After settling into the Edgewater Motel on Marine Parade and viewing the documentary about the momentous 1931 earthquake at the Napier Art Deco Centre we went for a walk around the town centre of NZ's famous "Art Deco" town.....
But by 5.30pm it was starting to look like a heavy downfall was imminent - and we were starting to realise that the Art Deco heart of Napier was actually pretty quiet during the week (I think the fun part of town was where we were at lunchtime at the old Port Ahuriri), so with rain threatening we took refuge at the Turkish Kilim Restaurant which was very close to our Motel....a great choice as it turned out as the food was great - very fresh and very light and flavoursome. Afterwards, we got soaked on the short walk back to Edgewater!
We left Napier this morning in steady rain about 9.30am with an almost 4 hour drive ahead of us to Martinborough, the gourmet wine district of the North Island. Under clearing skies we had a short stop in Woodville on the A2 for a great coffee and an early lunch (making a point to avoid Woodville's famous "gourmet" cheese cakes) and then a much longer stop at Pukaha Mount Bruce, a wildlife restoration centre in a protected forest area administered by the NZ Wildlife service. The main objective of Pukaha is to help restore native wildlife (especially birds) through breeding and incubation programs...but for us it was just as interesting to see an area where the great native NZ forests are being restored.
During our visit we were lucky enough to see a very rare Manukura, little white kiwi (under very low light because they are nocturnal animals), .....
and a Kereru, the largest pigeon in NZ as well as a Tui, in the free flight aviary, along with a Korimako (bellbird) and a pair of native ducks (whio). Pukaha is a low key "tourist experience" but we really appreciated its authentic conservation credentials.
It was close to 5.00pm by the time we pulled into Martinborough, the so called gourmet wine capital of the North Island. We love our room at the beautiful old Martinborough Hotel, on the town's main square.
We enjoyed a glass of Pinot Gris (and Rob a Pinot Noir) from the local Ata Rangi vineyard (superb) before dinner at "Cool Change", a very cool little bar/restaurant opposite our hotel. we both enjoyed pan fried local fish (caught this morning) with prawns, a veggie ragout and bean salad - beautiful! especially with a glass of Lawson's Dry Hills Marlborough Riesling (excellent match!!). We are loving Martinborough!
Cool Change is such a cool, groovy local - this is our view of it from our room at the Martinborough Hotel.
We took advantage of the perfect conditions and booked a 5pm cruise around Lake Taupo yesterday afternoon on the good (sailing ship) Barbary.
There were 19 of us on board + the skipper. There was a good wind blowing on the lake so trying to keep "an even keel" (and not sliding off the side of the boat) did detract somewhat from feeling too relaxed most of the time.
One of the best parts of the trip was chatting to our neighbours Joel and Erin (yes Ros!!). They were a pair of smart, savvy New Yorkers - on their honeymoon in NZ, so we had some great talks over the 2 and half hour trip about the Donald and what was going on in the US that made people vote for him. Joel works for the ABC (American Broadcasting Company) so we was super cool, smart and switched on, as was Erin!
The weather could not have been more perfect!
The Maori rock carving on the north west side of Lake Taupo on the cliffs of Mine Bay gives these sailing trips a great highlight destination - as the bay is only accessible by water. They were created in the late 1970s and the main 10 metre high carving of the face is intended to protect the lake from any more volcanic activity underneath.
We had a slow start this morning and it was well after 10.00am before we were on the road again. First of all we stopped at the Huka Falls (5 minutes out of Taupo) to see this part of the Waikato River, the longest river in NZ. It starts from the eastern slopes of my favourite Mt Ruapehu, flows through Lake Taupo and ends up eventually flowing into the Tasman Sea, south of Auckland.
The river only falls about 9 metres at this point but the volume of water over the falls often approaches 220,000 litres a second (enough to fill 4 Olympic sized swimming pools a minute).
The drive to Napier was another easy, less than 2 hour drive through undulating forests (and another magnificent waterfall along the way) and then lots of orchards and vineyards as we drove through the Esk Valley closer to Napier.
We rewarded ourselves after arriving in Napier with a delicious lunch at The Gintrap at West Quay, Ahuriri, the site of Napier's old fishing port (now a boat harbour!).
I was very pleased with my choice: sea scallops, avocado and aioli and a strawberry, tomato, sumac and basil salad. I also tried a local Sauvignon Blanc (Elephant Hill) which went really well with these dishes.
