Kennedy Park

 On Sunday 16th May we made the trip back up SH2 to Kennedy Park in Napier. We had only just set up when two large busloads of highschool students arrived! Just our luck! However they appeared to be from St Peters and Dio in Hamilton (one busload of boys, the other of girls) and were no trouble at all. I wondered how the time controlled showers went down with the girls. They left on activities at 8.30am, so I just had an extra lie in.

On Monday we had a leisurely start with reading the morning Herald. Then we headed off to Hastings to get stuff we cannot get in Gisborne, and then back to Napier to join Fred and Leigh for lunch. Freds neutrophils are only 0.2, and he should not be out in public seeing us. He seemed very subdued at first, but brightened as we chatted.

Just time for one more winery - Mission as they had a special on Malbec, that we are particularly fond of after  our trip to Argentina. Of course we went to Argentina to find Mendoza Chardonnay, the clone we had on our property, but it had all been wiped out by disease. This lead us onto a wonderful Chardonnay made at Mission from Mendoza and Clone 15. We had a lovely tasting guide here, who ended up telling Duncan of her hole in 1 experience at golf. He left green with envy.

Its such a lovely setting in the well maintained Mission Buildings.

The road home was very slow, due to gusty winds and many stop/go men and women. We were also a bit concerned about one of the feet of the caravan which had split the tightening up mechanism. It wasn't very stable overnight, and we worried that it might drop down while we were travelling. Luckily one of our neighbours has just opened up a "Trailer and Towbar" business and was able to fix it for us.

All ready for our next adventure in Spring!

Taste Martinborough

 On Friday 14th May, we left Waipukurau and headed for Martinborough. The day was crisp, and the Tararuas had a fresh cap of snow. The farmland became more lush. Very picturesque.

After setting up at the now familiar Top 10 Motor Camp, our first stop is Luna. Luna has formed from Alana and Blue Rock and hence Murdoch James vineyards as well. We are focusing on Pinot Noir and Riesling.

The first carton in the car.

Then we went to Columbo. We wondered if the young woman who served us was from Colombia, but she was from Chile. She had done her oenology training over there and worked at Emiliana - which just happened to be the one winery that we visited in Chile. (Of course we remembered the name) So we had quite a long chat to her and we also bought some Urlar Rose. Poor vintages tonnage wise have meant that quite a few wines are selling out, and they are, in our opinion, releasing the new wines before they are quite ready. 

Next stop was a small boutique winery called Grava - where the Riesling was great!

Time for a cuppa and a shower and then we walked back into town for dinner at Medici

Then we took the local taxi service back to the caravan.

Next morning was a mix of cold but sunny or wet squally showers skudding through. Although we were up early enough, we ditched our plans to go out to the Putangirua Pinnacles as the walk in is about 45mins. It would be just our luck to be caught in a shower. So we read our books until it is time to go to the wineries.

Its a fair trip out to Johner at Gladstone which we have found to be a reliable winery. The German owner has been stuck in Germany since COVID, but (fortunately) the Swiss winemaker has been stuck in NZ. We thought the wines showed promise, but were selling very young.

Next on our tour was Olivo, the Olive oil orchard. What an informative talk from the grower - she gave us lots of good cooking tips. This really was a highlight - and we came away with many bottles.

Lunch at Coney's was next on the list. Tim Coney does tasting flights while you are having shared platters. He is absolutely hilarious. The Pinot Gris was surprisingly good, and we did buy others with a view to cellaring them.

Pan seared rare venison on brioche crostini with a burnt spring onion cream - so tender and tasty!!

Paua fritters with garlic and chilli prawns and a lime and coriander mayo - some seafood for Duncan to enjoy.

It was disappointing the dessert took so long to come. We finished the day at Palliser Estate, then headed back to the caravan for a snooze, followed by a light tea and a game of scrabble. Duncan was to go first - but he picked up no vowels and had to chuck his tiles back! We both ended up with one letter, with the scores a tie, but now Duncan's turn came first, and so I lost by two points.

Our Autumn Trip

 We had hoped to leave earlier and be down in Martinborough for our wedding anniversary - but hey, what's a few days when you've been married 48 years?

We had a few hiccups along the way - 2ate7 where we usually stop for lunch has now closed permanently so we had a short stop by the river, and then went on to the Napier  coast. We stopped at the coffee cart there and  I was given a cappuccino rather than a hot chocolate, and then we took off, leaving the step to the caravan behind, which precipitated  2 U turns on state highway 2 towing a caravan. We also left the fridge unlatched which meant a spew of items from the fridge - fortunately no liquids were involved.

We got established at the Waipukarau Camping ground - distinctly provincial - and relaxed!

Happy Wedding Anniversary

After dinner we played scrabble - 2nd turn in I managed FEARSOME with a 50 point bonus for using all my letters. To his credit, Duncan played hard, and lost by 47 at the end.

Thursday is the day for sightseeing in Waipukurau - which shouldn't take all that long!

Leaving the camping ground to explore.

Quite often an earthquake will show up on my Geonet App as having been registered at Porangahau. So we set off to the coast - this is the far end of the Hikurangi plate which causes all the earth movements up Gisborne way as it is subducted under the Australian Plate. It is a lovely drive out to the coastline, which is wild and deserted. There are some baches and some nice homes crouching above the shoreline.

Driving back, the hills look like gigantic grey boulders - it is so dry - but when the watery winter sun shines through they turn an enchanting bronze colour.

We return via Pukeora (Hill of Health) where there was once a TB sanatorium, then a hospital for disabled children. More recently it was turned into accommodation, a small winery and an art gallery. The buildings are quite magnificent, but it appears it was not financially viable and is now closed. Perhaps the ghosts of tortured souls still lurked.

View from Pukeora

Back at the camp we went for a walk by the Tukituki River, however it wasn't very scenic in Waipukurau. This is a functioning railway track with trains at odd hours. We probably could have scored some drugs here if we  wanted to!