Visit to Blenheim trip report

We wanted to explore outside of Nelson and buy some good wine so decided on Blenheim (northeast of the South Island in New Zealand). Blenheim is part of the Marlborough region which is the wine growing region. A few minutes into our drive, we picked up a hitch hiker on his way to Picton. After telling him that we were on our way to Blenheim, he said that there wasn't much to do there and that there was a very nice playground in Picton. So we dropped him off at Picton so he could take the Ferry to Wellington.

After the 1.5 hour drive to Picton, the playground was perfect timing for Maya and PJ. The playground was spacious, had plenty of structures, and a wading pool. After eating lunch at Le Cafe (good fish soup, decent kids spaghetti, excellent coffee) we headed to Blenheim. After checking into our hotel, Chateau Marlborough (excellent website, not so excellent hotel), and settling in, the girls were ready to roam around. It doesn't get dark until after 9pm so needed to get them tired and hungry. Right across the road from our hotel was Victoria Gardens. No structures, but a lot of open space filled with grass, flowers and trees. Maya and PJ had fun chasing after their balls, throwing it up in the air and chasing after it. There was a bell tower sort of structure with stairs on all four sides in the garden. We had fun walking around inside and out of it, in different directions calling out each others names trying to find each other. It was still early and they remembered that we were supposed to be headed to a playground. So off we went. It was 3 blocks away. It was a school playground. Once we were on the grounds, we saw one of those big inflated structures that you jump in. Aside from ourselves, there was a basketball player shooting baskets and a few people in the school room. The girls passed the playground and kept walking towards the jumpy structure. They were on a mission. It was inflated. They jumped right in and had a blast for 30 minutes or so before someone camp to pack it up. No worries, Maya and PJ still had the playground to explore. After another 30 minutes we headed back home because they were hungry. : )

We bought pizza and had it at the hotel lounge because the restaurant was completely booked - it was $10 night. The pizza and pasta were okay.

The next day was winery and chocolate factory day. After visiting a couple wineries (Wairau River, Saint Claire), buying a few bottles, and having a small snack, we took the girls to the Makana chocolate factory. Maya and PJ enjoyed watching the chocolates being made and tasting the yummy samples.

It was still early so we visited the big Blenheim playground at Prospect Park for over an hour. It was freezing so we had to keep moving around. Went to one more winery (Highfield)and had an excellent early dinner. We also bought a case of sauvignon blanc wine from there.

Overall we though Blenheim was an ok town and not very picturesque. We suspect we'll do day trips to the wineries there in the future and avoid staying overnight. Picton is way more picturesque and we could potentially take a ferry ride into queen charlotte sound, so we suspect we'll visit Picton again. We are planning to visit Queen Charlotte Sound and stay at the Queen Charlotte Wilderness Lodge which seems pretty awesome.