Anyway, after the daytrip to Kaikoura, grabbing a bite to eat, and saying bye to Alexandra - Nikki, Carol and I headed back into town for the first tour we had booked. The Hunters Garden Marlborough Christmas tour.
This tour encompassed 5 houses that had been dressed up especially for Christmas around Blenheim. Some were out in the vineyards, and others were in the suburbs. There was a real mix.
It was freezing cold that night, so we dressed warmly, and casually. I was still hobbling on crutches. On queueing up for the bus, we noticed we were the only casually dressed people on our tour, everyone else had dressed up to the nines. Oh well. We were dressed for comfort and warmth.
The Blenheim and South Island people on the bus that we met were lovely. I wish I could say the same thing about the Waikato Group, but unfortunately they were so up themselves, their behaviour almost came across as rude. I can't stand uppity and unfriendly behaviour like this, it's pointless and unnecessary. It really doesn't hurt to smile and be friendly.
We were hoping that we might get some hot mulled wine on the tour, but apart from half a glass of wine at the first house, that was the only drink we got offered during the whole of the tour. That was disappointing considering the tour itself was $80 each.
However, the Christmassy decorations, and the people opening up their homes were fantastic. Friendly, and informative I can't fault them. I'm not sure if I would want to put a tour bus load of people through my house at any time!! They all had gone to an incredible amount of work.
I took some photos but because I had no tripod, and it was evening, not all of them turned out well.... But a few i was pleased with...
The images above and below are actually the image. The above one is the original, of Christmas lights in a star, which looked fantastic above the mantelpiece. This particular decoration was in several of the houses we visited. I think it looks stunning. The image below has just had the levels in photoshop pulled back to make the background darker. This in turn made it more red and christmassy.
Christmas would not be christmas without cake. At each house there was a Christmas cake made and beautifully decorated giving me ideas for my own cake that I hope to make sometime before Christmas. This one I really did like - and the decoration doesn't look too hard...
This one below is more traditional, and is very similar to what my Mother makes. I live in hope that she makes one for me each year so I don't have to slave over the oven!!
These candles were a centrepeice of a beautiful table set up for Christmas. I was really pleased how the image turned out. I did ask the owner if this is actually what her table looked like on Christmas day. She said yes - but there was always more food on the day!!
Lastly the below image were of little wooden toys against a white wall in the house. It looked really effective.
We got back to Blenheim around 9.30pm, very cold and dying for a hot chocolate or coffee. Unfortunatey, Blenheim is a small town, mainly rural, and doesn't have a cafe culture. In other words, nothing was open so we headed straight back to the farm to warm up in front of the fire.
H there
ReplyDeleteXmas tour was actually $55 dollars each. Even then I agree pricewise it was not great value and we could have been offered a hot drink or wine at each place. Yum yum the christmas cake looks yum but I liked the cake with big red and green smarties stuck all over it! You have not featured it.
The Xmas tour was actually $55 each not $80 but even at that lower price, more nibbles should have been offered. Will write to organisers. There was also a Xmas cake, simply decorated with large red and green smarties - which I thought very effective!
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