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Published: March 13th 2014
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Did you like that cliffhanger yesterday? Was Janet’s knee going to feel better or were we going to have to cancel the rest of our plan? Were we even going to be able to keep the computer working so we could tell you about her status? Fortunately there is fairly GOOD news on both fronts.
The ship did not get to port until about 11:00 AM, so we could sleep pretty much as late as we wanted. That gave Janet a full night’s sleep and a couple of pain pills to recover. We actually got up about 7:30, got dressed and went up to the dining room. Janet got another order of Eggs Benedict and David had an Omelet. We were going to go to the Medical Center if Janet’s knee wasn’t feeling better, but she was good enough to avoid that. And we had extra time to rest in the cabin before our excursion.
As for the computer, David plugged it in, in the cabin this morning and everything charged like it’s supposed to. He had tried a couple of different receptacles in the Internet Café last night (since Janet was sleeping in the
cabin), but today all is well again with the computer. Later in the day he turned on the machine again and got an error message about it not being a standard Dell charger, but so far it seems to be keeping a fully charged battery.
We had signed up for an excursion at 12:30, but yesterday evening we were told that too few people signed up, so they had moved us to the 11:10 bus to the same destinations. OK, we missed a lunch but we still got to go where we had wanted. Besides, we wouldn’t starve completely without one lunch.
At 11:10 we got our boarding passes and soon afterwards they called us for our bus. Today we had signed up to tour three wineries. The bus first drove us around the town of Napier. In 1931 a massive earthquake had basically leveled the town. When they rebuilt there was a collective decision to build in an Art Deco style. Even now many of the buildings have that style architecture. We even saw the only Art Deco McDonalds (city council refused to allow the owner to tear down the building and build
the customary style golden arches). The earthquake also raised about 10,000 acres of additional land and rerouted a river , which made room for the town to become much larger. Anyway, it made a interesting drive through the town, even though this style of building is not our preference.
Driving out to the wineries, we passed many apple orchards. We found out later that the weather has been excellent so they have delayed picking the apples a little, but are about to be picking furiously very soon. Just as in Tauranga, the fruit fields are bordered closely bordered by tall (15-20 feet) hedgerows. They are neatly trimmed evergreens – looked like something from the Juniper family. The purpose is to protect the trees from strong winds, especially during the time when the blossoms are spreading pollen between the trees. They are impressive hedges in their own right.
The first stop was about an hour away, at the Abbey Cellars Winery. We were given samples of 2 white wines, 1 rose, 5 red wines, and a sweet dessert wine. Certainly some appealed more to our taste than others, but it was fun trying all of
them. They served platters of cheese & bread and fruits to go with the wines. They gave a brief introduction of each wine and then we could select whichever ones we wanted to try (frankly you could have had several copies of each if you wanted). We liked the whites and one or two reds, but the dessert was delicious, and we bought a bottle to bring back to the ship. Technically we were probably smuggling on the bottle, but nobody asked so we didn’t tell and our bottle is now in our cabin.
The second stop was about 10 minutes away at the Ngatarawa Winery. They gave us 3 white wines, 4 reds, and one dessert wine. By now our discerning pallet was beginning to like more and more of the flavors, and Janet’s knee was beginning to feel better and better. They also gave everyone cups of ice cream after we finished the wine tasting (not what we would normally think of eating with wine). But everything tasted pretty good now.
The final winery was most of the way back to town and was the Mission Winery. Here we only had 2
Wine Tasting Room
at Mission Winery whites and 2 reds, with one dessert wine. However the master-of-ceremonies was quite a showman and told us a great deal about the history of the building and their history of wine making. This had originally been a seminary to train monks, and they produced wine to help cover their expenses. The building (a beautiful 100 year old structure) had originally been built down near the river, but it was eventually cut into large sections and was moved a couple of miles up into the higher land. When the 1931 earthquake created so much damage, this wooden building was basically untouched, except for a stone chapel, which collapsed completely.
These 3 wineries are just some of about 75 in the region called Hawke’s Bay. Many of them are smaller “boutique” wineries with a few specialty wines, but they all have some kind of niche. We learned that New Zealand exports 2/3 of the wine they make and most of that goes to Australia. They amounts to only about 1% of all the wine exported in the world, but the locals are proud of their product and happy to be part of New Zealand’s financial structure.
Vintage Cars
on pier at Napier Anyway, we had a good time today (everyone seemed to have a good time today), and it was not particularly stressful on Janet’s knee. We had plenty of wine today and did not need any more with dinner or for dessert, but tomorrow is another day. We were also surprised how easily we were able to bring back a bottle, so …
Back at the ship, Janet went directly to the Formal Tea as we returned just past 3:30. She was able to have her tea and crumpets to keep body and soul together until dinner. David went to the pool for a swim and to lie in the sun for a little while. Today’s temperature was supposed to be one of our coolest and only get to 68, but actually it got close to 80 (one of our warmest). We have had terrific weather with mostly sunny, very comfortably warm temperatures (compared to what we had in the US), and usually just slight breezes. Today it was supposed to have gotten rainy/chilly in Auckland, and tomorrow Napier is supposed to not be so nice, but we will be in Wellington and their forecast is similar to what we’ve seen everywhere else. We have not been watching the St Louis weather, so we just hope it has been reasonably nice at home.
We went to dinner and it was International Night. Janet had Prawns and Caesar Salad, and David had Duck Breasts and Won Ton Soup. We both had the Surf & Turf for our entrée. Janet had chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and David had cheese and fruit. Again this evening there were only 4 at our table, but instead of Dallas and Val we had Elaine and Locky (from Adelaide Australia).
After dinner we watched a show in the theater called “Moments to Remember”. This was one of the shows by the production singers and dancers, and was a “celebration of the Golden Years from the turn of the century to the Fabulous Forties”. They were pretty good – very high energy. It was in keeping with the style of dress that was worn by a small band playing on the pier when we left port. There was also a collection of antique cars parked on the dock that people could go down and look at if they wanted to.
It’s about time to time to wrap up the story for tonight. Our cabin attendant (Fredrick) came by like he always does and has turned down the bed and placed chocolates on our pillows. So good night from Napier New Zealand.
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