November and the beginning of our season

Betsie the boat

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:10:57 +1200

Kia ora

Well the adventures of Betsie, the Marlborough riverboat, are started! The first two stories are written - all that's needed now is the illustrations. So, calling all illustrators - especially those in Marlborough. Are you interested in creating the character of Betsie and those she meets in her adventures? If so please let me know. It's a great opportunity I think, because we aim to have the stories published. So have a go at your take on Betsie and let me see it. Here's a sample from the first story, to give you an idea of Betsie's character.

Betsie makes her first friend

Whoop! Whooop! WHOOOPPP!

The horn bellows out to let you know a paddle boat is coming. It’s the first sound you hear as the big boat approaches. Then you see her. It is Betsie, the “River Queen,” sailing proudly down river. Sunlight sparkles from her polished woodwork and her shiny brass bell. Smoke bellows from her deep blue funnels. She is so big she almost fills the river.

Betsie’s boat name is “Marlborough’s River Queen” but most people just say “River Queen”. Hardly anybody knows her real name, for the very good reason that hardly anybody asks. If they did ask however, it’s likely that Betsie would not tell them - at least not right away. Your real name, she would say, is only to be told to people you know well: people who are your friends.

Unfortunately for Betsie, she was still new to the river and had not yet made any friends. In fact she had a reputation for being a little self-important. Even snooty. “That boat thinks too much of herself” was a phrase often heard amongst those who lived on the river.

As a result no one knew Betsie’s real name – she had no friends to tell it too. This is the story of how that changed. It is the story of how Betsie came to make her very first friend.

It was a sunny Saturday morning in May. Betsie’s crew was preparing for a cruise. Betsie was looking forward to it a lot. Betsie had become used to hearing people say how lovely she looked. “Oh what a gorgeous boat” one passenger would say. “She is sooo pretty”, another would agree. Betsie would swell with pride. Surely, she thought, I must be the prettiest boat in the world!

That morning everything started as usual. Passengers began to arrive and admire Betsie. “Ooooo” cried a child “Are we going on that lovely boat?” Her mother smiled and nodded. “Can I ring the bell?” “I’m sure you can” replied her mother and the girl gleefully pulled the bell rope. Ding-ding! Ding-ding! the bell rang. The other passengers looked round to see where the noise was coming from. When they noticed the little girl they smiled and laughed with her. The girl beamed at her mother: “This is going to be the best trip EVER” she said. Always listening for compliments, Betsie smiled inwardly. She decided she would blow her horn and crank her paddle wheels even more today. Oh how she loved to be the centre of attention!

Things started to go wrong as Betsie turned Halfway Bend. One of the passengers cried out in an eager voice, “Oh look! Isn’t he lovely!”

Betsie’s ears pricked up. What was this? Who was lovely?

“Yes I see him! There he is - over on the riverbank”.

Whoever this was, Betsie decided at once that she didn’t like him. Betsie had come to expect that all the praise during a cruise would come to her. Today Betsie had a rival! But who could rival HER beauty on HER river? Betsie was puzzled and more than a little peeved.

As she turned in towards the bank, Betsie caught the glimpse of a bright flash of white in the sunlight. What was that? Betsie could not make it out. Then another passenger, a young boy this time, finally identified Betsie’s rival. “WOW!! It’s a Kotuku – a White Heron” he cried.

Betsie had never seen one of these birds before. She knew they were extremely rare and very beautiful. There were Oooohhs and Aaaahhs from the passengers. Then Betsie saw the Kotuku clearly for the first time. The bird was magnificent. Betsie felt a stab of jealousy. This was supposed to be HER river! People were supposed to admire HER – not drool over the sight of a mere bird! Betsie knew that she wanted the bird to go away. “I will scare it off” she thought. So she blared her horn as loudly as she could. Whooop! WHOOOOPP! Betsie was delighted when she saw the Kotuku fly off.

