I Said Yes!
The story of our engagement and the following celebrations
✒️ Written by: Abbie
Read James' account here.
After a far too brief stop in Wellington for one night, where all we had time to do was zip through the renowned Te Papa museum, we next boarded the ferry to make our way across Cook Strait to New Zealand’s South Island. The journey is around three and a half hours, but much of that feels like being on an inland river as the ferry navigates through the Marlborough Sounds. We docked in Picton and got all settled at a family friend’s house near Blenheim. It was nice after all the travelling so far to finally be able to stay in one place for a while and have somewhere to base ourselves.
We spent our first day in Marlborough catching up on sleep, buying groceries, and getting through copious amounts of laundry. James suggested that he plan the next few days, which made sense as he spent a few weeks here in Blenheim back in 2022 so he already knew the best spots and things to do.
The next day was Sunday 15th March, and much to my dismay James informed me that the activity he’d planned meant we needed to leave the house at 3am. I knew he wanted to walk up Mount Fyffe in Kaikoura; I also knew that spot was especially good for whale watching. On top of that, I knew it was quite a long drive (at least two hours). James didn’t tell me the plan as he wanted it to be a surprise, but I was really hoping it would involve a whale or similar sea creature trip. All I could think was maybe the whales are only active early in the morning so we have to make it to Kaikoura in time to get on the boat and set sail. I was just glad it was James driving at 3am and not me!
The journey was quicker than I thought, and it was still dark outside which was equally confusing. I assumed the drive would be so long it would be daylight by the time we arrived (I even said at teatime the night before ‘at least we should see the sunrise as we drive’), otherwise why would we have needed to set off so early? I also noticed we were getting ever-closer to wilderness rather than the sea, as we turned off main roads and bounced along tiny dirt tracks. Upon seeing a sign for Mount Fyffe carpark, I realised we must be walking up the mountain first, and then (hopefully, fingers crossed!) going to see some big fish after. The fact it was so early made me think the mountain must be a big one, and take a long time to walk up, but with my short legs and terrible fitness I started to panic that I would never make it to the top in time and we would miss whatever our afternoon activity was.
We pulled into the carpark and got out of the ute (short for utility vehicle, otherwise known as a pickup in the UK). James instantly set his phone camera on top of the car and started a long exposure, with the stars being so bright and clear up in the sky. Then, it all dawned on me.
‘We’re going stargazing!’ I said, realising the truth of James’ planning all along.
‘Not quite,’ was the response. More confusion on my part.
James then informed me that we were actually walking to a viewpoint only partway up the mountain (thank god), and watching the sunrise. I literally jumped up and down on the spot, feeling so excited as we had been saying for ages we need to watch the sunrise somewhere nice, and enjoying how much of a surprise it was on this occasion.
We put on all the layers we had as it was freezing cold in the pitch black, only to shed them a few minutes later as the ascent became very steep very quickly and we warmed up in seconds. It truly was a steep walk the entire way up, and I was worried we wouldn’t make it to the viewpoint in time for sunrise. It was still dark though, and we used a phone torch to guide us while James’ nice head torch sat peacefully in the suitcase back at the house… moral of the story: don’t plan secret activities for your girlfriend, because you need said girlfriend to not forget the essentials.
It took us just over an hour to reach the viewpoint, at which point we still had about an hour till official sunrise. James seemed to be on edge about this, but I kept insisting that a big part of watching the sunrise is seeing the sky change before the sun is even visible. So that’s exactly what we did. It was still dark at first, so James took some more photos of the stars while I laid back and stargazed, then we huddled together to keep warm and watched the sky transform.
The moon was gradually pushed out of the sky by the oncoming light. The flat plain in front of us became the sea, and the mountains behind us started to reveal themselves out of the darkness. A strip of orange haze blanketed the ocean and grew upwards, lightening the world around it, while the purple mountains carved themselves out of a now-pinkish sky.
James set his camera up to film the sunrise, and I was just about to suggest that he puts it behind us to capture ourselves in the video too when he did just that. I kept saying it’s going to happen any minute now, but James was adamant it wasn’t time yet. When the sun first showed itself, it happened without warning in an instant, and further to the left than we had originally predicted too. James set the camera going and we watched in awe as it popped itself up above the sea. Like idiots, we were amazed at how bright it was, and were just about realising we should probably stop staring directly at the sun when James leaned back to grab his 360° camera. I thought to myself way to ruin the shot as he fully collapsed backwards onto the grass while reaching for this thing, then only half watched as he sat up again and appeared to set it up.
