2011/04/23

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.  

7 comments:

Rose said...

Great shots both of you. Well done!

Bonnie said...

Great photo's. Yes, it looks like it was well worth the 3/4 tank of gas.

Meg said...

Thanks, ladies. We kind of got the thrills (without the danger) of storm-chasing that day, looking at the sky and moving to sunnier spots.

sampling said...

I think that the trip was well worth the petrol and beautiful clouds!

Meg said...

The naughty clouds look good in the pics, don't they?

margery meyers haber said...

Beautiful shots! Too bad we have to justify the use of gas in order to appreciate the world. There must be a way to circumvent the guilt...

Meg said...

I used to enjoy road trips until the middle of 2006, I think it was, when the cost of fuel jumped up suddenly. It was also when I begged Ben to look for a smaller car, too, but now we have two! I'm all for solar cars and recycled fish-and-chip-oil cars and such if we can find one...