But the Kotuku didn’t fly away. It drifted gracefully on the breeze ahead of the boat. Then it landed a little further down river, by a stout cabbage tree. Annoyed that the big white bird had not been frightened off by her horn, Betsie forgot all about her next stop. She pounded through the waters towards the Kotuku. She would show the bird that this was HER river! She revved her engines. Drummm, drummm, drummmmm, they went. The boat lurched forward, leaving a white trail of frothy water behind. Betsie blared her horn again. Whooopp. Whooooppp. WHOOOOPPPP. She had never had a rival before and she didn’t like it one bit. Betsie set her face in a scowl. She was very cross indeed...

Please give me a call if you want to discuss the story or show me some illustrations. Thanks.

Peter 027 272 6000

Harvest time

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:00:37 +1200

Harvest time

Summer moves seamlessly into Autumn. Here in Marlborough this means it is Harvest time. All the vineyards exhibit a flurry of activity and the roads are clogged with big harvesting machines. The local backpacker hostels are full with temporary workers, who will mainly be moving on in just a couple of weeks.

In the midst of all this high energy, The River Queen continues her regular schedule of gentle, relaxing cruises down the Opawa River. This month has seen some of the best weather of the season. We’ve had warm days (but not too hot, like it can get it the middle of summer) and still days, with hardly a whisper of a breeze. This is unusual for Marlborough, which normally sees a south westerly wind pick up as the day grows older.

In the absence of strong winds, the trees are still holding their leaves, as these turn various shades, from deep purples through to yellows and golds. The vines too are changing colour, turning the regulation green vineyards into a chequer board of colours.

Soon it’ll be Easter weekend. This year the town hosts Classic Fighters Marlborough – a wonderful airshow spectacular, which moves to become Warbirds Over Wanaka, every alternate year. To link in with the airshow, The River Queen is running special twilight dinner cruises. Usually we keep to our daytime schedule, but there will be heaps of people in town and we won’t be able to fit everyone on board unless we do something extra!

Easter Monday is also ANZAC Day, the equivalent of Remembrance Sunday in the UK. While the crew will attend the ANZAC Day service in the morning, The River Queen will be cruising later on. A special 1.00pm sailing will offer a late lunchtime cruise. Then we’ll go for our usual 4.00pm afternoon sailing, before closing over the following two days, to give the crew a well-earned rest.

Do come and join us if you’re in town.

Peter

Romance and more on The River Queen

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:25:18 +1300

Romance and more on The River Queen

Looking back over the past couple of weeks, it has to be Valentine’s Day that stands out. We decided to run a special twilight cruise – well, to be fair, Shona lobbied hard for the cruise and I caved in after some initial reluctance. I was nervous about advertising a special cruise, (on a Monday night), organising a crew and then preparing a heap of food, with the not inconsequential risk of only a few people booking and the whole thing going down the tubes anyway, if the weather turned sour. How to look on the bright side, eh?

Well the reality is that we were fully booked and the weather stayed fine. We provided a three course meal, topped off with a homemade rich dark chocolate mousse, served with mascapone, fresh strawberries, ice cream and a little slice of old English flapjack. It all seemed to go down rather well. So well in fact, for one couple, who announced their engagement to us on the upper deck, in the moonlight. What could we do? A bottle of No 1 Estate Cuvee No 1 was hastily summoned from the cellar as the crew’s gift to the newly engaged couple and a romantic hue hung over the rest of the evening.

The very next day was due to see our special cruise for the local mayor and councillors, but this was postponed at the 11^th hour and we’re hoping to firm up another date very soon. I’m pretty keen that the power-that-be have the opportunity to see some of the things which need looking at, BEFORE the budgets are finalised for the year ahead. Every day brings us closer to this deadline, which, if passed, could result in important work being relegated to next year’s agenda, again. So I’ll be on the phone first thing Monday to see what I can arrange. Ho, hum...

Meanwhile I would like to say thanks to the members of the local Probus group who came on board last week. You were a lovely group to have on board and I hope you all had a great time – it certainly seemed that you did!

Similarly, all of you from the Oasis Family Church who joined us for a breakfast cruise on Saturday 19^th February, thanks for your friendliness and for sharing your pancakes.