James opened up the 360° camera box and pulled something out of it which was wrapped in tissue. I was only half watching, still mesmerised by the sunrise, when I suddenly noticed it was a ring he held in his hand as he moved away from me and knelt down on one knee.
I can honestly say I had not suspected a thing and have truly never been so surprised in my entire life.
Despite the shock, I absolutely said yes.
We spent a while at the viewpoint, calling family to tell them the news, taking photos in the glow of the sunrise, and staring in disbelief at my ring. James revealed our afternoon plan: dolphin watching, just like I hoped.
We made our way down from the viewpoint, still on the phone to friends, and drove across to Kaikoura town where we ate our packed lunches on the seafront and had hot drinks in the cafe. When our time came for the boat trip, we hopped on a shuttle bus to the dock and found good seats inside the catamaran.
A lot of people on the boat had paid extra for a swimming with dolphins experience, which James said was sold out when he booked; we ended up being quite glad about that as we watched the dolphins religiously swim away every time everyone slid into the water, and half the passengers suffering from seasickness, and looking down at my ring never wanting to take it off but never wanting to endanger it. Instead of swimming, we walked (or staggered—it was choppy) around the ship’s bow as dolphins swam in their hundreds around us, emerging from below and jumping right out of the water before our eyes.
James was having a field day with his camera. We were even lucky enough to see some smaller baby dolphins popping up out of the water every now and then, although they were more difficult to capture. The main species we saw were dusky dolphins, who swim in big pods and love to surf on the boat’s waves, sometimes even going right underneath the boat as it comes up behind them.
We were also lucky enough to see some Hector’s dolphins, which is one of the rarest species of dolphins in the world. Endemic to New Zealand, they can only be found off the coast of NZ. They were incredibly cute and swam in smaller pods.
The dolphin watching trip was incredible and we enjoyed every second. Mount Fyffe watched over us in the background as dolphins swam all around us and showed off their skills. They were so close we could even hear their blowholes puffing away each time they surfaced.
Once we got back to the ute, we drove back home to Blenheim and enjoyed a bottle of bubbly with family friends to celebrate our engagement. We were exhausted from the extreme early morning and all the excitement, so got an early night to prepare for the next day’s activity planned once again by James: wine tasting!
When in Marlborough, wine tasting is a must. We joined Marlborough Wine Tours led by a man named John, who collected us from the house in a shuttle bus. There was just one other couple on the tour with us, from the Netherlands, who we picked up next.
We tasted at three wineries: Nautilus, Whitehaven, and Allan Scott. All the wines were exquisite, but we both rated Nautilus highly. Top tip though: never go wine tasting on an empty stomach! I blame the early morning from the day before (even if it did involve a diamond ring), because we were so tired the following morning we only just woke up with enough time to get ready, and breakfast did not happen. It could have been worse, neither of us threw up, but we were about to collapse by the time we got to Allan Scott. Luckily, that was our lunch stop. Our tour guide and the Dutch couple watched in horror as we basically ate everything we could find—ravenous from so much wine on so little food. It was unusual but oddly nice to sit and eat a meal with three strangers, and we had a great time (especially once food was part of the equation). Back at the house we conked out and later on enjoyed a dip in the hot tub.
For day three of our engagement celebrations, James treated me to an incredible lunch at a fancy winery called Wither Hills. We had heard on the grapevine (ha!) that their restaurant is exquisite, so I was overjoyed to find out that James had made a reservation. We had olives to start, followed by a pappardelle goat osso bucco for James (no clue what that is) and probably the most amazing meal I’ve ever had in my life: ricotta, pumpkin and sage gnocchi, with hazelnut crumbs on top, and torn mozzarella. It was incredibly delicious. I savoured every bite. We both had these with the recommended wine pairings, which were stunning too.
After we ate, we walked to the top of the tower at the winery and looked out across all the satisfying neatly-lined vineyards stretching out for miles.
Our next stop after lunch was Forrest winery, to pick up a bottle of the Doctor’s Riesling James remembered loving on his last trip to New Zealand. I'd never tasted this wine before so, of course, I had to sample it. We sat outside in the sun on beanbags sipping away, me having extra fun because the waitress gave us a complimentary tasting of another wine too, and James was driving so couldn’t really drink either. More for me!
With a few luxurious days celebrating our engagement done and dusted, we turned to our next adventure: backpacking. Not so glamorous, unfortunately. We picked only the most essential items from our big suitcases and crammed them into two small backpacks, ready to set off on the Intercity bus the next day and embark on 11 days travelling round New Zealand’s South Island. Stay tuned for updates!