Blenheim, known as the gateway to the wineries of the Wairau Valley, with more than 30 wineries within driving distance of the town, so a great place to visit for Mum and Dad but it’s also a great visit for the kids for a school holiday destination!
Being one of the sunniest towns in New Zealand, with an estimated average of 2,438 hours of sunshine a year so perfect for enjoying cafes, shops plus popular walkways and the world-class Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. Here you can discover the world-renowned WWI and WWII exhibits where aircraft are theatrically bought to life and featuring Peter Jackson’s own rare collection of historical aircraft and memorabilia.
Other family friendly places include Pollard Park with play equipment, gardens, stream and even a fitness trail.
Even the kids will enjoy a visit to the Marlborough Farmer’s Market, on every Sunday 9 am to 12 noon. Known as New Zealand’s original Farmers’ Market and packed with great fresh produce and goodies.
A great location to be based for biking, cruising the Marlborough Sounds, swimming or just spotting the dolphins (there are five different species of dolphins found in this area) or tackling the Queen Charlotte Sound amazing walk.
Within town and surrounds check out the War Memorial Clock Tower and lovely gardens in Seymour Square, beautiful spots like White Bay plus great walks around Taylor Dam, the largest earth flood protection structure in New Zealand and a popular Blenheim recreational reserve with birds, swings, picnic spots and more.
So for those who want a great small town, atmosphere have you thought about taking the family to Blenheim.
Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand, though it seems at first to have been used for the North Island only. Many meanings have been given for the name but with Maori names the true meaning can often be found only in a mythological story or in historical fiction illustrating either how the name was given or something of the ideas which prompted it. Aotearoa is made up of either two or three words, Aotea and roa or Ao tea and roa. Aotea could be the name of one of the canoes of the great migration, the great magellan cloud near the bright star Canopus in summer, a bird or even food; ao is a cloud, dawn, daytime, or world; tea white or clear, perhaps bright, while roa means long or tall.
The most popular and authoritative meaning usually given is “long white cloud”, and there are two stories current to illustrate this. It seems the voyagers to New Zealand were guided during the day by a long white cloud and at night by a long bright cloud. The more usual one tells how, when Kupe was nearing land after his long voyage, the first sign of land was the peculiar cloud hanging over it. Kupe drew attention to it and said “Surely is a point of land”. His wife, Hine-te-aparangi, called out “He ao! He ao!” (a cloud! a cloud!) Later Kupe decided to call the land after his wife's greeting to it, and the cloud which welcomed them. The name Aotea was given both to the Great Barrier and to the North Island, but the latter became Aotearoa, presumably because of its length.
According to certain authorities, the other meanings are: big glaring light (Hochstetter); continuously clear light, or land of abiding day (Stowell); long white world (Wilson); long bright world, long daylight, long lingering day, or long bright land (Cowan); and long bright day (Tregear). A good case could probably be made out for the land of abiding day, or similar names. Maui, who is closely connected with New Zealand in mythology, once snared the sun and beat him to make him travel more slowly across the sky. Perhaps Maui achieved the same end when he sailed south to fish up New Zealand where there is longer day with long twilight, particularly in the south.
'AOTEAROA', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/aotearoa (accessed 06 Jan 2021)
With domestic travel currently the only wise activity within Covid restrictions, our local tourism industry could really do with the support so Linku2 are featuring on a number of articles to help you pick what would suit you and your family to get out and enjoy our beautiful country!
100% Pure New Zealand have some great articles to give you great ideas and as well as their North Island Must Do Experiences (linked through our North Island pages) of course there is the South Island experiences including exploring the Marlborough Sounds, Mt Aspiring National Park as well as many other outstanding national parks and of course great cities like Queenstown and Dunedin. Check these out and enjoy every single one of them! NZ.com top South Island Activities ...