on the edge of the Tasman Sea and dine in this evening.

Leaving the coast we stop for lunch at secluded and beautiful Lake Brunner before driving up the Otira Viaduct, a spectacular, cantilevered road. The cheeky keas at the lookout at the top of the Pass never let us down -  they are worth a photograph every time.

From Arthur’s Pass we continue through beech forests and magnificent alpine scenery beside the Waimakariri River and down  Porter's Pass to the Canterbury Plains and on to Christchurch airport.