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!

Grand Opening to Supergrans

 

Welcome to Supergrans modernised building.

I was on Floral work - trying to make two matching displays was quite hard. Also I knew the ribbon was red which limited by choice of flowers, but the red chillies hanging down were a hit.

I wasn't needed in the kitchen - but they certainly were well prepared. This is the commercial kitchen side where we can prepare bulk meals with repurposed food.

This is the counselling room. I donated (thanks Simon) one of Phyls pictures which had some tears in the canvas which had to be repaired and then I touched up, but it looks pretty spectacular.

And not to be outdone, I donated one of my paintings "Down on the Boardwalk" which hangs in the Boardroom.

Molly Pardoe our chairperson, and Rehette Stoltz, the mayor hold the ribbon while Meka Whaitiri cut the ribbon. You can see my floral efforts framing this "stage" in front of what is the "home" kitchen to teach younger ones about what it is like to cook at home.

The speeches were very short, and all quite humorous, the singing was lusty so it was quickly done.

The last speaker was our inspirational leader, Linda Coulston, who is very visionary in what could be achieved - if fact what needed to be achieved.

She related an anecdote about the commercial oven. Not only can you set it to cook (or dehydrate) at night, the oven is also self cleaning AND she can monitor all this on her phone at home!

I then proceeded to lead guided tours of the different facilities, focussing on good donors.

The food bank dried goods store.

The canned goods store and one of our chillers. We also have a freezer and another chiller built in.

The Koha shed - the boxes are named "Boys Age 8 singlets and underpants." or similar

More in the Koha shed with adults clothing and bedding. Although we get quite good quality duvet covers, the inners are quite often a bit manky, so we buy new ones with donations. There is also a shed for furniture but that hasn't been sorted yet!

Lastly the offices for our workers, Social worker Ju, Kai co-ordinator Gypsy, Field worker Erana (goes up the coast a lot.)

Standing or sitting desks. I think they probably need one of my paintings in here too LOL.

Tiffany (office manager) and Linda (SGT manager) work out of the boardroom.

Next week may involve some cleaning of the old premises before we hand it back.

Out West

 Brian and Lindsey, longtime friends from Optometry days, have sold their farmlet at Kaukapakapa and moved to and apartment in Glenfield - making them Westies. The apartment is in an older building and they have the second floor, with an Italian Restaurant handily situated on the ground floor and an artist on floor three. It is a three bedroom place, but two of the bedrooms are filled with art works and supplies - plus she has just rented a studio a block away.

The apartment is in a New York loft style with white walls and industrial piping, but their furniture is mainly antiques, and lots of Poole Pottery vases, so it seemed a little incongruous. Quite a lot of Lindsey's art work is quite big, so we were a bit overwhelmed with it. 

Large one of details of Grafton Bridge as you come up the stairs

This has antique mouldings stuck on.

This one is done with vintage wallpapers.

We went down for lunch - and a few wines and then Lindsey dropped us out to the airport. We had travelled out on the train as the train station stops just at the top of their road, so it wasn't far to wheel our suitcase.

I think she plans our her artwork more than me!

These two photos are taken in Lindsey's studio.

Some delay with the plane, so we got back to Gisborne quite late. I needed a good rest the next day - not to mention a day on reduced booze and food.

Nuttyforyou

 

We were up bright and early next morning and took the link bus to the rental car place. We managed to negotiate the roads with only one small unintentional detour. The Macadamia Orchard we were heading for is in Waipu. Just like our property it is a matter of things we did right and thinks we did wrong. They planted their trees very close together and will probably have to cut some down. Their solution is to hire Philipino ladies who are used to crouching to help with the harvesting.

They also run sheep through their property which leads to high nitrogen levels which means very dense vegetative growth, and lots of poo too!

Eric now struggles to get machinery down the rows at all. They also had a paddock were nearly all the trees had died or were stunted. I didn't feel I should take a picture of this.

One of the reasons we had travelled all this way was to see the machinery because as Vanessa is relocating all her processing to Opotiki - which was not what we had anticipated when we started this venture. The nuts should be husked within 48hours, and then kept in a dry environment. So we need to get a dehusker and a drier. The shell is still on the nut at this stage, and we sell NIS Nut in shell.

This is the dehusker and it will be arriving late April. The engineer comes down and installs it for us.

A lot of the growers there were from the far North where they have stickers - nuts which don't drop off the trees, which means you have to have a hydroladder to pick them. These growers are generally very critical and opinionated, but this may be because who wants to replant an orchard. The trip was very worthwhile in showing us what we need and helped us firm up our decisions.

We managed all the correct off ramps on the way back and got a link bus back to the hotel. Just time for a nap before going out with the Marinos. But No! there is a rally for "Be kind to Asians" complete with megaphones and chanting just a block away.

We walk down to the Viaduct and go to Giraffe for dinner - so much to catch up on, that I hardly noticed what we had to eat. Christine, who is Lead Family Welfare Worker for one one of the wards at Starship Hospital had just had a gruelling week with the little girl who got run over by the 77year-old driver in the school carpark. So she was ready for a wine or two, and I felt duty bound to keep her company. They have both had health issues and I think it is time that they retire to Gisborne. By about nine o'clock the restaurant was empty - apart from us, and the usually bustling viaduct was near empty. Peoples habits have changed!

Degustation at the Grove

 Because we had not gone out for Duncan's birthday I thought we should push the boat out at a degustation dinner. At $125 a head we hoped it would be a highlight and it did not disappoint. Many of these items I would never try cooking at home, Take for example the three Amuse Bouche that we had.

The one on the left is crisp pigshead croquette with a mustard creme. Yes that's right, they boil down the pigshead then pulp it up - there were even a few bristles in it!! it tasted surprisingly delicious. The one on the right was a truffle creme white mushroom. Third was tempura - Duncan had octopus in his while I had cauliflower.

We decided to choose our own wines by the glass, and were very pleased we did. You could do wine matching at an extra $80 a head, but at the table next to us they ended up with a huge number of half drunk glasses. We chose a  Grava reisling from Martinborough to start with, and then - a walk down memory lane as we had a  Achaval Ferrer malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.

The Swede Tagliatelle with fennel and orange began the first of the degustation courses.

Duncan had a seafood starter - kingfish with a crab stuffing.

Probably the most unusual dish came out next - Poached Egg Ravioli with a black garlic sauce decorated with blanched brussel sprout leaves. When you cut into the ravioli the semi cooked egg yolk squidged out.

The next course was sort of the main course and I think I could cook  this better - beef strips in Macadamias. 

The buns were a highlight - sort of bao buns then coated with a tasty glaze. Oops looks like the Malbec is going down well. I ordered one more glass and craftily shared it between our two glasses when the sommelier was not looking. That way we could have something sweeter with dessert.

What looks like lettuce is a sort of pistachio nut sponge, served with figs and buttermilk icecream. And to finish was the chef's special treat , and a weird conclusion to a high class degustation, but we ate it anyway.

 The courses were very light and fresh. and my

 bank account was a little lighter too. The service of the staff was superb but friendly.

Great night out, and within walking distance of our hotel.