SJ’s Traveling Tueke

Kia ora! Hello!

Late September I surprised my partner for her birthday and we took a 90minute drive over the hill for a weekend getaway.

Location - Martinborough, home to over 50 vineyards

Accomodation - Tiny house found on Airbnb

Activities - Visited multiple vineyards, dinner and breakfast at local restaurants & a visit to the local candy store

Cost - to cover everything for 2, roughly $700

Saturday morning we walked out the door and headed to start the day with our first wine tasting and lunch at one of my favourites 10mins down the road - Colombo. Here we shared a pizza between two and we each got a flight of wine consisting of 4 small glasses. This set us up pretty nicely!

‘TRAVEL AOTEAROA NZ LIKE A LOCAL’ SERIES

MARTINBOROUGH

Afterwards we decided that based on our location we had a perfect loop with plenty of options so next stop was Poppies. However, being a sunny Saturday it appeared everyone was wanting to head to the well known winery. Off we went then on to the next one, which was Tirohana Estate. Here we got a glass of a mimosa-like drink and a port. This is one of my favourite wineries during the Toast Festival so was nice to enjoy this location on a quiet afternoon. A lovely staff member overheard us trying to figure out due to the time of afternoon, where should we go next? Time wasn’t on our side as it appears the next few wineries along the road all close relatively early.

Due to this we found ourselves at Cambridge Road Vineyard as it also set us up to be near the square for dinner. Here we grabbed a deal - 6 tastings for $15! Keep in mind tastings are small, but this is a great way to try a variety and potentially be surprised by something outside of your norm.

Ended up making a dash in the rain down to the square to locate somewhere for dinner, thankfully we were in town relatively early so we were able to squeeze in at the Crouching Tiger before all the tables were booked at 6pm. Not only was our waitress one of the nicest people, but this food was incredible! We shared a pad Thai, edamame and had a couple cocktails. Cannot recommend this place enough!

Before we left Sunday morning we popped into In The Neighbourhood Coffee House for a much needed coffee and some yummy bagels, followed by The Martinborough Sweet Shop before making our way home.

Main tips if you were to do this:

  1. either hire bikes, be happy to walk or have a sober driver

  2. location of your accomodation is key - unless you have a driver

  3. make bookings, or be ok with potentially jumping between a few vineyards/restaurants before finding one with space - there were hens parties everywhere which is why it get so busy

Overall, Martinborough is one of my favourite locations to go to for a short getaway and if you haven’t been I highly recommend!

Haere rā! Goodbye & happy packing!