Our first stop upon entering the Hawke’s bay region was Napier. The city centre was rebuilt after a large earthquake in the 1930s which shook the city to the ground and raised a new coastline out of the sea. Since then it has become famous for its Art Deco architecture and nearby vineyards, although cyclone damage and the Robbie Williams concert the night before we arrived were all the locals seemed to be talking about.
Whilst here we visited the national aquarium with its wide array of native animals including little blue penguins, stingrays, turtles, pufferfish and the rather un-aquatic kiwi bird. After a nights stay in the city we ventured just a few kilometres south to the nearby city of Hastings where we had booked into a wine tasting tour.
The following morning we were picked up from our campsite and informed that it was only us booked on today, so we’d be having a private tour! We the spent the afternoon visiting 4 vineyards in the Hawke’s Bay region. Brookfields was first up, a family-owned vineyard that had suffered significantly in the cyclone back in February and only just reopened. Here the winemaker gave us a great introduction the process involved in producing wine and the art of tasting it. A very special gold label Cabernet Merlot blend turned out to be Nathan’s favourite of the day.
Next up was Askerne, also a family-owned vineyard, named after the town in Yorkshire where the family originated from. Here we not only enjoyed a huge range of wine but also a cheese board featuring feijoa chutney - a NZ specialty.
Third on our trip was Paritua, a gorgeous organic vineyard in the Bridge Pa triangle. The Sauvignon Blanc quickly became Josie’s new favourite wine and the rest we tried were also great, so much so that we came back the next day to buy 3 bottles!
We ended the day at Sileni, an internationally recognised winery, with a sister vineyard in Marlborough, meaning we could compare wines from both locations. Considerably more knowledgeable about wine and sufficiently pickled, we were dropped back to our campsite, having had one of the best days of our trip so far.
Over the next few days we made the most of what Hawke’s Bay has to offer, going on a beautiful walk up Te Mata peak and sampling some delicious pastries and pizzas in Hastings. We then continued our journey south on our next themed highway - the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail. This took us to our next stop, Palmerston North, where we visited the New Zealand Rugby Museum and enjoyed putting our kicking, tackling and scrumming skills to the test. The extensive displays on the evolution of rugby in New Zealand kept Nathan busy whilst Josie checked out the advertising posters featuring Dan Carter in his boxers. Although he was voted New Zealand’s sexiest man in 2004, 2005 AND 2008, so who can blame her! The weather turned pretty horrible whilst we were here, so we went to the cinema to watch the new Hunger Games in order to escape the downpours.
Due to the limited freedom camping between Palmerston North and Wellington, we trekked down to the south coast. As we parked up for the night on Cape Palliser we looked out over the Cook Strait and spotted some snow capped mountains in the distance… our first glimpse of the South Island!
In a final bit of exciting news, we’ve booked our ferry across so will be spending our final few days on the North Island exploring Wellington. Our next blog post will be from the other side of the Cook Strait!
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