Marlborough, NZ

The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!

Stepping off the Interislander Ferry had us stepping into one of the major wine regions of New Zealand: Marlborough.  Where sheep, kittens, vineyards and Kiwis all seem to have figured out a way to coexist:

One of the key reasons for us to have the power of go when Greg’s mom visited was winery-hopping.  The Grog Files will go into more details on our explorations but suffice to say that if you’re a wine & food type, New Zealand’s South Island should without question be on your bucket list.

The last thing we came across as we left the region was a little yellow sign.

Latitude 40 South! – We made it!

While at first this may not seem like a picture-worthy moment, one should realize the San Francisco Bay, where we left from, is at almost the exact opposite latitude.  As in, on the other side of the planet and not just on one direction of the X / Y axis, we’re almost as far to the left and down as you can get before having to, by the laws of geometry, start heading back.  And we came here on a boat!  Sometimes, it really is the little things.

Perhaps this will put it into better perspective for you:

And then there were the penguins.

Like we said, we’re a long ways from home and it’s important to understand that’s it’s freaking cold down here. And finally, the farther SOUTH we go, the colder it gets! (Yes, it messes with your mind a little bit.)  And we’re going down to Dunedin, near the southernmost point of New Zealand.  This is the closest landmass to Antarctica mind you, and there is a wild colony of blue penguins.  Yes, arctic birds.  Yet something else Greg’s mom decided she wanted to see in New Zealand…

…Might we point out, again, that, despite flying into & out of the northernmost city on the North Island, everything Mom wanted to see was on the bottom of the South Island.  It wasn’t penguin breeding season so our odds of seeing a live water bird were pretty low but even the laws of nature themselves seem to bow down to the indomitable will of Greg’s mom.

 

About the authors

Greg and Tiffany are traveling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures.  If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, 3-day delays for wine tastings, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out at www.CoastGuardCouple.com!