Acorn Estate Motel Masterton

... br>We really loved Napier – certainly our favourite place so far. The town is a good size but not very touristy – the opposite of Rotorua. The setting is beautiful on Hawkes Bay and the vegetation is quite lush – tall palms, succulents, citrus trees and lots of the vineyards. (Back to the vineyards in a minute). The downtown was completely rebuilt in 1932 after a devastating earthquake flattened what was the town. The character of ...

... and along the old railway line including some long tunnels lit especially for the occasion (upside down light bulbs!) Whilst I was running Leszek got some bargain chairs for our camping travels next month (£7.50 a chair!) We joined the Wellington Scottish running club for a picnic at Featherston afterwards. Sunday was spent eating, shopping for other bargains, swimming for me & floor-ball for Leszek... We are slowly getting closer to being organised for the ...

... morning getting up and around with only a loose plan of stopping by a local chocolaterie which was conveniently on the way to the skydive site. Called Schoc Chocolate, this is an amazing local endeavor that offers the largest array of flavors and single-origin chocolates I've ever seen. The best part being that they actively encourage you to sample any and all of their flavors. My favorites were Earl Grey, Lemongrass, and Lime Chili.

Ok ...

Kia Ora, nach laengerer Pause habe ich die Ostertage mal wieder fuer eine Wanderung genutzt. Ich bin mit dem "Zug" (nun, ueber Ostern sind die Zuege durch Busse ersetzt worden) ins 90km entfernte Masterton gefahren, Zentrum des Wairarapa Valley's, Weinanbaugebiet. Der Trailhead ist knapp 20km von Masterton entfernt, habe leider nur fuer die letzten 4km einen Hitch gefunden, die Wochenendausfluegler wollten mich nicht mitnehmen (und davon gab es eine Menge ...

... wässern und Marc und ich schon gefällte Bäume entaschten und zu Brennholz verarbeiten. Alle Tätigkeiten wurden sogar angezogen tolariert ;-)! Und oh Wunder...ich bekam sogar eine Schnittschutzhose zum Motorsägen.....dafür gabs aber keine Handschuhe. Denn laut Gerry "braucht n richtiger Kiwi (Neuseeländer) keine Handschuhe!"...die Aussage von mir "dass ich aber n richtiger Deutscher bin, konnte ihn da auch nicht umstimmen!" Zum Lunch gab´s dann lecker Gegrilltes ...

... immer gern einen sehr liebevollen Blick zu der graziös mit einer verneinenden Kopfbewegung kombiniert war. (Marc`s Spekulationen dass es sich dabei um einen Wirbelschaden handelt kann man da echt nicht einfach so unter den Tisch kehren ;-)!) Also nicht dass ihr jetzt denkt ich ziehe seit dem ich hier in Neuseeland bin gern über Leute her, aber wie das alles abgelaufen ist war alles andre als fair. Alle von uns, echt alle ham sich 8 Tage am Stück den ...

... managed to muscle his way in and convince the guy to lend him his tools and he got stuck in himself. 40 minutes later and Betsy was fixed! Panic over and we were back on the road heading to Wellington. We had missed our booked crossing and there were no more for that day so we are currently parked in a 24 car park in Wellington waiting to make the crossing tomorrow! And then we will be back in the South Island - yeeha!

... a meadow with the mountains far in the background. Truly spectacular! We decided to rent bikes and start touring the wineries. Since it was a weekday, many of the wineries were closed. We did find 4 that were open - and we bought 4 bottles of wine! The last winery we visited, Te Kairanga (TK) was our favorite. It had a big yard with picnic tables, so we bought a chilled bottle of their delicious Sauvignon Blanc and some crackers ...

... after setting off from Wellington. Upon arriving at Teds we realised quickly why we had been told why the journey should only take an hour with Teds 4x4 sitting in the driveway. Ted hadn't changed, even though it had been quite a number of years since i had last seen him, his looks and sense of humor were still the same. Almost immediately we were invited to stay the weekend and with Ted and his partner Shelby we spent the next couple of days drinking wine and eating ...

Often confused with Marlborough, Martinborough is the Pinot Noir capital of New Zealand. Like mentioned in a previous entry, the highest rated wine came out of this region. To get there, I first had to cross through a gorge that ended up being pretty. The only problem was it was a curvy, one-laned, unpaved road. I think I held my breathe at each turn expecting to get in a head-on. The gorge brought me back to the main highway and then shortly to the turn off to Martinborough ...