The sunrise was pretty cool! And I even woke up enough to see it, although I’ll admit my viewing was interspersed with dozing! But the pink and orange sky was definitely worth getting up for and the way the sun jumped out of the water was enough to make me believe that perhaps that was where it had slept! The flat stretch of horizon meant that the colours drifted on endlessly until finally they reached a patch of shore and dissolved into a mountain’s shadow. I wasn’t ‘with it’ enough to catch a photo but even if I had, the picture wouldn’t have done the scene justice. Well not ours anyway!
After washing my hair in our sink (a complicated exercise involving various body contortions and pains coming from under used muscles I didn’t realise I had) and getting told off by Ollie for causing too much white splash on the concrete when I spat out my toothpaste, we drove a short way back into the town centre in search of a farmers market we’d seen advertised the day before. I must admit we were expecting more than a handful of stalls but in the early morning sun the tables set up beneath a corridor of trees did look quite sweet. Perhaps even a little French. After the usual initial quick perusal (this one being roughly thirty seconds), we took a closer look. Our mouth and bellies immediately found love at the bakery stand, the waffle cart, the cheese table and the cupcake stack. Ollie of course spent a long while sniffing around the smoked fish vendor and the dried meats. Everything was fresh and looked so yummy! Controlling ourselves to a donut and a waffle (oh man they were good) we pulled ourselves away. We had a date with something else just as alluring up the hill in wine country!
It did feel a bit odd thinking of a wine tasting at half ten in the morning but as Dad always says, ‘it’s six o’clock somewhere in the world’, and with that thought things felt much better! First of all we had a look round the oldest winery in New Zealand known as The Mission. It was set up by Monks in the middle of the 19th Century and was initially there to produce alter wine. Obviously they decided to move on to making other wines too (They were Monks after all!) and today the vines spread all across the hill behind the very lovely green and white building. We couldn’t taste any of the wines but I did learn quite a lot of the history behind the New Zealand wine industry and what a ‘Maryist’ was.
Back down the hill and along the way a bit is Church Road winery. Here we decided to pay for a tour around the grounds and to learn about their wine making process. Having been on a similar tour around a winery in Kefalonia a few years before we both knew at least something about the wine making process. However this winery was much more picturesque and less factory like and you could literally see the care and attention that went into making the wine. Back in the cellar shop we finally got to taste some wine and after trying three whites and three reds, all given in very generous tasting sizes, my head was admittedly a little light! There were some wines I loved and others that I really didn’t but in the end Ollie and I decided to pick a white to take home. Even though it was my favourite, we chose a hand picked (that makes a difference you know!) Sauvignon Blanc as New Zealand really does make superb wine with these grapes. As I have known for a while now! But this one was particularly yummy.
On the way back to town we passed a small chocolate factory and stopped off to grab a bag of Hokey Pokey chocolates (Honey Comb for anyone who was wondering) and despite our best efforts, the whole lot was gone in five minutes. Even then Ollie couldn’t decide if it was good chocolate! There was an aquarium on the beach front and as it wasn’t too expensive we decided to take a look. It was a pretty cool place and there were a surprising amount of fishies to see. What I liked in particular was that the species on show were completely different to the ones you’d see in the UK and so I learnt a lot of new facts and information. The little turtles were my favourite and seeing them try and swim about was really funny! The Piranhas were ugly and fierce and I didn’t know that their teeth can even bite through bones!
The best bit in the aquarium by far though, and it wasn’t even sea creature related, was the moment when for the first time since arriving in New Zealand, and even though it wasn’t in the wild, Ollie and I got to see...a KIWI! Wow! They are so weird! So prehistoric looking! So furry and fuzzy! And what a beak! We didn’t think we’d even see the bird because it was in a large darkened area and when there is ever a viewing area like that the animal everyone most wants to see never appears and everyone is left disappointed. But not then! As Ollie and I stood quietly waiting, suddenly from a pile of dry foliage appeared Mr Kiwi. Shuffling his way forward using his almost blind eyes he walked right in front of us and ate some of his food. In total wonder we stood staring, paralyzed to the spot, not even able to think to grab a photo. And then just as magically as the Kiwi appeared, he was gone. Back into his den. It was so wonderful to see the amazing bird and as people pilled up behind us, the Kiwi now out of sight, we knew how lucky we had been.
