All hail the Queen!

I've just come back to Christchurch from having spent a long weekend with Giigan in Blenheim. Today is a public holiday in NZ: it's the Queen's Official Birthday (not the same as her real birthday though). Yesterday the two of us celebrated this very thoroughly with many toasts and good food while playing Scrabble and the legendary computer game Heroes of Might and Magic 2 (1996, yeah baby!). I think we should have a President's Official Birthday as a public holiday in Finland too, don't you?

Vicarage Lane.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to see how my travel companion is living in Blenheim. To most of you it might be a bit unclear what he's actually doing, so here's the slightly more elaborate version: he's working (doing various things) in exchange for accommodation on a vineyard in Blenheim (the famous Marlborough wine district) run in part by a Finnish lady. We visited the vineyard (Vicarage Lane) together with Sanna and Kaisa when we first came to the South Island in February. Giigan is staying in the owners' guest house, which comprises a kitchen-living room hybrid, a bedroom and a bathroom. It is modern, quite Finnish (properly insulated, double glasing, "kuivausteline") and in the heart of rows upon rows of vines. Sitting in the living room looking out, you see the beautiful mountains surrounding the sunny Marlborough valley. It was considerably warmer there than in Christchurch, and we had in fact terrific weather the whole long weekend.

The guest house at Vicarage Lane.

I took the bus from Christchurch to Blenheim early Saturday morning. We went for a swim in the Blenheim swimming hall (where Giigan's shoes got stolen), planned our trip to Tonga a little bit, and enjoyed a Finnish sauna at our hosts' in the evening. It was heavenly.

On Sunday we drove around in the area a little bit and played minigolf in Picton in a freezing wind (coming literrally straight from Antarctica). In the afternoon and evening we played the aforementioned games whilst eating and drinking (we had to get rid of our liquor cache since we're leaving NZ soon). We also watched a "Kummelit" movie with half an eye.

The living room / kitchen.

It's been a very good and relaxing three days, but at the same time a kind of prelude to our departure, since I took our green car back to Christchurch with me in order to sell it. I've got 5 more weeks left here, so there's plenty of time to find a buyer. Giigan and I will head up to the North Island at different times (Giigan will go earlier because of the U19 Basketball World Championship in Auckland), but we'll meet up in Taupo on July 13th.

The main house at Vicarage Lane.

I'll finish with a small piece of marketing, or you can call it a recommendation if you prefer. :-) The 2009 vintage of Vicarage Lane's Sauvignon Blanc wine will be available in Alko stores around August. It is very good (Giigan has sampled it thoroughly and compared it to many other Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs) and an excellent drink for a hot summer's day. I would suggest that all wine-lovers reading this pick up a bottle or two once it hits the shelves. Share it with friends and spread the word!