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25th jubilee Year of Marlborough's Wine and Food Festival.

25th

Marlborough Wine and Food Festival.

For twenty-five years Marlborough has been hosting the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival on the second Saturday in February. For twenty-five years the Festival has been held in perfect sunny weather. It hasn’t always been held at Montana Brancott Estate Vineyard, but for 23 years it has been staged on a natural arena surrounded by grapevines within Montana’s Vineyard.

8000 tickets sold out very quickly for the Jubilee event, mainly to people outside of Marlborough. 1000 mostly Marlborough residents assist with the running of the event in many different capacities, including taxi drivers of which I am one.
To mark the 25th anniversary an opening ceremony was held at 10.30am, a ribbon was cut, balloons were released and filled the air with colour while an aerial display of ancient flying machines from the Aviation Heritage centre at Omaka, Blenheim, flew past.
There are regular reasonably priced bus trips to and fro the town to the site all day that are well patronised, plus many make the 12 Km drive in comfort by Taxi.
With more than 50 Wineries exhibiting their finest wines, all served in the Festival glass handed to each ticket holder as they come through the gates, plus many culinary delights such as scallops, king salmon, mussels, whitebait ploughman’s sandwiches, gateau’s and many, many other interesting goodies everyone is catered for.
All produce and wine must have a Marlborough content so it truly shows off our gourmet province.

Plenty of ice and water is also available to keep everyone cool and refreshed.

All day long entertainment is provided on the main stage and also on smaller stages around the site, Don McGlashan, Koro and the Beat Girls got everybody up and dancing and having fun, which is the main reason most people are there. All had an excellent day of wine, food and entertainment until 7pm when the party ended or yet another year.
From comments heard in the taxi I think, Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc from any vineyard, was top favourite among the wines, with Serinsons Chardonnay a close second. Favourite food seemed to be the Marlborough’s Scallops.
Preceding the Festival on Friday a huge open Market day is held in the main streets of Blenheim with hundreds of small stalls selling high quality craft items and food and bric-a-brac, plus many buskers entertaining in their own way, its lovely to see the happy throng of tourists and locals alike fill the streets.
Following the festival on Saturday there are many options to entertain you and tempt your tastebuds on the Sunday.
There is Sounds Cruise on the ‘Odyssea’ and a Wine Down held in most of the wineries own cellar doors, entertainment is provided at the vineyards such as live music, petanque games, tours of cellars and nibbles. There is also Polo tournaments, Cricket tournament, and a Country fete held at Woodend Gardens, and an Elim family fun day for the children, more than enough to keep everyone happy and entertained. All followed by a free concert with BBQ in the park at Pollard Park in the evening.

The New Zealand Flag.

The New Zealand Flag.