We've joined the hordes of our fellow Canberra-ites trying out the new Singapore Airlines direct flights to Wellington, New Zealand. We even have a new International departure lounge at our beautiful Canberra Airport - so exciting.
In less than three hours we'd landed at Wellington Airport and were on our way in our Corolla rental heading north along Highway1towards Levin. It was a pretty easy hour and a half drive through some amazing landscapes, driving alongside the Kapiti Coast looking out to the Tasman Sea to the west with rolling green hills and copses of pine trees undulating as far as the eye could see ahead and around us.
No one would choose to stay in Levin for its scenic qualities but it was the only place we could get a room on our way to Lake Taupo on this busy long weekend in NZ. However we were happy with our little log cabin at the Welcome Inn and our Kapiti Coast brewed beer and meal at the cute and character filled cinema cafe in central Levin.
We headed further north from Levin this morning along Highway 1 making our first stop at Taihape (of gumboot throwing fame) and then Turangi for lunch. The landscape was quite different today..... but still very green, lots of pine forests, and infrequent small settlements along the highway.
As we got closer to the southern boundary of the Tongarira National Park the landscape flattened out and started to look more arid. Then we had these amazing views of Mt Ruapehu......
and then Mt Ngaunuhoe - looking just as high - but no remnant snow..
The small township of Turangi is at the southern most point of Lake Taupo - a perfect place to stop for lunch...which we enjoyed in the tiny rose garden of the Mustard Seed Cafe.
Roses obviously grow well on the North Island......
It's only a 5 minute drive out of Turangi to the thermal pools of Tukaana. We got out of the car at the visitor's car park to be met by this sign and this pool of steaming, gurgling water....
The Tukaana thermal pools comprise a tiny segment of the network of thermal pools and volcanic activity over the North Island (especially around Rotarura to the North) but in our short walk today we saw some amazing sights..... In years gone by Moari tribes used these pools for healthful bathing.....
.... no doubt steering clear of these areas of boiling, steaming mud.....
While I was getting this shot, steam and boiling water started spurting out of this crack in the earth - scary! This is how a geyser could start I guess!
This was the hottest pool of all - at least 60oC - you could do all your cooking in this one (but you wouldn't want to fall in)!
The last 40 or so kilometres we drove today was around the Eastern edge of Lake Taupo, a HUGE crater lake formed only 2000 (almost) years ago as a result of a volcanic eruption.
The pic below is the view from our room (well almost) at "Sails on the Lake". The lake and the township of Taupo are crowded today - it's a public holiday (Waitangie Day) and perfect weather!
Both the girls have had a great start to the school year. Abi started "big school" on Monday and coped really well with all the new demands of Kindergarten. By today she had a really loose front tooth (the first of her baby teeth to go) and a huge big blister on her hand - from all the monkey bar work she's done...she really is a successful "big school" girl now.
Ella is enjoying year 4 so far..... and she's introduced me to "Zentangling" already. It's been all go go go this week with school starting and Gymnastics on Monday afternoons and swimming after school on Thursdays........
But by 5.30pm it was starting to look like a heavy downfall was imminent - and we were starting to realise that the Art Deco heart of Napier was actually pretty quiet during the week (I think the fun part of town was where we were at lunchtime at the old Port Ahuriri), so with rain threatening we took refuge at the Turkish Kilim Restaurant which was very close to our Motel....a great choice as it turned out as the food was great - very fresh and very light and flavoursome. Afterwards, we got soaked on the short walk back to Edgewater!
During our visit we were lucky enough to see a very rare Manukura, little white kiwi (under very low light because they are nocturnal animals), .....
It was close to 5.00pm by the time we pulled into Martinborough, the so called gourmet wine capital of the North Island. We love our room at the beautiful old Martinborough Hotel, on the town's main square.
We enjoyed a glass of Pinot Gris (and Rob a Pinot Noir) from the local Ata Rangi vineyard (superb) before dinner at "Cool Change", a very cool little bar/restaurant opposite our hotel. we both enjoyed pan fried local fish (caught this morning) with prawns, a veggie ragout and bean salad - beautiful! especially with a glass of Lawson's Dry Hills Marlborough Riesling (excellent match!!). We are loving Martinborough!
Cool Change is such a cool, groovy local - this is our view of it from our room at the Martinborough Hotel.
and a Kereru, the largest pigeon in NZ as well as a Tui, in the free flight aviary, along with a Korimako (bellbird) and a pair of native ducks (whio). Pukaha is a low key "tourist experience" but we really appreciated its authentic conservation credentials.
