Triple T – Welcome to Blenheim

February 4

The Trials and Tribulations of Traveling

We picked up our rental car this morning and left Picton behind. We really enjoyed our time there. We headed towards Marlborough, NZ’s largest wine region, which is known for Sauvignon blanc. The sunny, dry summers with little rainfall and cool winters are ideal for growing grapes.

Our first stop of the day was Saint Clair Vineyard in Blenheim. We had a delicious lunch in a lovely setting surrounded by grapes.

After lunch, we headed to our hotel in Blenheim to check in and where we had hoped to stay for the next few nights. When we arrived and went to reception, the owner, Wayne, said he didn’t have our booking. “Nothing with the name Lazar,” he said. Hmmm, that’s strange since we booked directly with him seven months ago and showed him our email exchange and confirmation emails. Wayne finally admitted ten minutes later, “I messed up and accidentally cancelled your reservation. I don’t have a room for you. I’m fully booked. We have a problem.”

He didn’t seem apologetic or even helpful in giving us some alternative accommodations. Now we had a bit of a dilemma. No place to stay for the next three nights. He told us there was little to no availability at any other property in Blenheim due to the holiday weekend and local air show at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Center.

We drove off. It was now about 3 p.m. and we had to quickly consider our options. We found a shady spot on a side street and parked the car to come up with a new plan.

Sleeping in our car came to mind. That’s something I haven’t done since college and I had no desire to recreate it. Besides, our car is full of way too much luggage and space is limited. We have a compact SUV after all. The RV comes later in the trip.

We decided to look for a coffee shop so we could pull out the computer to help us with the search on a big screen. On the way to the cafe, we discovered the local library and did a beeline. We decided to go there instead. About 20 minutes into our new hotel search, they announced the library was closing soon. After looking online at Google, Airbnb, VRBO and Hotels.com, we devised a new plan. We found a motel in the very same town we were in, and it had one vacancy left. It had excellent ratings and reviews. We grabbed it and paid for our booking just as the library staff was kicking us out and turning out the lights. Wayne said there was no availability in town. Go figure. We lucked out.

Ten minutes later we pulled into the Colonial Motel parking lot and met our wonderful innkeeper. She was very happy to see us and offered up lots of local knowledge and recommendations. Wow were we grateful to avoid a major headache!

Since we had a pretty big lunch we weren’t all that hungry for dinner. We drove to Renwick, a nearby town, to check it out and passed vineyard after vineyard, with rolling green hills on one side and golden treeless ones on the other, called the Wither Hills. It’s a very interesting dichotomy.

The temperature is around 90 degrees for the next few days, which is awesome since there’s no A/C in our new motel. But hey, it definitely beats sleeping in the car with all the luggage.