B-B On Sea Napier

I set out for Taupo (via Te Urewera National Park, Wairoa and Napier) about 09:00. Taupo is actually only a shortsih southerly drive from Rotorua, about 80 kimlometres, but the route I had planned took me out to the east coast (the Hawke's Bay region) to Wairoa and Napier through mountains, lakes and forests before heading back west towards Taupo.

A short drive on State Highway 5 brought me to my first choice of the morning – do I ...

... on the nose. Good fresh citrus palette with yet more lemons!

2008 Beachhead C******nay - Seven months oak, 30% new. Full Malo. Light and lemony, crisp nose with a touch of spice. Zesty citrus palette with hints of burnt pineapple.

2008 Reserve C******nay - Recommended 4-5 years in cellar. 12 months oak, mainly new French but some American. More spice on the nose but still loads of lemon. Creamy peachy lightly oaked palette.
Napier, North Island, New Zealand hadwin

... were comfy, lounge area kitted out with plenty of sofas, internet stations and a decent size kitchen. It was just a nice place. They helped us to decide our next day's activities with us hiring 2 bikes, cycling 34km around Napier and surrounding towns taking in 4 wineries, a choc factory, and some unusual wood carvings, long stretches of the coast and port and amazingly a lot of SUNSHIIIIIIINE! It was a much better way to see the area with the ...

... kesti noin 5 tuntia ja joku paikallinen vanha äijä selosti koko matkan ihan innoissaan Kristiinalle alueen historiaa, tietoa reitistä ja ties mitä muuta. Nyt tietysti joku olisi voinut jossain vaiheessa vihjaista, että äiti ei osaa Englantia, mutta kun pappa niin innoissaan selitti, niin eihän sitä kehdannut millään keskeyttää. :-) No, hyvin se meni noinkin. Napier Napier on kaupunki Uuden-Seelannin Pohjoissaaren suunnilleen puoliväliss ...

... stuff most of the time. I will only take western food for convenience sake. 24 Feb Back from work early today, we were caught raining out in the orchard, cold and wet. Picking for me have not being a good day today, by the way now we were picking peaches, much more challenging than apples mainly because there are not much peaches on the tree and many are infested with ants laying egg in them. I just done about a bin today, got to ...

... about 1:30ish..that wasn't the case. Got here at about 3..which leaves significantly less time to do things, especially because Napier is smaller than wellington and literally EVERYTHING closes by 5..even earlier on Fridays. Some weird New Zealand thing where the hours are shorter on Fridays and weekends..makes no sense to me, but oh well! My camera ran out of battery so I am charging it now so I ...

... that I needed to get a cab to the airport to pick up my car. He said for $10 he'd take me there. Seeing as he had reduced the price of the room last night, I thought that was pretty cool. A taxi would have been $20! He took me on a bit of a tour of the town on the way and pointed out several sites. Napier had a terrible earthquake in Feb 1931, which in 2 and a half minutes they gained a huge chunk of land, which rose out of the ocean and drained off. This is where ...

... beautiful country of New Zealand and spend 75% of my time in a cricket ground or a pub. In my view you can do that back home! I just wished my heart didn't tell me it was 2 weeks wasted and that I should have followed my friends from the apple picking onto the south island plus my wallet certainly wouldn't be feeling the pinch after 2 weeks with my UK friends. But hindsight is a wonderful thing!! And it is what you do now that really matters in life!

... wine's as he poured us tastes from some of the wines they were tasting that day and even some that they were not. He seemed to enjoy sipping his wine just as much as he probably enjoyed making it. It really was a wonderful experience. By the time we made our way home it was 5pm and we were pretty exhausted. We rested for a little bit in our room before heading out for a late dinner on the waterfront followed by a drink at the old school bar in our hotel. Tired, full ...

... 4. Scrumpy Cider - Full strength, 8.3%, made from freshly crushed apples. Our comment: Light colour... smell of cider... a bit bitter. Jo's getting tipsy. 5. Perry Cider - Light sparkling sweet cider made using a variety or pears, fermented the traditional way. Our comment: quite good but not as sweet as Perry in Finland (Sweet as! Kiwi English) 6. Quake Vodka and Lemon - Refreshing with very strong hint of the Russian happiness ingredient. Our ...