Napier

We got to Napier on the 4th March and met up with our friends Helen and Brendon at the NZMCA Park. The next day we were to separate again – Helen and Brendon had to get the gas hot water error on their van sorted, and we went and had lunch with Judy’s cousin Anne and her daughter Aleisha at a lovely waterfront cafe.

We followed lunch with a good dog walk and then went on to have dinner with our friends Pete and Jo at their house at Tukituki. We expected that there would be a bit of alcohol involved so we arranged to spend the night parked on their driveway. Pete and Jo’s house is pretty elevated with beautiful gardens, a tennis court, and great views over the area.

After a wonderful evening we headed to bed knowing that Pete was going to take us out on a sight seeing trip in the morning and then we were going to drop the dogs off at the van, pick up Jo and then head out to lunch.

In the morning we all piled into Pete’s car and the first stopping point was Te Mata Peak. The views were as spectacular as we remembered from our visit to Napier about 15 years ago.

Next stop was to Ocean Beach where Jo and Pete took their family for holidays for many years. The dogs were able to have a good walk here and the beach was rather nice.

Pete also took us to see two wineries just because their premises were something worth seeing. The first one was the Craggy Hill Winery. These were the people that put in the controversial mountain biking track up the side of Te Mata Peak. The buildings and gardens were amazing, complete with bronze sculptures in the gardens.

Next on the list was Te Awhanga Winery that produces the Rod McDonald wines that Judy really likes. Again we came away with another two bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. After that was the Elephant Hill winery. This was very different, but also quite grandiose with bronze elephants in the front yard. We had a look around, and tried a couple of their wines and came away with two bottles of sauvignon blanc.

Then it was back to Pete’s place, and off to lunch at the Clearview Winery. Pete and Jo had other friends joining in and we had a great time. Helena and Colin were from England and they made us promise that we would go and stay with them (close to London) if we wanted to go over there. Judy couldn’t resist buying another couple of bottles of very nice sauvignon blanc from the winery.

After a protracted, relaxed and fun filled lunch we picked up the van and headed off again to meet Brendon and Helen at the grounds of the Taradale Club. By this time they had got their gas heating problem sorted, so all was well again.

The next morning was Bruce’s birthday. Helen and Brendon headed off to meet Helen’s 98 year old aunt and we went off to sort out Judy’s camera problem (problem being that her camera died). After talking to Panasonic and then to the repair agents we decided that the easiest fix was to buy a new one, and then ponder about the economics of fixing the old one. We then headed off to visit the Te Mata Figgery, where Helen and Brendon met up with us. Here we were able to buy fresh figs (which Judy did because she loves figs) but also a range of fig based products. We came away with a fig and almond roll, and some fig balsamic as well.

On to lunch at the Evers Swindell Park beside the Clive river where we could not resist a “Dethleff’s photo”. Unfortunately there are water quality warnings posted so we had to keep the dogs away from the water.

Today was supposed to be a bike ride adventure around a few wineries, but it was pretty hot and windy so we elected to drive instead of biking. Pete had suggested we must go to Mission Estate, but Church Road Winery was on the road just before that so we headed there first. That was a spectacular building with all the barrels lined up, high sarked ceilings and timber everywhere.

However, they asked for $15 a tasting (for 3 people) and only a taste of 4 wines. Even then the wines were not that flash so we headed on down the road to Mission Estate. This was a different story altogether. This winery was established by monks who first started making the wine for communion, before realising that selling it could be quite lucrative. Here we paid $6 per person to taste 8 wines, but we were also each given a monogrammed wine glass as well. We all really liked a few of these wines so Bruce and I purchased 3 different ones, and Helen and Brendon came away with two.

The tastings were good in that we learnt quite a lot about wine, and what we liked and didn’t like, so that may make choosing wine in the future a bit easier. However, it made Judy look like a bit of an “alki” with all the wine purchased for her!

By this time it was about 4.30pm and we were booked in for dinner at 6.30pm so we headed back to camp at the NZMCA park to freshen up. We were all going to dinner in our van with Judy being designated driver (the sober one) for the night. Dinner was at the Thai Lotus, in Taradale, and it turned out to be a good choice. The food was delicious and a reasonable price. Bruce had decided on a Baileys Icecream Pie for dessert and the staff of the restaurant brought it out with a lit birthday candle in the top and sang him happy birthday. He says he has never had a restaurant sing happy birthday to him before!