Last night during a lovely dinner with friends, we were startled by a voice from the ceiling – it was the Captain, telling us that the weather in Christchurch looked bad for docking this morning and that we would probably have to bypass the city. He held out a little hope, but when we got up this morning, the overnight track made it obvious that we were going to enjoy a surprise Day at Sea.

I got in touch with our tour provider, Christchurch Attractions and they graciously gave me a full refund for the day’s activities.

Diane and I spent a lot of time on the ship’s jogging/walking track – so far today, we’ve logged 20 laps (about 8 km), plus lots of trips up and down stairs. We took a quick peek inside the Magic Carpet and enjoyed some of the ship’s 4,000 pieces of art.

What we mostly saw was the ocean and occasional glimpses of New Zealand.

The ship didn’t have a lot of activities planned for the day, so they shuffled the calendar and brought some lectures forward. I really enjoyed Celia Garland‘s “Whales of the World” – lots of great photos, plenty of information, and she’s a great storyteller. We went to another lecture about AI, Art, and Music; it paled in comparison.

Tonight, we’re having an early dinner so we can make the first seating for A Hot Summer Night’s Dream, which is supposed to have a lot of music and acrobatics and a little Shakespeare. The weather is supposed to get rougher as the evening goes on, so there’s a small chance that the second show will be cancelled.

Conditions are supposed to improve for tomorrow’s port call in Dunedin…we’ll see.

We sailed through the Queen Charlotte Sound (actually a ria, a drowned river valley) this morning en route to our berth in Picton on the South Island of New Zealand.

We left the ship about 10am; Picton had sent greeters armed with flowers, which they presented to the ladies (I assume they’d have given them to men, but I didn’t ask for one).

We took the “Wines of Marlborough” tour with stops at three wineries, each of which offered a slightly different selection of wines. Our first stop was Forrest Winery, where we got to visit their Sauvignon Blanc grapes, almost ready for harvest.

They offered us four wines to taste: Doctor’s Rose (low alcohol), Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and a Petit Manseng (I’d call it a dessert wine). The last two were the best, but neither of them is available through their US distributor, so we’ll have to save them for our next trip to New Zealand.

Our next stop was Spy Valley Winery, a smaller operation a few minutes’ drive away. They also offered four wines: Sauvignon Blanc (more typical of Marlborough than Forrest’s wine), a very drinkable Rose, a Pinot Gris, and a Pinot Noir, which was my favorite.

Our final winery for the day was Fromm Winery, a small boutique winery which specializes in red wines. We had a Rose, a Pinot Noir, and a Syrah – all were good.

On our way back to the ship, our driver told us about the willow trees that settlers had planted to dry out the wetlands – only to find that they worked too well and really messed up the local ecology. In the 1960s, the government used helicopers to spray defoliant on the trees to kill them; it seems to be working, and the wetlands are slowly returning.

After a snack, we joined our friends to explore Picton. It’s a rather small town, so it didn’t take a long time to see, but I’m glad we went. We had to take a bus from the ship to town; it dropped us near the Marina.

Picton has two War Memorials – one for the Maōri who died in wars, and one for the settlers.

We made a brief stop at Oxley’s Hotel, which was the first property in Picton to be electrified (they had their own generator).

We crossed the Coathanger Bridge to see more of the area around the marina, including this sting ray who was just wandring around, minding its own business.

We came back to the ship about 30 minutes before “all aboard”; we’re now en route to Christchurch, though the weather may prevent us from docking there. We had another nice view of the Queen Charlotte Sound on our way out of town.

Picton is a small town, but it’s got plenty to do!