Another beautiful sunny day. Drove down to Rarangi, which is situated on Cloudy Bay. We took a short track to Monkey Bay with good views back over the vast expanse of Cloudy Bay. Another familiar name to UK drinkers of NZ wine, Oyster Bay, lies slightly to the north. We then took a circular route back via Blenheim and the Rapuara Road (again) through Marlborough wine country before returning to Picton to drop off the hire car and take the ferry back through the Cook Straits to Wellington. This was the third time we had
been on the InterIslander Ferry, Kaitaki, but on the first occasion the visibility was poor and on the second it was dark for part of the journey. Today we had the best possible conditions with bright sunshine and good visibility and the 3+ hour journey turned into 4 hours when one of the port engines played up so we have to take a longer route in the Straits. It was blowy but we spent the greater part of the time on deck. Keith met us and we enjoyed G&Ts with cheese and home-grown Martinborough grapes in the garden before dinner indoors. Lovely to be back in Khandallah with Keith and Wendy and the dogs.
