Scenic Circle Te Pania Hotel Napier

... the town centre and a coffee in the sunshine, I headed back to my car (my parking had expired by 6 minutes but I had no ticket so I hope I have got away with it!) to make the final leg of the day&#8217;s driving to Taupo. <br><br>A clear run on State Highway 5, with a nice view of the snow caps of Mount Ruapehu got me to Taupo in about 90 minutes. After a quick drive around Taupo and a grocery stop for dinner, I headed to my motel for ...

... nose. Sweet attack with warming dry finish. Interesting.<br><br>Elephant Hill Estate Winery - bit of a new kid on the block. State of the art winery with trendy restaurant. One of the few places who charged for their tastings. Still finding their feet a bit but showing some potential.<br><br>2007 Sauvignon Blanc - Orange zest on the nose. Light acidity, good length with some minerality.<br><br>2008 Sauvignon Blanc - Gooseberry this time, again ...

I woke up this morning feeling a bit blue, like my holiday in New Zealand was nearly over and I suppose it is really, I have no more tramps left in the schedule and after a day off would start my relative sprint back up to Auckland for my onward flight to Australia. I've had a lovely time on South Island and could quite easily plan another 3/4 week trip of tramping and generally bumming around no I know where everything is. But, its not over ...

... on the Richter scale, and that of course there had been many fatalities, mainly caused by the fires which raged afterwards. These were caused by chemist's bunsen burners which were close to flammable chemicals. After the quake, the town had an amazing spirit which led them to rebuild their city with pride! The first building was built with rivets rather than the modern method of welding, so that the whole town could hear it being built and boost morale. All the ...

On the way, my bus stopped to a nature center where I saw my first kiwi: OK it was in the dark and he was sleeping: so you could not really see him but still my first kiwi. The other part of the center where a lot of place the bird watching and an information center to learn how they live in the wild. Including a ...

... the views of Lake Rotorua on the edge of the pools. Andrew agreed it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but still said that he was going to have his steak. We got ready for dinner and were met by our bus that was taking us to the Mitai dinner, a traditional Hangi dinner that included a Maori performance. We had been to a similar dinner in Hawaii and enjoyed it so we had high hopes. After a glass of wine, we were escorted down to a small stream where the Maori ...

... tait sympa, pour $9 soit environ 4.50 euros, nous pouvions essayer 6 différentes boissons, et attention les verres étaient bien remplis. Nous avons donc gouté du Ginger Spin cidre (cidre de Noel selon Jo), de la Special Reserve bière aromatisée au citron, miel et cannelle (très doux) et plus de biere et plus de cidre et de la vodka aussi. A un moment on commencait a etre un peu bourré, on se demandait alors si c'était une bonne idée de retourner sur ...