Breakdown in Murchison and wine-bike tours in Renwick, New Zealand

Near Murchison

You are a traveller. You are sat on the middle seat of a tow-truck racing down the narrow roads leading to Murchison, New Zealand. The tow-truck driver is silent. She seems annoyed that you have decided to break down on a Saturday, of all days. Your travel companions are beside you, wincing as you narrowly approach each cliff face before turning sharply. The bearded one is eating peanuts. The curly haired one is silently shaming him.

The driver drops you off just outside Riverside Holiday Park next to a local graveyard. A few mourners are walking slowly among the graves. They look at you with disdain as the mechanic noisily lowers your vehicle from the truck. She attempts to start the van, creating still more noise, and after a lot of revving the car idles heavily beside the graveyard. You park up the van inside the park.

At Riverside Holiday Park

Murchison will be your home for the next three nights while you wait for the van to not be fixed. Murchison is not a big place. In fact, you and your companions do almost all there is to do there over the course of three full days. You spend your time swimming in the river at Riverside Holiday Park, cycling between the park and town, going on walks and drinking tea while waiting for a call from the mechanics. One morning you hear the first reports from China of the new Corona virus that will soon sweep the world.

Murchison

You visit the Murchison museum, which seems to be run by the retired residents of the town. They inhabit the cluttered alcoves of the small building, happily discussing local history and giving visitors free anecdotal tours of the memorabilia they have on display. There is a lot of information about the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the area in 1929. The uplift from the quake completely altered the landscape around Murchison.

Murchison after the 1929 earthquake. Source: Damage and intensities in the magnitude 7.8 1929 Murchison, New Zealand, earthquake. Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering

Eventually Escape Rentals send up a replacement van. A man called Oliver drives it from the Christchurch depot. He brings up a part that the mechanics can use to fix your old van. You can see Oliver and the mechanic in conversation. The mechanic is looking at the part - he shakes his head. It’s the wrong part. Oliver has brought a bag to stay in Murchison so he can drive the van back when it’s fixed. For all we know, he’s still there.

You have a new van with a native New Zealand bird painted on the side. It drives like a dream and you're on the road again, heading to Renwick in the Marlborough region, famous for it's excellent wine. From Renwick you can hire a bicycle and ride to various vineyards in the region, tasting wine at each cellar door, growing more and more dehydrated throughout the long hot day. 

Wine bike tours in Renwick

Finally, you are doing an activity that your companions are well versed in: drinking. They are English, and the English like to drink. 

"Ah, you're English," says Peter of Watson's, your campground for the next two nights, "There're a lot of you here."

The next day you head out on your bicycles to tour local wineries. Your companions inexpertly wobble around on New Zealand pedal-break bikes. This means that if you pedal backwards the bike will stop suddenly. The bearded one almost flies off the handle a few times. You visit the No.1 Family Estate, Whitehaven, Bladen Winery, Framingham and Forrest, where your companions prattle inexpertly about which wines they do and don't like. You bump into one after another Englishman, all wetting their insatiable appetite for booze. 

Many rosy cheeked Brits choke up the busy kitchen at Watson's that evening. You play tennis on the court adjoining Watson's in the setting sun, and as your companions nurse their dehydration you decide to sleep under a clear, bright night sky in the growing summer heat.