Marlborough

Marlborough is renowned for its wine tasting, and in fact, we spent 2 days sampling all the free wine the wineries had to offer. Heralded as one of the world's finest wine regions, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and methode champenoise are produced in Marlborough's many vineyards. Hire a bike and do the Marlborough wine trail. We especially recommend Cloudy Bay, which has reached cult status in the European market. Their sauvignon blanc is legendary. Villa Maria is also another of our favourites that has been winning lots of awards recently and never seems to be out of the New Zealand press.

Quick Tips:

When you can manage to tear yourself away from the wineries, don't forget to take a look at Blenheim, the largest town in Marlborough and the sunshine capital of New Zealand. Good restaurants, such as Bacchaus, can be found here. Most winery restaurants are closed on Monday nights, so the town is a good option to find something to eat.

Visit some other townships. Nestled at the head of Pelorus Sound, Havelock is the best place from which to explore the Marlborough Sounds. The area is famous for its fishing and green-lipped mussels, which are huge. Go to the Slip Inn and order yourself a bowl of mussel chowder while looking at the marina.

Best Way To Get Around:

Watson's also has good security. The front door locks, everyone gets a key to their room, and there are some lockers. Internet access is also available, and you can hire bikes for the super friendly host, Pat.

A few meters down is the tourist info office, a post office, and three pubs. The last pub, the one farthest from Watson's, is the best one. It has plenty of character, a good, relaxed atmosphere, and always seemed to be busy with other travelers.

Dorm bed $20 ($18 BBH)
Double room $44-50 ($40-46 BBH)
Camping $12 ($10 BBH)

The restaurant is a large room with dark grey walls, a light grey carpet, and wicker chairs. The restaurant lacks any sort of character, charm, or romantic atmosphere. For some reason, they then decided to put Hawaiian-style paintings on one of the walls (extremely bright) that didn't seem to go with anything.

The fireplace, also painted grey, had an urn of lilies covering it, and lilies were the flower choice placed on every table. It was then that I realized the whole place was reminiscent of a funeral home and wondered whatever possessed them to design their new restaurant like this. Very odd.

Moving on... On a positive note, the service was friendly and fast. We both ordered rack of lamb ($29 N.Z) and a side of roast potatoes. When the lamb came, however, the first thought that sprang to mind was, "Where's the meat?" since we were faced with four small racks of fat. I know, of course, that rack of lamb has fat on it, and the meat here is supposed to be the most tender of the whole lamb since the fat protects it. But this was just ridiculous—neither of us had ever seen such fatty bits of lamb before. To make matters worse, when the potatoes arrived, they were basically overcooked new baby potatoes—there was nothing roasted about them.

We didn't bother to check out dessert, even though we were both still hungry, and we both decided that this was a good place to come if you were on a diet, since apart from a few mouthfuls of meat, there was nothing left to eat. Both of us felt rather depressed after spending so much money on a hugely disappointing dinner.

I really would not recommend it.

This really is a great place for a quiet romantic evening with that someone special. I cannot rate the service highly enough, and the food and atmosphere added to the evening. Plus, it's open on Mondays and Tuesdays--something not as common as you would expect.

It is also open for lunch, where the vineyard menu features delights like panini packed with mouthwatering fillings, such as roasted tomatoes, peppers, red onion, aioli, and fresh feta; or bacon, blue cheese, rosemary, and mushroom. Definitely a must if you're near the area!

It would not be an overstatement to say that the portions were huge. For the French toast, try the French loaf; it was really big and the bacon was good quality. The price was also very reasonable. The mussel chowder, however, according to my boyfriend, was just lots of mussels in cream. He thought it was too rich and not very good, but it was very cheap, the service was fast and friendly, and the atmosphere was nice. They are also open for lunch and dinner and did a good array of paninis. Their fresh-squeezed juices were also very good.

The pub, which is so beautiful (ivy and flowers cover the exterior), reminded us of Anne Hathaway's house in Stratford-upon-Avon. Inside the interior is really atmospheric, which accommodates a huge fireplace that would be great in winter. The furniture, fittings, decor, exposed beams, and open fireplace all help to create an atmosphere that makes the Honest Lawyer popular with locals and travellers alike. Not the mention the cool beer garden that overlooks the water.

Staff were friendly and helpful. We dined here twice for lunch and have found the food and service very consistant even when the place was jumping. Really charming.