(Both these groups self-catered, so I wonder if I’m showing a bias!)

A final appreciation goes to our skipper Dylan, who reaches his 250^th cruise with us this weekend. That’s 250 cruises and he’s only been with us full time since October. Fantastic. Thanks Dylan.

Happy days all.

Peter

Into the summer

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:06:36 +1300

The weather this summer has been strange. Incredibly warm some days; cool and wet others. Either works fine for us, because the river breeze makes hot weather bearable while the rain doesn’t bother us, because it is always warm and dry inside the boat.

The main impact the weather has had, has been to leave the normally crystal-clear waters of the Opawa, a little murky, like a giant hot-chocolate spill. Still, the water normally clears up fairly quickly.

In a few weeks we are due to have the Mayor of Marlborough (Alistair Sowman) and a group of local councillors on board. Since the river and, of course The River Queen, are important to tourism in the region, it seems sensible for the local authority to get a first-hand view of how things are. There is much to celebrate, with the river generally in great condition but, as ever, there are always things to improve.

There is oxygen weed in the river, which, I am told, is a sign a healthy river. Unfortunately the weed behaved a little like netting during the flooding over the winter, with the result that silt has been caught up along the edges of the river, rather than being flushed out to sea. A narrower channel to navigate creates challenges for a boat as large as The River Queen. Our skipper, Dylan, has certainly had to be alert this year, especially if the breeze picks up.

I’m also applying to have some road signage erected, so people passing through can see where to turn off for our cruises. The boat is moored just off (and almost under) State Highway 1, as this road runs through Blenheim. Many people spot us as they drive past, but don’t know how to find their way down to the river. This happens pretty much every day and it’s certainly a constant problem. In my previous application for signage, I asked that, as a bare minimum, could we please have some wording on the roundabout from which people will need to turn off the main road. The reply was that no, we could not. The staggering reasoning behind this refusal was that the traffic sign by that roundabout was already too cluttered. Now you can call me troublesome if you like, but I thought I would just check the facts. The traffic sign on the very next roundabout has exactly the same information on it, apart from one thing: it also features a tourist sign pointing the way to (a rather good) museum in the area. So follow the logic if you will: the sign on the roundabout 200 yards down the road can fit directions to a tourist attraction, but the sign by The River Queen, which is exactly the same sign in all other respects, can not.

It is this kind of inconsistent, petty-bureaucratic decision-making that gets local authorities a bad name. Actually, I should tell you that, when I first thought about improving road signage, I met with the guy in charge of taking these decisions and we sat down over a cup of coffee and he seemed a most reasonable bloke. Not at all as bad as he’s painted I thought. Then I received his email explaining he was “struggling to justify” putting anything on the roundabout by the boat. That was when I went to take a look at the two signs, to see if I could understand his viewpoint. The fact that both signs are the same just stunned me. So I’ll release a sigh, have another go with my application and try not to become a whinging pom. Let’s face it, life is pretty good really, if my biggest gripe is road signage!

Happy to summer to you all.

Pete

New Year 2011

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:18:31 +1300

New Year 2011

Time seems to have speeded up since Christmas. The high summer season is with us along with the New Year. And there are so many things to look forward to in 2011. The Rugby World Cup is the obvious big event for the whole country and we are anticipating the Russian team and supporters here in Blenheim. My wife studied Russian at school, so I’ve confidently nominated her as The River Queen chief interpreter for the duration of the World Cup. Just across the top of the South Island, in Nelson, the Americans and Italians are due to visit. It’ll be interesting to see how many pop out our way for a visit.

Other events on the horizon that catch the eye include the Classic Fighters Show at Easter which I think ties in with a Classic Car rally, and of course we have the Marlborough Wine Festival and the Grape Ride to look forward to.

But the highlight for me will be our River Queen overnight cruise. This is a first for us and will take people down to the Wairau Bar for a days fishing in the lagoons, followed by a sleep-over on board and a gentle trip back home the next day. We’re going to limit this first cruise to around a dozen people, just to test how it goes. I’ll let you know the verdict afterwards.