Five days Caravaning at Kaikoura

Kaikoura Holiday

We had been planning our summer holiday for some time, carefully slotting it in between my taxi work and the work to come when our taxi driver friend will be in hospital, leaving his taxi in our care. A chance meeting and remark to our freinds and neighbours about our departure the following day led to our going on holiday together. Janice and Jimmy in their brand new luxurious big caravan and us in our much smaller and older model, we set off happily together for Goose Bay, Kaikoura.
The day we left was very warm, 33 degrees, travelling was fine, we could enjoy the cars air-conditioning, but when we arrived to set up camp the heat was stifling for a while, fortunately a cloud came over and we had a pleasant coolness.
We chose a great site right on the edge of the beach with a fabulous view of the ocean and the rocks; side-by-side we parked, leaving just enough room to put up an awning to shelter us all from the burning sun, and set up our table and chairs beside the barbecues.
First thing we decided to do; after a relaxing cup of coffee enjoying the view, was to put up the brand new ‘outhouse’ tent that came with our caravan; we had neither solar powered shower set nor portable toilet with us, so it was just going to be for show but we really wanted to know how to put it up quickly and easily; an hour later when we had put the tent poles on the outside, then the inside, then we put it up inside out, finally after we had managed to lock Jimmy inside the tent, we remembered the old adage; ‘if all else fails, read the instructions’. The instructions proved to be written by a Chinese person with only a scanty knowledge of English so wasn’t a great deal of assistance.
Jimmy and I decided we should go find another similar tent within the camping ground. Erle and Janice continued to fight with the strange bendy poles and the odd shaped material of the tent, we were sure there would be several of these small outhouse tents; and we were right, we quickly found another exactly the same. We had a word with the owners who were only too happy to help, they told us they too had lots of problems erecting the tent and had only managed it when somebody came to their aid. Having studied just how it was constructed, we returned and quickly bent the strange poles into the right shape and quickly we had a nice neat ‘outhouse’ with a very neat rounded roof with vents to let out steam when showering. So easy when you know how!
After that adventure, we just had to relax with our first bottle of bubbly wine for the ladies and beer for the men. It was about now I descovered by camera was dead as a door nail, even though I had charged the batteries, so there was not going to be many photos of this trip!
Without any consultation Janice and I managed to take the exact same food for the barbecue, patties and sausages; a case of great minds thinking alike; we were able to leave the men to do the cooking while we got creative over the salads and freshly dug new potatoes from our gardens. This is the veiw in front of the caravans in the evening.
What a pleasant evening sitting under the stars drinking a good wine with sparklingly good conversation while watching the tide come in and go out again, til it was time for bed. A very good first night was had, by us all. The rocky Kaikoura coastline.
Next morning we were not up early, all of us enjoyed a good lie-in before breakfasting together in the sunshine, then the men decided to go for a long walk to the shop a couple of miles away down the road, for a newspaper, a very bonding walk, we could see them talking most of the way! Apparently they talked more than looked where they were going, and very nearly walked onto a huge Fur Seal basking on the rocks in the sun! Janice and I washed dishes and lazed in the sun, talking too. Sleepy Fur Seal.
The camping ground was full to the brim with happy campers and boaties, who launched their boats to set nets for fish and crayfish pots out in the ocean in the hope of catching the allusive crayfish (lobster), there were not many around this year, but many fish were caught of all different types. At any time we seemed to be able to see about 10 small boats fishing, at this rate there will not be any fish left in the Bay very shortly. People also swam out to the rocks and dived for Paua; a local delicacy of shellfish that is large and has thick black flesh that needs mincing to make it tender enough to make wonderful patties, however there are not many left in the shallow parts of the sea, too many people have taken all the tiny shell fish so not leaving any to grow to legal size. We saw one family hauled in by the Ranger for taking too smaller Paua so the Fisheries do try to police the taking of small ones.
We had no boat so were only able to watch, while doing so we spotted many dolphins leaping in the bay and seals lazing in the waters, plus many sea birds. Gulls and a Black Oyster Catcher who was nesting nearby.
Janice and Jimmy bravely went swimming in the open ocean, using boogie boards to ride the surf, while scaredy me just splashed around in the rock pools.
Erle and I went to a couple of craft shows and bought a few odds and ends and enjoyed some delicious homemade seafood chowder, at the Kaikoura Township.
All of us decided to go out for a very tasty Fish and Chip meal together, seeing we couldn’t catch any ourselves, I did throw a line out a few times till I had lost all the spare gear I had with me, all I managed to get was a couple of small nibbles, and a lot of snags.
Janice and Jimmy stayed for 3 nights then had to return home, they hadn’t been gone half an hour before we were missing them already, things were so quiet without them and we missed the shelter of the big caravan next to us, however, we decided to stay on for an extra night just by ourselves. Off we went for a long forest walk up to the top of a big hill, where there is a lookout over the bird Sanctuary rocks where many sea birds nest, and also good viewing of the entire Goose Bay area. Was a hard climb for me, I was thoroughly puffed by time I got there, however the view made it all worthwhile. The veiw from top of the hill of the Bird Sanctuary Rock. Sorry its so small!

The veiw of the rocky coastline from the platform, we were actually camping along the other direction, but right along the shore same as this.

