Saturday - Christmas Eve - Picton & Malbourgh Wine Region

Christmas Eve, and today we back on the south island to the port of Picton.

 

We went on a hop on hop off tour that took us out to the winery's and other spots.

The first stop was the Classic Car museum.

You know your getting old when your first car is in a museum.

(its the Honda Civic, not the Jaguar)!

Grahams favourite, a Lotus Cortina in what I thought was a very fetching colour.

Below is the 'Thought for the day',

Also a wine orientated version of a disabled parking space...

Then we went to Cloudy Bay for a tasting.

Then because it was Christmas Eve everything else closed early.

So we paid $160.00 NZ for the 2 tickets on the hop on hop off bus

$20.00 each for 45 minutes the car museum.

$15.00 for the wine tasting,

and spent longer waiting for the bus than we did in any of the attractions and one bus driver took a wrong turn so we had to drive around for awhile to get back on track. 18+ stops (apparently) of which we only got off at 3.

We didn't get lunch, because everything was full unless you had a booking, and we don't have a NZ sim card so how do you book?.....

We don't mind paying  when we feel like its value for money but this wasn't value for money..,  I might be leaving them an review on trip advisor.

In the middle of all that there was a thunder storm, but that wasn't anyone's fault but the weather!

But on a positive note, I did buy a nice birdie art print to add to my collection of avian art. 

However WINE is not New Zealand's biggest export.

Their biggest export is 

PINE
 

This is the view from our verandah of our cabin at the Picton dock side.

Thousands upon thousands of pine logs, all with a QR code stuck to their ends. I want to know what the QR code says, length , weight, age, origin, destination or all of the above?

 There have been logs at every port we have stopped so far. Apparently for every tree they harvest they plant a new one which then takes 25 to 30 years to be large enough to cut down. So they have a constant supply of trees.

For the first time we has seats at the aft windows in the dining room!

The meals have mostly been really good, and I'll share some menus before the end of the voyage.

Tonight it was Carol singing in the World Stage.

 

 The wonderfully talented crew sang for us in large choirs, and they were fantastic.

 

The crew on this ship are such a happy lot, always singing and dancing around  while they serve everyone in the bars. A very charming and friendly lot they are, despite each spending several months working 12 hour days and I can't work out if they get any days off in that time.

 

 There are 700 crew and 1700 passengers on this cruise.

Note for the Clark Centre: Apparently, when I questioned somebody, the crew from the Philippines do really put their Christmas decorations up in September!

Please excuse some of the mismatched time stamps on my posts, my computer is as confused as I am about the time changes!