Finally a quick hello to the party brought on board by Georges Michel last weekend. The boat resounded to a full-throated version of La Marseillaise and it felt as though the Rugby World Cup had come early to Blenheim. The Kiwis on the boat replied with a haka and our anthem while a Aussies on board added a few verses of Waltzing Matilda. Loved it.

Have a great summer...

Pete

Christmas on the river

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 10:14:28 +1300

Xmas Blog

It is a little while since my last blog and Christmas is upon us. We keep hearing about the extreme winter in Europe, while we are bathed in sunshine.

The past few weeks have seen a succession of Christmas parties on the river. For most of these groups we have stopped down river at the rope swings, and watched while the more adventurous of spirit hurl themselves out over the water. It seems amazing that so few people fall in – those that do usually claim it to be deliberate and the best way to cool off after a long, hot Marlborough day.

But it’s been more than booze and cruise for us this season. We’ve had a school group from Wellington on board – 75 youngsters and around 25 adults makes for a pretty full cruise. These guys self-catered and turned the boat into a virtual marae for the morning. That afternoon was a complete contrast, as we saw a lovely couple exchange vows on board for a romantic riverboat wedding. Then the evening saw, you’ve guessed it, another Christmas party.

Now that Christmas is almost upon us we’ve had to decide which days to close and which to stay open. As ever we’ve opted to cruise on Christmas Day. I can’t imagine many things more relaxing on Christmas than settling down on the boat in the sunshine and drifting down the river. We’re running a special Christmas menu and limiting numbers, so it should be a special day.

Then we close for Boxing Day before resuming cruises through to January 1^st, when we take a breather for three days. Normal service picks up on 4^th January 2011.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2011.

Pete

Murder on The River Queen

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:09:34 +1300

That’s right, we had a murder on board last weekend. The first murder party since we’ve owned the boat and the people loved it. Pretty much everyone in the party turned up in costume, to add to the atmosphere. And with a poker game going on upstairs, The River Queen took on the personality of an old Mississippi riverboat for the night. It’s given the crew and me a lot of ideas for other theme cruise and I’m pretty certain I can see a gambling cruise coming on...

The weekend also saw Chris and Brooke celebrate their engagement on board and the boat was decked out with helium balloons in the couple’s colours. (Took us ages to pop them all afterwards and to track down any errant balloons, to stop them heading out into the river.)

And to top that off we had a lovely lady of just 88 years join us for her birthday. I’m only sorry I can’t remember her name because we had a good chat – she has lived in Marlborough all this time but never cruised the river. Now she wants to come back in two years for her ninetieth celebrations!

Meanwhile our Christmas party bookings are filling up nicely. We tend to run these party cruises in the evenings, so we don’t interfere with our public cruise schedule. Usually people opt to head down river from around 7.00pm and we reserve the boat for their use up to midnight. As the weather hots up, people often ask to have a bash at the rope swings. This usually means one or more over-enthusiastic ones have an early bath but it all adds to the fun for those watching from the upper deck. I usually keep well clear myself, although those who fall in (jump in?), tend to crawl out wearing huge grin along with their sopping clothes, so perhaps I should give it a go.

We say goodbye this week to Richard, who has been a part-time skipper with us for a few years. It’s sad when people leave but also good to see them moving on with their lives. We wish you all the best Richard. This means that Dylan, our full-timer, may be doing a bit of overtime. When I mentioned this to Dylan, his first comment was “Can I go seven days a week?” Answer “No – but thanks for the enthusiasm”. In fact we’ll be looking for a new part-timer to help out, so if you think that could be you, please let me know.

All the best for now...

There's a hole in my boat

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:26:46 +1300

The River Queen spring saga continues...who would own a boat? This week we sprung a leak!

We’re back operating now but we did close down for the first part of the week. (After all, it wouldn’t do for The River Queen to sink with passengers on board. The lazy, languid cruise experience might be compromised.)