When we rerurned to the caravan one of the fishermen came over with 3 big Red Cod for us, apparently they caught plenty. Lucky us we were very appreciative! Though we gave one fish to another family who were not fishing, we ate a big fishmeal and brought some back home for the neighbours who were feeding our birds in the aviary and looking after our home while we were away.
The next day we had to pack up, pull down our useless outhouse and the awning from the caravan and pack it all away in the small amount of room for storage. Then we headed for home, feeling thoroughly refreshed from the relaxing enjoyable holiday; 4 nights and 5 days, the longest New Zealand holiday we have had. Just to finish it of nicely, we stopped in Kaikoura for a lovely lunch and went wine tasting at the Kaikoura Winery, I paid $4 for a complete tasting of all the varieties since I was not driving, and got rather tiddly while poor Erle had very little on account of the fact that he was driving. But I bought a bottle of Riesling so he could have a good try of the wine sometime later at home.
We decided it had been a darn good break and the longest time we have ever had away in our caravan..

Five Generations Family Celebrations.

Katie-May Castle

Five Generations Celebration.

On October 30th 2007 Katie-May was born into our family, the 5th generation of first born female children, still living; there have been at least two more that we know of, we are a Matriarchy family, (female dominate.)

This weekend Teagan and Josh, Katie-May's parents brought her over to Blenheim to meet her Great-great-grandmother, plus all the rest of our extended family.

This just happened to coincide with Christmas celebrations that are always held at my Mothers house every year.

Seventeen of the family crammed into Mums lounge to welcome Katie-May into the family, everyone except a couple of young lads not very interested in babies at this time! And Nyle's Husband Shane who was busy and unable to come over for the day.!
It is so seldom that all my own family are able to join in these family occasions, since they all live in Nelson, so I sat in the lounge with a big grin on my face and a warm glow in my heart to see them all mixing with the Uncles and Aunts and many Cousins and their Great-grandmother.

After a long noisy time of family catchups, huge afternoon tea feasts, Christmas wishes, and baby cuddles ( you can be sure I joined in the cuddle line for my snuggle with the new babe) a newspaper photographer arrived to take a photo for the local paper, because 5 living generations of female first borns is extremely rare.
We feel we are very Blessed.

This is my photo of Great+great+grandMother holding Katie-May with Teagan the Mother beside her, Nyle and I standing behind.

Great+great+grandmother enjoying her cuddle with her Great+great+granddaughter. Taken by my daughter.

Baby was so good all afternoon, allowing everyone all the cuddles and smiling the whole time, amazing since she is only 6 weeks old.

This is the photo that appeared in the local Newspaper of all five of us, out in Mother's garden in the brilliant sunshine.

Marlborough's Wine Industry

A small selection of Marlborough Wines.

Marlborough’s Wine Industry
My district; Marlborough is the major wine-producing region of New Zealand, producing quality mainly white wine, though there is some quality reds produced here too.
The very first few grape vines were planted for wine by Montana’s Winery in 1977, Hunter’s Winery also planted a small number of vines, and their Winery started producing small quantities of wine in 1983. Montana's wineyard.
Not very long ago, by any means, from these small beginnings Marlborough’s Wine Industry started. Now it could be said Marlborough’s wine industry is on a roll! The whole district oozes prosperity and growth, with a mind boggling 3 million vines being planted this year, more than 12,000 hectares of land under grapes! Wine being produced by 104 known wineries in the district. Its hard to keep up with all the new development, new wineries are being planned and built, some huge productions that will nearly double the production of wine; mainly Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, some Chardonnay and Shiraz.

