A dearth of Postcards

We have been on holiday (returned yesterday), but you won’t have received any post cards as we didn’t send any. This wasn’t meant as a slight. It was because of an unusual experience. We looked for postcards, in all sorts of places, but found very few, and the ones we did find we didn’t much care for the pictures, so we didn’t buy them. So, please accept our apologies. You will have to make do with this:

Rotorua (1 night)

We left BHB after Nicky had returned from church, we had packed the car and had some lunch. Our first overnight stop was the PSA holiday home (the PSA is the union of which N is a member) in Rotorua. It was a warm drive so we enjoyed a pot of tea while unpacking, and an amble in the cool evening air down to the lake. We found a quilting shop that was first thing on the list the following morning after cleaning and leaving the PSA home. The shop was very good.

We left Rotorua heading for Napier, and on SH5 near Taupo stopped at Lava Glass, as they had a sign advertising glass blowing displays. This turned out to be an excellent decision. The glass in the showroom was just stunning, the demonstration fascinating, and the carrot cake and savoury scone really hit the spot. Nicky washed her’s down with a very good fresh berry milkshake.

Napier (2 nights)

We arrived in Napier around 4pm, and after our pork pie and salad dinner had a walk round town. The following day we booked ourselves onto a walking tour operated by the Napier Art Deco Society which was very good. 

Napier really is a nice town. On our way back to the Bella Vista Motel we purchased a couple of very good pies which helped us zone-in to our siesta. After rousing ourselves sufficiently to walk down to the bus stops we caught a number 13 to Church Road, and walked up the long driveway to the Mission winery. The fine old house had spectacular views, and for $5 each we tasted four wines and got a free tumbler which is very nice. We then walked backup up Church Road a little way to the Church Road winery and had a tasting of three wines ($10) along with a platter of cheeses and crackers ($??? can’t remember). Feeling very pleased that we had not brought the car (operation of heavy machinery by either of us would have been very unsafe) and after buying some very nice (as it turned out) fruit by the roadside, we caught a number 13 back into town. Due to either our adorable grey hair or our levels of intoxication the bus driver charged us senior rates, so our return trip was half the cost of the outward journey! After a tea of home made fruit bread and cheese and some vegging in front of the telly, we returned to Marine Parade to watch the illuminated fountains which we had discovered the night before.

Wine Tasting Rant

Just in case anybody else is reading this, after our three wine tasting experiences I need to have a rant. At both winery’s in Napier the basic idea was pay your money, stand at the bar, and taste the samples. You might get some choice. This is rubbish in my view. It is not relaxed (you are standing), there is limited choice of the wines being produced, and it feels very rushed. However, even worse was when we went to Waiheke, where the only option seemed to be the purchased of individual glasses of wine at $10-$15 each!!!!! However, Mercury Bay on the Coromandel got it exactly right. They produced nine wines at the time we visited and offered a tasting tray of 4 wines with cheese and breads for a very reasonable price. You also got to choose the four wines and were given an information sheet which described all their wines and enabled you to make notes. So, N & I each chose 4 different wines and we sat at a table al fresco drinking in the view along with the wine and felt we had a very fine lunch. Nicky also bought a glass of the one wine which we had not yet tried. The outcome? A couple of days later we drove to the vineyard and purchased 12 bottles. Need I say more? Come on wine growers of New Zealand, get your acts together with tastings and make us feel welcome like Mercury Bay did. End of rant.

Raumati, on the Kapati Coast (8 nights)

On leaving Napier our main concern was cyclone Gita. We knew one of the roads that we were planning to use was closed by a slip, but we didn’t know what sort of weather we would be driving through, or what state the PSA holiday home would be in. As it turned out, all was well. The day started cooler but it was fine and at times sunny for our drive. With the Manawatu Gorge being closed we were diverted along Saddle Road which took us through a wind farm - brilliant. The viewing station was closed but we stopped at the gate to take pictures. It was windy and sunny when we got to Raumati, and I got over-excited as my choice of the unit nearest the beach turned out to be the right one. It was only a short walk onto the beach and into the sea though some footwear helped negotiate a very rocky path to the beach access steps.

We only actually had four days to ourselves vegging out in Raumati. We had everything from glorious sunshine to torrential rain, but the rain never lasted all day. We had walks along the beach during the evenings, watched great sunsets, fed the mozzies, had swims, and very enjoyable shopping trips into the village/town/CBD to organise pastries and buy lovely bread and new shorts and shirt for me. We also did a jigsaw and read. These were our relaxing days, and we thoroughly enjoyed them no matter what the weather (though the sunny Saturday was best as I actually got N into the sea!!!!).

On the Sunday the Hanlon Adventurer’s joined us after they and Nicky got back from church. Nicky made loads of sandwiches and we had ordered pastries and posh cakes from the French patisserie, all of which were very good. The children were stunned at how small our accomodation was and were completely gobsmacked by the lack of an upper storey. This didn’t stop them wolfing down the food or enjoying the beach however. We walked down the beach to the Marine Gardens for rides on the miniature railway which were greatly enjoyed. After tea and posh cakes we organised fish and chips from the local emporium. When we went to collect them Tim was accompanied by Kit, and I held hands with Mary and Posy, the three of us barefoot. This arrangement went down very well, as did the fish and chips. It was a great afternoon.