We had to beach the boat down river, near Cloudy Bay, and then wait for the tide to go out in order to inspect the hull. This isn’t quite as easy as it might sound. Beaching the boat on the muddy banks is fraught with hazards. We have to push the boat into the bank at high tide, which is precisely when we can’t see if there are any nasties on the river bed, waiting for us to land on. Then we have to deal with any side wind, which wants to push the boat around and not let us beach at the angle we choose. Once we’re stranded on the mud and the tide recedes, we still have to dig out some mud to access the bow-thruster housing and do the work – all before the tide starts to come back in. Finally we need to pull off the mud: not such a straightforward exercise in a flat-bottomed boat, with a huge amount of suction to overcome.

So Dylan (our skipper) and I were down river for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, each day playing games with the tide and the wind. Fortunately it looks like we won. The good news is that the leak wasn’t due to a crack in the weld, which was our best guess, but simply a loose screw in the bow-thruster housing. Grateful for small mercies, we packed up and headed up river to our berth as soon as the work could be done – still took a few days though. I took some photos while we were there, so I’ll put these up on the website too, if I can work out how!

While all this has been happening, summer has snuck up on us and arrived in a haze of heat. I remember it being hot on the 13^th because that was my 50^th birthday and the helped me to celebrate by pushing me in the river. It was actually pretty refreshing, although no one else opted to join me.

Warm weather in this hemisphere tells us that Christmas can’t be far away. This weekend sees our first Christmas Party cruise of the season – Westpac Bank are coming on board for a murder mystery cruise. Sounds fun.

On Sunday we have an engagement party for Brooke and Chris – so congratulations to them. I’m sure it’ll be an engagement party to remember.

Monday next week we are running a special cruise, in association with the Clubs of Marlborough, for local accommodation providers. The idea is to showcase the facilities, particularly the dining options in the Clubs building and to give everyone a lovely time on the boat to remind them of all The River Queen has to offer. Most local accommodation folk have already been on board but we’re always happy to welcome people back. (If you work in the industry and haven’t yet made it on a cruise, just give me a yell and we’ll see what we can arrange).

And if you’re just visiting Blenheim and looking for something to do, especially something which showcases the Marlborough region in terms of food, drink and scenery, then come and look us up.

All the best

Peter

The sunny days have arrived!

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:23:59 +1300

November. Labour weekend and Marlborough anniversary are over. As if on cue, the sunny days have arrived and the season is upon us.

We had the first cruise ship arrive in Picton last week and I dutifully tootled over and picked up a group from the tourist information centre. Most of these people had been (or would be) on the cruise ship for a month. The sceptics in Marlborough assured me that the last thing these passengers would want to do, was step on board another boat. In vain I pointed out that people who choose to spend a whole month on a cruise, may not be a typical sample of the population at large: rather, these might be people who just love sailing, and sailing in style, in particular. So the choice of seeing Marlborough by road, or by river, would be a simple one for many of them and so it proved. They loved the boat. One wag even asked for a job, but I couldn’t quite picture him washing dishes in the galley, which is about are only opening at the moment.

My step daughter Shona has returned from studies in England, to enjoy a summer of swabbing decks and serving bar. Although no sooner has she arrived, than she’s threatening to organise all manner of party cruises for the youngsters of Blenheim. I’m too old to join in apparently. Actually I love the energy of the 20 somethings, but I’m content to welcome any party groups on board and then retreat before the gangplank is lifted. They can keep their iPod high-decibel, speaker-threatening, thumping noise, which is music to their ears, accompanied by one RTD or another and I’ll hang on to Frank Sinatra and a good glass of local wine. It’s just good to know that different generations can enjoy The River Queen.

Of course heading into an antipodean summer also means approaching Christmas. We’ve our share of Xmas parties already booked, with the promise of mayhem on the riverbank rope-swings in prospect. There is one particular rope which is secured high up a tree, so that it is pretty daunting to climb up to it, let alone take the decision to leap out over the flowing river. Fortunately the Opawa is a tranquil river. In fact rather than deter people, the closeness of cooling water on a hot summer evening is a sore temptation, and people just love to leap in – we’re forever fishing them out. Just one more job for us.

