Marlborough Sound

The 8th day of our honeymoon was rainy and dreary so we decided not to go kayaking as planned (turned out to be a very good decision since it rained really hard at times, it was pissing rain as the Irish would say). Instead, we wandered around Picton, did a little souvenir shopping, and drove around the area.

On our drive up to the wine country, we noticed a sign that said "Alpaca" with an arrow. Below the sign, it indicated that there was "fibre." Of course we had to stop. So we turned off the main road, drove into what seemed like someone's driveway, some some cute alpacas, and then noticed a shed like building that appeared to be the shop. There was no one there. The door was open but John wouldn't let me go in and wander around (I think he was concerned that I could get into mischief in an unattended yarn shop). Instead, we walked up to the house nearby and a guy answered the door. He indicated that he would come down to the shop soon. We then happily (well, I was happy) looked at the alpaca yarn and fibre and bought enough for me to make myself a sweater, some undyed for me to play with and a something for Aileen (she hasn't gotten it yet though). All of the wool was undyed which I quite like. So, some day, I will hand dye the white alpaca and have fun making myself a sweater with the brown. I have a few ideas for a pattern and think it will be a self-design (after I finish the one I started this spring).

After buying lots of alpaca yarn, we then continued on our journey to wineries. Since it was about an hour before the guide books said most of the wineries closed, we decided to try one of the major ones. We got there about 10 minutes before we thought it closed. There was one car in the parking lot and 2 customers in the shop. We walked in and were told that the store was supposed to be closed but since there was a private tour later in the evening, we could still shop. The person working in the shop also offered free tastings and chatted with us. She was from the U.S. and had gone to New Zealand to work for a year and is now studying there so she could stay. She seemed to be having a lot of fun. We certainly had fun tasting the wines and ended up buying three bottles. We intended to bring one of them back for my sister but decided that we didn't want to risk it breaking in the flight so we had to drink it. :) They were all tasty but I think I like my Italian wine better.