A panarama of the wairau plains of Marlborough.
The special climate we enjoy in this region is perfect for producing the crisp clean fruity tastes in these wines, our hot day temperature and the cold nights plus the sheltered stony ground are the key to this. Though we are very subject to adverse weather, we do often get hard late frosts, in October just when the leaves and small fruiting buds are starting to immerge from the bare vines, these are very vulnerable to the intense cold, so to protect these tender growths up to, 100 helicopters to take to the air and hover over the vineyards most of the night, displacing the cold air and bringing down the warmer air to ground level. Some vineyard owners use a type of windmill that spins large rotors high above the vines, others light smoky oil burners to attempt to keep the frost off the new growth, all of these methods are moderately successful, especially the helicopters – but ofcause these are by far the most expensive. However there is much money to be made from the wine, even though it is estimated to cost an average of $40,000 to develop a vineyard in Marlborough, (this is only for the cost of plants, posts and training wires, preparing the land and hand planting, not for the cost of land or for and buildings required,) a substantial investment, which ofcause is very good for all facets of Marlborough industry, the economic benefits spill over into many trades and retail sectors in the districts, including tourism, right down to the taxi business!
People come to Marlborough from either overseas or from the cities bringing with them a small fortune, which they then proceed to spend on buying land developing a vineyard and building a very up-market million dollar plus mansion of a home; all very good for the economy of all Marlborough. Confidence emanates from the region as more and more demand for quality wine grows throughout the world not just in New Zealand.
One of the most important men in our district, Peter Yealands, a local multi- millionaire businessman who is now grape grower/winemaker has the largest, independently owned, acreage of land under grapes in New Zealand and maybe in Australia too, he mainly grows his grapes in the Seddon district of Marlborough. His soon to be opened Winery is a vast building, one of the largest in New Zealand, looks splendid and will be a great asset to the district. He is the other Grandparent to our young grand daughter Stephanie, so I suppose that we are almost related!

More than $400 million of wine has been exported from this region!

Another aspect to the industry is all the manpower required to keep it all growing healthily. Thousands of men and women from all around the world are brought to Marlborough to assist with the planting, training and pruning of the vines, also this manpower assist with the picking of the top quality grapes. Mainly the harvest is done by mechanical means, only the very best are hand picked. This large migrant labour force, put tremendous pressure on the accommodations in the district, many new backpacker type buildings are operating to accommodate them, boarding houses are springing up all around the district, plus many choose to rent their own homes and share expenses with several others. This means there are less rental houses available to local people.

It is thought that there are as many as 2500 foreign workers employed by the wineyards from about 15 different countries maybe more.
The diverse mixture of nationals, creeds, cultures, religions and colours make Blenheim streets alive and vibrant with many languages and brings many new festivals, foods and manners of dress to enrich the lives of everyone living here. I feel very fortunate to be living here at this time.

My 15 minutes of Fame!

More Taxi adventures.

On Wednesday, while driving the taxi on a day shift; something I seldom do now days, perferring as I do, the Saturday night shift, I had a lady and her two quite sullen teenage sons as passengers. As I turned into MacLauchlan Street I could see a strange unusual sight ahead of us; a Mobility Scooter that the elderly and the disabled use, upside down on the roadway with all kinds of little bits and pieces scattered all around and an old lady trying to crawl out from under it all!

I quickly asked the lady if she would mind if we stopped and assisted the old dear, and would one of her boys like to help me pickup the mobility scooter. I was barely stopped before one of the boys jumped out and raced around the taxi with me to lift and right the scooter the while he piled neatly, all the soft cushions back on the seat, I gently helped the very flustered and upset old lady to her feet. She was so upset because it had been her own silly fault, ( she said ) that the scooter had tipped over. She should never have driven over the curb on an angle, so only one wheel went over, leaving the scooter unbalanced and three wheels up in the air, it could only tip over once that happened. Together we picked up all her parcels and goods, then I tucked the knee blanket around the old lady and she was back under way up the street like nothing had happened, but as we drew near and passed her she raised her hand to thank us. I looked back in the mirror and the boys eyes and mine met; warm with the glow of satisfaction at having done a random act of kindness to someone in need.

I didn't tell anyone about this incident except Erle when I got home at night, so thought no-one would ever know. I reckoned without a sweet old lady who really wanted to thank us properly now she was cool,calm and collected.

When I read the local Newspaper on Friday this thankyou was printed in the letters to the editor;

The sweet old lady Mary had not noticed that I was a lady as she had been too flustered and as a friend said, had most likely only seen my navy trousers that are the taxi uniform.

So far from keeping this quiet, the whole town and the taxi company know, so I may as well publish the story here in my blog!