mmmm Wine

View from Marcus and Val's home of the Picton harbour, they could watch the ferries come in.

Wine Cellar at Wither Hills

Different grapes vines

Still some grapes on the vines

Loved the fall colours

From Kaikoura to Blenheim we passed Shania Twain's sheep farm just before Queen Charolette Sound. Beautiful area. There are now more cattle than sheep in NZ and deer farms they have here as well.

New Zealand does have alot of vineyards so I went off with another kiwi friend to explore them one day outside of Blenheim. Unfortunately they weren't giving tours as the season is slow now but they were quite happy for us to taste quite a few. I like the Merlots here, they can't grow the right grapes for my favorite Shiraz though. The colors were amazingly beautiful and then I stayed in Picton and went to a neighborhood party. My friends kept asking me if I had enough warm clothes to wear, I already had on all the warm clothes I owed on and I asked well they do have heat don't they? Then they laughed and said well it's a Bar-bie (BBQ) outside! It's like late October weather and we ate, drank and danced outside all night! The latter two were required just to keep warm and forget about the cold. The homemade sambuca really made me forget!

Good memories on the south island, I will definitely be back but next time in the summer. Awesome sights, lakes, mountains, treks/tramps, people and things to do! Luckily I missed the snow!

**on my fourth bag now...my first one burst the seams back in Malaysia, the second one I bought in Malaysia lasted one day.... the third one finally burst in small town Picton. There's not much to pick from there so now I have a super size red suitcase and don't look like a backpacker at all! But at least all my stuff fits plus I have room to expand so it should get me home now!