We arrived in Wellington on Friday, rented a car and made our way to the Inn. We had arrived to sunshine, but that quickly went south on us.
The Sevens tournament was in town along with us, so were were just happy when we found that the hotel we booked with online actually existed and had our room.
(The Sevens is a fast pace world Rugby Tourney where the teams play in 7 man squads).
Probably the most interesting thing about our time in Wellington was the tournament and how the Kiwi's dress up and celebrate. Lots in cool costume wearing groups of mates could be seen in town. But for whatever reason, I just wasn't taking pics.
Nic and I were in bed I think around 5pm friday night, thinking we'd having a nap, but when we woke up at 11pm, we gave up on our dinner plans and slept through.
Waking up in the morning we quickly made our plans as we often do. Although I'm starting to think we need to work a little harder on our plans. In the end we decided that as we had paid for a car, which we really didn't end up needing, that we should take a road trip.
Starting at the Weta Cave, we would pay our $20 and get a quick tour. No photos allowed unless your in the gift shop.
The Wine trail truly starts on the South Island in Marlburough and continues along the east coast of the north Island , through Wellington all the way up to Hawke's Bay. Lovely, Right? mmm.....
This is where some better planning and knowledge of the area would have helped us.
We left Wellington and headed towards Martinburough, a small community just 20 minutes off the path of the trail. We stopped at one winery that was recommended to us in town. Nic and I each bought a bottle of something we liked and went on our way back up the trail. In leaving Martinburogh, we left behind roughly 8 or 9 other wineries.
The rain pestered us for the entire day, coming and going. We arrived in Masterton, another wine based community to find that we had already driven by the main Wineries in town, of which there were only 3 or 4. So we decided not to backtrack and pushed on.
What would have been helpful is knowing that in this region, the I-Sites (Tourist Information Offices) all closed around 2, meaning that without internet, which we didn't have, and without better planning, which we didn't do, we'd be flying in the dark hoping for some luck.
Getting into Woodville, we re-assessed the situation. As highly rated as Hawkes Bay was the best we could hope for was dinner. We had been on the Road for about 4 hours and Hawkes bay was 2 more hours moving us away from our Hotel. (Keep in mind we had to fly out at 11 am the next day).
We gave the rest of the trip a miss headed for Wellington. There is still a chance of making it to Hawkes Bay in a later chapter.
For people reading this thinking of doing the same kind of adventure, I have some advice. If you are in Wellington and want to drive the Classic Wine Trail, split it up into 2 days.
This is how the road out of Wellington is meant to be taken. Google maps says 3.75 hours but dream on. Wellington is a very sluggish City to get in and out of. Especially along State Highway 2.
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Cut yourself some slack. Martinborough can be done on its own in roughly 3 - 5 hours there and back to Wellington on its own depending on how many stops you make and if you have lunch.
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Do note that this route takes you along State Highway 2, which for 30 or so minutes can be fairly twisting and treacherous.
THEN: on day 2, head up to Hawkes bay, staying along State Highway 1 through Palmerston North, over to Hawkes Bay. This journey will be longer than 3.5 hours as well. The state highway 1 is less treacherous than 2, but still tends to crawl until you are out of Paraparamu.
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Some will disagree, but you are probably ok to skip the Rif-Raf in between Martinborough and Hawkes Bay. After all, when you are traveling in a Country where petrol is $2.16 a liter , it should all be about bang for the buck.
I'm not sure what gets into my head sometimes. I think between the rain and the aggravating drive I went to bed Saturday night just wanting to pack up and head back home.
Not to worry though. South Island to the rescue............
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