As well as our first Xmas parties this November, we’ve also got the local A&P Show – that’s Agricultural and Pastoral to you and a bit like the County Shows in the UK – and the popular Garden Marlborough event. And for those of you who read the previous Blog, we are also expecting the local district councillors to join us for a cruise. I’ll let you know how that goes. Should be a busy month...

First River Queen Blog!

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:42:24 +1300

Spring in paradise. I sit here with a bottle of Framingham Montepulciano, one of the best reds from Marlborough, and contemplate the onset of Spring in New Zealand. It’s a different life from the one I left in Oxford, England, that’s for sure. I have left behind the historic buildings and lofty thinking of the University town. But I’ve also said goodbye to snarled traffic through the small Oxford streets, heaving crowds of tourists battling with locals on the pavement and the more widespread motorway congestion that defines the UK.

Here I have quiet streets, birdsong rather than traffic noise in the morning, some of the best wines you’ll find anywhere in the world, beautiful scenery – all this and an historic riverboat to run.

What can I tell you about Marlborough’s River Queen? I bought her, with my brother Chris, some four years ago. As the saying goes, it seemed a good idea at the time. The idea was for Chris and his wife to run the boat, while I lived out a gentle early retirement elsewhere in New Zealand. Well, as you know, not all plans work out. So, in our version of knights in shining armour, Sandra (my wife by the way) and I have headed back to Marlborough. Curtailing any thoughts of a lazy retirement, (and to mix my metaphors) we have taken up the reins of the business to see if we can avert financial calamity and tread the golden path to prosperity. Hooray for us.

We moved back to Marlborough and took The River Queen out of the water for a refit over the winter. This week has seen The River Queen’s Maori Blessing and the launch of a new season of scheduled public cruises. From now on we sail seven days a week, twice a day, (at 12.00 noon and 4.00pm). So with all the plotting and planning involved, the past few weeks have been hectic ones for us.

Not that we don’t manage the odd moment of self-indulgence. On our launch cruise for example, you might have caught a glimpse of me quaffing a big glass of Montepulciano, in between mouthfuls of delicious nibbles supplied by our local caterers. Marketing during these affairs is all about mingling, they say, so who am I to quibble?

So the Blessing went well, with XXXX stepping in at the last moment for Rangi Joseph who is crook. The Mayor, Alistair Sowman joined us while he nervously waited on the election results. Now safely back in office, Alistair will be bringing the rest of the Council on board for a trip down the river. This might sound like a fancy day out for the councillors but I want to show them the state of the river and point out one or two home truths about supporting a local tourism icon – namely us. Marlborough might feel a bit like a southern hemisphere paradise but, even here, we have our battles with bureaucracy. Actually I don’t have any major concerns but, as ever, it’s the little things which frustrate. Like lopping trees which overhang the river and give my skippers’ heart-stopping moments. Or planting the stop-bank so it is clothed in shrubs. (The bank opposite the boat was cleared of some established shrubs last summer, without anyone from the council bothering to mention it to us, and has been left bare since. When I enquired about it over the winter, I was politely told that, yes, the Council was aware of the situation but, no, it wasn’t a priority. One might be tempted to ask why they were so enthusiastic, not to say hasty, in clearing the beautiful existing shrubs and trees, if there was no immediate way to replace these. Still, as I say, the Council will be coming for a cruise soon, and will be able to see for themselves...)

Let’s hope it was all just a matter of them not knowing what was needed and that, once armed with the information, cogs will turn in local government. We might just find ourselves with a tidy driveway to the boat, a cleaner river and riverbank (maybe even a litter bin if we are very lucky) and some well-needed shrubs covering the bank opposite our berth.

The good news is that people seem to enjoy our cruises in spite of the grumbles I have. People are hypnotised by the boat I think and see little else when they arrive. Down-river the scenery really is beautiful and over-hanging trees just add to the ambience, even if they give the skippers palpitations. And once the baby lambs and ducklings are spooted, you can cue the “Oooohs” and “Ahhhs” and say goodbye to anyone signing a petition to lobby the local authorities to action.

Oh well, back to that bottle of Montepulciano.