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Published: January 21st 2008
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We arrived to the Eastern side of the North island after enjoying a really lovely riverside drive which wound it's way in and out of farmlands and rural settings. When we got into Gisbourne we stayed at a beachside campsite which was full to the brim of last minute holidayers enjoying the last of the school summer holidays.
After sorting out the usual re-stocking of food, petrol and also splashing out on getting some new brakes for Bart we enjoyed a seaside holiday pace for a couple of days. During one leisurely brunch we were entertained by 3 different street performers - all completely original in their own way: A fifties dressed opera singer, a 'zaney' comic who told some shockingly bad jokes and then scooted about in a portable toilet on wheels, and finally a hip - juggler/balancer with a blasting PA system. We didn't know if this was a good reflection on how folks were in Gisbourne (it really did seem like a lot of street performances for such a small town) or if it was the effect of the holiday season.
We got sandblasted and then wiped out on the very beautiful, but windy, beach and feasted on
Captain Cook?
Back in 1769, Capt'n Cook landed in Gisbourne. This was the first meeting of Europeans and Maoris. A "Cook" fascination has therefore dominated the culture here, but as you can see by comparing the 2 statues the philanthropist who bought this one was clearly swindled. It looks nothing like Cook and he's dressed in non-English uniform! some delish prawns which then made me sick as a dog for days afterwards.
We toured round some nice little vineyards in Gisbourne and both tried our hardest to get into their Chardonnay. Unfortunately oaking or no oaking, low yielding grapes or varieties in age still has a resounding "yuk" affect on both of our palettes. We left assured that we'd travelled to a wine region famed for it's Chardonnay, sampled the finest on offer, and then made our minds up.
We then drove on south to Napier, to soak up an architectural feast of Art Deco. Napier was hit by a massive earthquake in 1931 and not only did this flatten a lot of the city structures, it even caused a chunk of land to surface out from the sea extending the size of the town. As part of the reconstruction of the place, and the need for a big morale boost it was decided that the whole look of the town would be as fashionable as possible, so this is where the Art Deco look of the place came about. We did a lengthy walk around in the sunshine and soaked up all things deco, along with the
Rolling Countryside
On our way out east cheesy tourism statements of "Stepping back in time" and the like. We then headed out for more wine sampling, as Napier is also famed for it's wines. Here we stayed well clear of the highly gushed about chardonnay's and went straight for some interesting rareties and recommendations of specific success in each vineyard. Tried some very fruity Savvies, fab Serah's, and had our first guzzle on a NZ Marzemino. Can recommend all of them with a passion!
So with the relaxing and guzzling we made our way back onto the road in pursuit of a faster pace and headed on over to Taupo.
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