BLENHEIM - NEW ZEALAND

4th - 5th Aug 2011

Haute cuisine a la Kiwi

The ferry from Wellington to Picton across the Cook Strait, was called the Kaitaki. I noticed that the original name, Pride of Cherbourg, had been rather badly painted over. Are the Frogs still looking for it? Was it hijacked? It was a decent enough ship with reasonable refreshments on board and, thank all the Maori Gods, the weather was blue skies and the sea as flat as a mill-pond. It is a 3.5 hour crossing.

Left: The lounge deck behind the bar. It was all quite civilised. Don't know how long ago it plied the English Channel crossing, but no lingering smell of garlic or Gitanes remains

Right: The route involved travelling up Queen Charlotte Sound. It was very scenic, sunny and involved some quite steep turns by the boat driver.

Left: The small port of Picton where we disembarked. Bugger all in Picton, but a pleasant enough place. It is the start of some popular 'hiking' ( or 'tramping' as the Kiwis say ) routes along the north coast.
And so into the south island.







Tip for potential travellers in NZ. I have discovered a convenient and relatively cheap means of getting around these islands. You can buy an Inter-City bus 'flexi-pass' from any travel information office ( i-office ). They are in all the tourist destinations. You pay for a number of hours of travel. This can be topped-up if necessary. It works out relatively cheap. I bought 45 hours-worth for $299 ( 150 pounds )  and that will take me all around the south island with many stops and back to Auckland and can be used ( 3.5hrs worth ) on the ferry as well which is normally $55 one way. I have also discovered the YHA accomodation ( Youth Hostel Association - stretching a point in my case ). These are excellent; clean and civilised establishments and a single room costs about 1/2 that you would pay in a hotel. They are good at fixing any travel/tour requirements you may have. I must say, NZ is very user friendly and efficient when it comes to dealing with tourists, no doubt because so many jobs depend on it.
Anyway, on into the township of Blenheim. Again a neat and tidy sort of place. Indeed all the towns that I have visited so far have been relatively clean, tidy and jolly ( with the exception of Auckland city centre maybe, but you'll be hearing more about that later ). The Kiwis are trained not to drop litter from an early age, it appears. The towns/cities are also all very different from one another in architecture and character. It makes a refreshing change from some of the filthy rubbish strewn vermin infested urban sprawls that deface Britain.
Blenheim is in the Marlborough district which is the biggest of the many wine producing areas in NZ. I decided my one previous 'wine tour' was enough so, instead, I went to see the quite famous WW1 aircraft collection and museum at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre at the local airport. This houses a private collection of WW1 planes and memorabilia belonging to Peter Jackson ( yes, him again ). It is brilliant! ( and no rides ).
It has some very rare original WW1 aircraft and lots of interesting and well displayed pictures, personal possessions, voice recordings amd medals etc. of many great WW1 aviators. It gives equal prominence to the verdammpt Hun ( Herr Doktor Michael und Christian, are you reading this? ) as to the combined  Brit, Frog, Yank, Canook, Kiwi, Oz and even some Ruski equipment and characters. I spent 5 hours looking around. It is indeed fascinating and I will only bore you with a small selection of photies. I tooks lots, and I am NOT a 'plane-spotter', so it must have it's attraction. 

Right: This is the museum. The Stuka thing ( and some Russian fighter behind ) outside are really not part of the exhibition. As far as I am aware these did not feature very prominently in WW1.

Left: An original German Etrich Taube, circa 1914. This thing was actually flying in a display up to two years ago. The factory which produced the elastische banden mit which diese thing was powered must have gone kaput. I must say, I would not have fancied the job of observer/air-gunner in this. Any turbulence and it would have been 'auf wiedersehen pet' sehr schnell.

Right: An early sea-plane, the DH-2 with a pusher propeller. An original, possibly the only one.

The 'field workshop' busy mending a pranged Bristol fighter. They must have been posing because normally they would be sitting around with a fag and a cup of tea. ( was it 70 Field Workshops Bernie? )

Right: A replica airworthy Neuport 24. One of the more effective allied fighters. The Hun called them 'V strutters'. It features in the WW1 simulated dog-fights in the annual airshows.

Left: An Airco DH4. These were originally British made, but were  later made under licence in USA. This is a USA made machine and it still flys!

Right: A 1916 training 'picture' giving some useful advice on the dangers of landing downwind. I think this was about the only 'performance' data available at the time. Maybe you can enlarge this and read it.

Left: A brave and dashing British pilot ( light coloured coat ) captured after somehow getting his Neuport 27 stuck in a verdamt cowardly Hun tree. Either a low level strafing run had gone a bit wrong or he hadn't paid enough attention to the advice above. The aircraft in the background is a German Seimens Schuckert. The German, foreground, peering up at the tree is looking baffled, with a cigarette in his mouth; a nice touch!

Right: There was lots of memorabilia and pictures on display connected to Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron ( und his Flying Circus ). Here he is, seated centre of the group. His younger brother, Lothar, was also an up-and-coming ace, but he was badly injured and retired hurt before the end of the war.

Many of the other 'aces' featured in terms of their stories and personal possessions; including the likes of Albert Ball ( shot down by Richthofen ), Edward 'Mick' Mannock, Kiwi Keith Park plus several others others whose names I have forgotten. There was an interesting collection of stuff belonging to Herman Goring, another 'ace' WW1 pilot.

What makes much of this museum so attractive and amusing are the very life-like pastiches constructed with remarkable attention to detail, presumably by Peter Jackson's Wika studios' special effects and props department.

Left: The scene after Von Richthofen, mortally wounded, landed his Fokker Tri-Decker in a root field. He had been shot in the chest by a .303 rifle fired from the ground after pursuing a Canadian pilot at low level. He was immediately surrounded by Australian soldiers from a nearby artillery unit. In true tradition they quickly stripped his plane for souvenirs and even nicked his furry flying boots. Good on yer, mate! Bonzer boots, these.They have now been returned and are together again in a museum in Australia. One of the fuselage German crosses is in this museum.

Right: Replica Fokker tri-Deckers which are used in the flying displays. Many of these aircraft were used in the film 'The Blue Max' amongst other WW1 movies. 

OK, enough about this museum. It really is well put together and with some amusing touches. There are some hilarious recorded accounts ( original or not I don't know ) of pilot's descriptions of things that went badly wrong! It cost $20 to get in but well worth it.
The rest of Blenheim is fine and offers squillions of wine tours and 'gourmet' dinners on a boat on the river. I expect they have big red tomatoes on the tables.

By way of nothing, I have a question for anyone with a degree in English. On my travels I inevitably make a lot of comparisons. Is it correct to say 'in' or 'by' comparison, 'to' or 'with' something else? It is probably obvious, but can someone help please. It's annoying me.

Off to see what's on offer around the north coast of the south island next. Hold very tight please...ting ting.