For our final full day in Raumati we booked a ferry trip over to Kapati Island, and a one hour guided tour. There were eight of us on the ferry, and three of us on the tour, N & I being joined by a very nice American lady by the name of Laura. The Department of Conservation guide, Brenda, gave us a potted history of the island and highlighted the predominant bird species. Her informative tour included noting the bird calls, observing some of the birds, and an introduction to some of the flora. Brenda took us about a third of the way up the track to the summit. We then did the next third (much steeper) to the Hihi Feeding station (Hihi are birds) where we had lunch which a Kaka (a type of parrot) was very interested in. It had no qualms about sitting on my shoulder and trying to get to my butties! We did not continue on the even steeper final third but enjoyed watching all the birds coming to feed. Walking back down to the beach was much easier and we didn’t have long to wait for our ferry back to the mainland. Laura joined us for a hot drink in a Paraparaumu café before we took her to the station to catch a train back to Wellington. It was a very good trip.

Our other two days were spent in day trips to Wellington.

Wellington (0 nights)

We had planned to go into Wellington on the train before setting out on our holiday, but when we got to Raumati we were warned by the PSA supervisor that parking was very difficult at the station. However, there was a good bus service that could get us there. The problem was that by the time we would be returning the buses would no longer be running. In addition, it worked out to be much cheaper to take the car to the Hanlon’s, park on their drive, and get a bus into central Wellington. This is what we did.

For our first trip we aimed to be with Tim, Mary and Clemmie in time to get the bus into town with them and meet up with Alison for lunch. We enjoyed having sushi on the harbour-side and chatting with Alison & Tim. After Tim headed home and Alison went back to work we walked over to Te Papa (The Museum of New Zealand) for the afternoon. The Gallipoli exhibition was impressive and moving. The way in which it created a time-line which involved the visitor was very well done. We both learned much about the campaign which we hadn’t known. 

It took awhile to get round so didn’t leave us much time after our pot of tea before the museum closed, but we had had a good amble round the Maori displays and marae, and the immigration section. We left Te Papa just before it closed at 6pm and found a spot on the harbour side to eat our picnic tea while waiting for 7pm and the opening event for the NZ Arts Festival. This was billed as theatrical extravaganza welcoming a majestic fleet of waka hourua (double-hulled sailing canoes). Unfortunately, thousands of other people turned up and most of the activity took place on the water, ie: well below eye level, so we didn’t get to see very much, Nicky especially. There were only 3 double-hulled waka and 2 single hulled that I could see, so in the end we felt it was a bit of a disappointment. However, we did meet up with Alison, Bea and Kit afterwards (who had very much better views) and went home with them on the bus and had mugs of tea before driving home.

Our second trip was to have a tour of parliament and supper with the Hanlon’s. Again we drove to Wellington and got the bus into the CBD where we had some lunch. The tour of the three buildings which make up parliament, the Beehive (the executive section where most of the offices are), the Old Parliament Building (the legislature) where the Chamber of Representatives and Select Committee rooms are housed, and the Alexander Turnbull library. We were able to go into the debating chamber at the end of the tour just as PMQ’s had finished, but even though many of the MP’s had left there were still some we recognised discussing a bill about the Marrakesh Treaty (providing copyrighted material for the disabled). We were very pleased that access to the Harry Potter books was mentioned! The tour overall was very good and it was great to see areas of the building that we see regularly on TV. We can highly recommend it to anyone visiting Wellington. Interestingly, of the 26 people on the tour only 3 lived in NZ. We were 2 of them! Afterwards we had some afternoon tea and bought some luxury chocolates for the Hanlon’s before returning to them for supper. Later on Lucy and Charlie joined us and we were very pleased to see them.

New Plymouth (2 nights)

We packed, cleaned and reluctantly left Raumati on Thursday morning. We had our picnic lunch in an attractive park in Whanganui and then took the Surf Highway round the coast to New Plymouth. We had some reasonable views of Mt Egmont/Taranaki but the top was shrouded in cloud. In the in-room literature at the Bella Vista Motel Nicky spotted a tapas bar which served craft beer. We went out to find somewhere for dinner and passed a few suitable places on the way to the tapas bar. When we got there it was busy (therefore popular) and the menu looked good, so we headed inside. We were not disappointed. The food was fantastic. We had pork belly sliders, spicy cauliflower, fried chicken and kumera salad. I was greedy and also had a chocolate brownie. I also enjoyed the beer.

After breakfast the following day we set off on the Coast Walkway. The section we did was around 4km from the centre of town to the east end of the path, and then back again. It was a great walk, mainly on the level, and included Len Lye’s Wind Wand sculpture and some surf beaches. I had a quick swim before we started our return journey and we stopped at Paris Plage for a bite to eat which we really enjoyed. After a bit of a siesta (the return journey was quite warm) we crossed the road from the motel to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Len Lye Centre. This is a stunning piece of architecture which in our view outshines the art within. We had a wander into the Puke Ariki library on our way to buy milk, and enjoyed an after dinner walk west along some of the Coast Walkway in the balmy evening air.

With yesterday being the last official day of our holiday, we had breakfast out at Monica’s, the café attached to the Len Lye Centre. I really enjoyed my eggs Benedict but Nicky found the curry in her kedgeree a little strong. We finished packing, checked out and headed home. We had a nice lunch in the railway station in Te Kuiti and arrived home around 5pm.

Today has been church, walk and swim at Karekare, mowing the grass, loads of loads of washing, and Scrabble over at Stella’s. We’re back!

Take care, Rick