Flag Inn Snowgoose Lodge Napier

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Carnet De Passages En Doune, Bike ownership papers, bike valuation, bike registration, shipping documents, insurance, medical insurance, Medical vaccinations certificate, Letter of introduction for Sudan, Translation of passport into Arabic for Libya, 20 passport photos etc.... 2 x copies of everything etc..... I think that i will have to buy a trailer in South Africa to tow all of this around.

... up a storm in the kitchen armed with a bell which produced a Pavlovian response from Gavin when food was ready to be served (or when the kitchen were curious as to what he was up to). Gavin joined me in a glass of Riesling and we swapped tails of Thai and Malaysian food and tales of Vince. The food was all prepared from scratch including the sauces and spices which gave the food a real home-cooked feel and superb flavours. As ever ...

... Holly and Zach were all there to greet us and very quickly our bags (even the plastic one) were brought round and we whizzed off to their home. Which I have to say is beautiful. Since arriving in Napier we have spent our days relaxing and getting to know the town. The buildings are stunning and fascinating history about how the town was rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake. As Caroline and Steve own and run the ...

... As we were packing the tent away, we were visited by a huge sandy coloured rabbit which we think was wild but was very tame and we were more fortunate than our neighbours who had one of their guy ropes nibbled through by the said rabbit! In addition to seeing the rabbit, as we were packing up our sleeping bags, we spotted what we thought was a grasshopper sitting on one of them, only to realise on closer inspection that it was a small mantis!

... drinking our fine 'gold medal' wine being served complimentary olives and bread - soooooo good. After a long leisurely lunch we drove through more vineyards and hills to Ocean Beach - a good surf beach with dunes behind- miles from anywhere but on arrival obviously the place to be on Waitangi Day! After falling asleep for a good 10 mins and a dip in the sea, we headed home! Used the ...

... chilling out and went to the cinema and then got harrassed endlessly by a bandana wearing german, as i tried to sleep. Wellington was pretty cool, it has all these winding hills where houses are built into and the view over the city looks like a scene from the Hollywood hills, all very lush green and beautiful. It had cool street art and a good little vibe. I did nothing very active really just headed for the ferry in the afternoon and it was all aboard for the south island! 

... have happily trotted up the coast to Napier. It's a quirky little place with a tragic history. In 1931 there was a large earthquake here, killing 261 people and injuring more than 500 more. The entire town was rebuilt over the next few years, entirely in the art deco style, so it's beautiful, despite the legacy. It's been back to glorious sunshine (albeit with a cold wind) so I have trundled up and down the shoreline on foot and on bike) enjoying the views and the houses ...

... small groups and fly to Australia. After about three years they return to the colony and if they are not among the 60% who do not survive the journey they can live for 30 - 40 years. Adult birds never return to Australia. The ride down the Cape seemed shorter than ...

... so she was particularly excited about this stop. We know that NZ dairy is supposed to be amazing, but compared to some of the stuff we're used to at home, the cheese was underwhelming. No worries though -- we ended up having a super yummy picnic lunch amongst the cheese shops beautiful garden. After lunch we decided to do a quick tasting at the more upmarket Black Sheep winery down the road from Te Mata. Not bad, but not as good as home ;-). And then we were off to Wellington.

... shaving all the hari off of the sides of your head, nor is it as completely stigmatizing as the large pointy hairdo's popular with punk bands like Rancid. After a bit more of Napier we drove south to Havelock North, and up to Mt. Tama Scenic Reserve. The first part of our walk was to summit Mt. Tama, and have the best panoramic view of Hawke Bay that you can get. We then followed a nice loop that took us down the ridge line and deposited ...