* * *
Sunday morning we visited our second market of the weekend, the oldest in New Zealand, which was just down the road from Napier in Hastings. This farmers market was much bigger than Saturday’s and although there were a few of the same vendors, there was far more variety and things to look at. We wanted to buy some really good cheese and bread that we could enjoy later with a bottle of red wine we were going to buy from a winery that afternoon. After enjoying the free tasting that everyone offered (Maybe enjoying the free cheese and avocado a little too much) we finally selected a wonderful mature cheddar cheese that had those awesome crunchy bits you get in tasty cheese. Don’t know what they are but it’s probably mold aye! I wanted the vintage cheddar but it was a bit too much for Ollie. Next we bought two lovely fluffy rolls of bread before discovering the home made jam and chutney stand. We tried out a few but I decided on a ‘Mango and Ginger’ chutney that I thought would go perfectly with our cheeses, we had also got ourselves a real stinky smoky cheese that I was extremely excited about. Yes, you can get excited about cheese!
Not allowing ourselves to get carried away and spend loads of money on wonderful food we left the market and set off for a region just outside Hastings that is renowned for its red wine. Unfortunately as it is winter most of the wineries are closed but we did find one that was open and a very nice woman who let us taste a few reds. As we chatted about England, Auckland our accents and of course, the weather, we tasted three different bottles. Ollie had initially wanted a Merlot but after trying their best label Syrah he changed his mind. It was a very good wine and after a very, very, very long decision process he finally settled on the bottle. Meanwhile I was again feeling the effects of wine tasting on an empty stomach.
That afternoon we said goodbye to the east coast and set off in our van towards Wellington. As we drove the weather got worse and worse and soon the wind was trying to push the van over. Ollie had been driving carefully anyway to conserve fuel and we always pulled over when we had formed a small queue behind us. But the wind was pretty bad over some of the hills so he had slowed to about 80 Kmph. We were happily singing along to the radio and then suddenly blue and red lights were flashing behind us, the siren came on and Ollie informed me we were getting pulled over by the cops. Ollie already knew he was going to be accused of driving too slowly ad causing a queue but there hadn’t been a suitable place to pull over for a couple of kilometers. He was a bit annoyed as he waited for the policeman to come and knock on our window.
When he finally strolled over and asked the proverbial question ‘How fast do you think you were going back there?’ (I know that’s what they always ask ‘cos every time I’ve been in the car with Mum when she’s been pulled over they ask her that!!...O.K Mum just the one or two times!) Ollie barely had a chance to say before the cop launched into an attack about how it was 70Kmph and no buts it was and how we were causing a hazard and if we were going to continue to drive like that, people on the way home from their holidays would have to take hazardous risks that could end terribly. Oh and that we should have pulled over a couple of hundred meters back. And when Ollie replied that he didn’t think there had been a suitable place as it was too narrow the cop started laughing at him and asked how long he had been driving and how old he was. Not that we could see any relevance in asking and were pretty annoyed to be getting laughed at for being careful. When Ollie mentioned the wind and how it was really pushing the van about the policeman just laughed more. He finally let us go but we were both pretty annoyed. He was basically asking us to put ourselves in danger just so other people could get home. And the fact was we’d never gone as slow as he had said because Ollie had known what speed he was going the whole time. The cops i’d seen on T.V shows over here were always nice and good looking but this guy was an idiot and really not!
Lucky for us we had a good way to wind down after a frustrating afternoon and as the rain beat down on our windswept van we were tucked inside enjoying our bottle of wine. The chutney did go amazingly well with our bread and cheese and we had finished the whole lot within a matter of minutes. The wine tasted great and it was a perfect temperature thanks to my homemade wine warmer...putting it between my legs for a bit!
15/7/12
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