for her car (yay!) which was meg at the lodge. all that needed to be done was get it inspected (warrant of fitness or WOF) and an oil change. steph hadn't been anticipating much needing to be done, but unfortunately when she took it to the mechanic, it failed on 6 things. most of which were minor, but still a major pain in the butt. that kaikoura mechanic couldn't do anything until friday (it was wednesday now) - when we were supposed to be leaving blenheim for the marathon on the west coast, so steph called a few places in blenheim and made an appointment there, hoping it could be fixed while we were sightseeing. she found one that could have the repairs done by friday afternoon, so it would be a late drive that night to the other coast, but we needed to have it done. the kaikoura mechanic said the only stipulation was that the repairs had to be done in 28 days. no worries there....or so we thought. got to blenheim, after a long and boring drive up the coast, since, once again, the weather was even crappier than the day before. you could barely make out the ocean or the seaside cliffs. oh well. arrived at our hostel (the grapevine) and there happened to be a mechanic across the street, and it turns out that they were able to take a look at it that very day. YAY! however, we then found out that while the kaikoura mechanic was correct in the fact that the repairs had to be done within 28 days, he failed to mention that it was illegal to drive it during that time. so we definitely broke the law, unknowingly of course. had steph been pulled over for any reason during our drive, or there had been an accident, she wouldn't have been covered by any insurance policy. and not only would she have been fined for whatever violation BUT she also would have been issued a green sticker that meant when she got the repairs for the WOF done, she would have had to pay double what they would have cost. so thank goodness she is a responsible driver!
anyway, left the car there with a sigh of relief, and hit the thriving metropolis of blenheim. i'm not joking. compared to the other towns we've been in recently - this was down right nyc. and though cloud covered, the sun was now poking thru! there were a lot of little shops. we hit a cafe that had some fun (and affordable!) paintings. will have to think on that.. found the supermarket and went back to make dinner. met up with another one of steph's friends meg (a different one than the one at the lodge) for a pint, then just relaxed that night in preparation for our wine tour the next day.
which wasn't meant to be. what a friggin' day. seriously haven't been able to catch a real break with the weather. blenheim, lonely planet tells us, is a city where the sun shines nearly all the time. except of course when we're there. it bloody rained all day long. funny at first (notice a pattern here?) and got old quickly. our wine tour was supposed to be on bicycles, and since the car was in the shop, we really didn't have a choice unless we called a wine tour company (read: pricey and doesn't go where we want it to go). we waited out some of the AM, hanging out in a cafe in town. and despite the earlier downpours we woke up to, the rain seemed to be clearing. we were also reassured by the hostel owner that the weather was supposed to improve throughout the day, so we thought the odds were in our favor. we hit the road on our bikes anyway, and once again kept our fingers crossed.apparently we needed to cross our toes, and legs, and eyes too. we made it to the first winery, Lawson's, which was small and nice. the woman at the counter was very kind and took her time explaining all the wines to us. my favorite was the gewurztraminer, a type of reisling, which surprised me since i don't typically like reisling. the woman also gave us tips on other wineries and the best places to get a cheese platter. as i said, very nice, considering we were clearly poor backpackers and she probably knew we had no intention of purchasing anything, at least at that time.
just as we were about to leave, the rain started. damn the rain! we waited for a bit, and it got heavier. crap. but then eventually slowed down to a fine mist. so we donned our ponchos (thank goodness for the dollar store we found earlier that morning!) and mounted our bikes to begin the ride to the next winery. and wouldn't you know, it stopped just as we pulled into the second winery, Wither Hills. ah well, we thought, we only got dribbled on, so no worries. Wither Hills was bigger, and fancier with a pleasant set up. i really enjoyed the Rarangi sav blanc. it had a bit of a spicy kick to it. it's on my list of possible purchases for sure.
and like clockwork, as we started to leave, the rain started again. seriously?! so we waited. and waited. and waited. for about 30 mins. and this time, unfortunately, there was no sign of it letting up. friggin a. so on came the ponchos again. the rain really wasn't bad. but riding a bike in it was. by the time we reached the third winery, Villa Maria, we were pretty wet, though still willing to push on. they had a sav-merlot, which i very much enjoyed. most merlots grapes on grown on the north island (as these were), so it was a rare find in the south. also, on my maybe purchase list, though i kinda want a white, since that is what this wine region is known for.the rain persisted, but back on the bikes we went. still determined to try to salvage our wine tour. and this is the point it went from funny to absolutely miserable. we were all very grumpy. we tried to hit another winery, but were so disheartened that we just gave up. and rode for 2 plus more hours home in the rain, all the while getting splashed by cars and mud on the side of the road. by the time we were back at the hostel, we were thoroughly drenched. i had light tan pants on that became see-thru. nice huh? at least i wasn't wearing brightly colored underwear! we were also chilled to the core, and really had a hard time warming up despite whatever food and multiple cups of tea we consumed. ah, but tim tams saved our lives (inside joke).
after a few hours of trying to warm up, and doing laundry and whatever else we could do to keep ourselves occupied, the rain stopped. hallelujah. though it would have been nice about 6 hours earlier. frustrating, but what could we do? nothing, except walk to meg's house and have her feed us hot chocolate of course. so that's exactly what we did..
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