Marlborough

I thought I had been passionately appealing to The Committee for Marlborough photos since January, but it appears the message didn't get through; blame it on my communication skills and mixed messages/email mumbling.  Anyhoo, this is why, once there, Ben and I do love taking pics in Blenheim and Picton, though I have come to dread the trip and from Marlborough - it's about 90 minutes, and rest assured we get stuck behind slow vehicles.  Still, it was worth it.   Some of these were taken by Ben.  Some of these will be used for the Festival, some are for me to remember that autumnal day.

I noted the ferry schedule before I left, and we were stationed at the tip of a small pier 10 minutes before the scheduled departure.  The cloud above was thick but the wind was blowing, so we'd get 30 seconds of sun, then five minutes of cloud, then three minutes of sun, then 15 minutes of cloud. Very unnerving.  The ferry left 35 minutes behind schedule, which can be considered "on time" under the circumstances.

Waiting...

Worrying about the clouds...

My fav of the boats...

The Festival's official version.  By Ben, of course.

We drove up and down Old Renwick Road, Middle Renwick Road, and New Renwick Road, and a couple of the side roads looking for the right light, the right composition, and the right colors. We were loosing sun and thought we would have to compromise and heavily edit one of the earlier ones.  Ben took a U-turn at the end of New Renwick Road behind Ribverland Hall, suddenly jumped out of the car and shot this.  What a guy. 

Hard to believe, but very shortly after this, it was too dark to get a descent panorama of this hills and vines in this direction. This was the one shot I wanted for the Festival. I love the dry hills behind the vines.

Marlborough Vineyard Labourers, A.  My kinda picture.

Marlborough Vineyard Labourers, B. Ditto.

The breathtaking Pollard Park, Blenheim.

I've got a few bench pictures which would make nice greeting cards.

Millennium Gallery, the venue for the National Exhibition, minutes stroll from Marlborough Convention Centre.

Said Convention Centre.

The back of the Convention Centre is the beautiful Taylor Riverbank.

Across the river behind the Convention Centre.

And if you look to your right, there is a lot more of the riverbank.

The ever patient driver, er, assistant, er, photographer; I mean, my beloved.

And sorry I bitched about going to Marlborough. I'm hoping the results justifies 3/4 tank of gas.