Advertisement
Published: April 17th 2009
Te Mata Peak
From the convoy on Sunday -
The 2009 Volkswagen Nationals The sun doesnt hit our van till quite late in the morning, but Rob and Cassie behind the hedge from us get the sun much earlier. So after breakfast, its straight round there for a chat in the sun. Theres a nice tree on the site next to ours shading us from the mornings warmth.
The show was held down on the waterfront, at the quieter end of Marine Parade (ie not in the centre of town). It was a great spot right on the water, and a pretty good show too. There must have been close to 200 vehicles (never did hear a final count), bugs, buses, type 3's etc etc. Many we have seen year after year, but there seemed to be a few new ones too. There wasnt a great contingent from the South Island this year, a few missing VWs and faces. Graham and Barbara (from Whangarei) didnt show up. They sold their wedge to a lady called Kaye, who was there in it (bit strange seeing someone else driving it after all these years!), and we thought their plan was to either buy a bigger
van and go travelling for a year or so, or - and this was their fave idea - to get a VW crafter and convert it. We half expected to see them here regardless of what they were driving.
The show went through until about 2pm, and when we left shortly after that, there were still heaps of people wandering round. We'd met quite a few tourists that didnt know the show was on until they saw a large gathering of cars and came for a look. We chatted a while to a German guy here on a WHV who is into Vws and was quite pleased to find the show.
We didnt win any of the prizes as usual this year. We dont plough all of our money into our vehicles! We tried for the “road trippin'” class, but they didnt take into account how far we'd driven to get here, only how far away home was. The winner started from further away, but only drove about half the kms we did to get here. So we felt a bit cheated out of that one! If anyones interested, we drove a bit over 1600 km / 1000
Bays lining up for the convoy
We actually took no photos at the show on Saturday! mi to get here. It wont be quite as far getting home, but still further than the quickest, shortest route.
Sunday 12th April 2009 We had a slightly later start this morning for the convoy. We met back down on Marine Parade and were lined up based on what we were driving. Splits first, then bays, then wedges, the beetles in order of age and so on. Usually we are up near the front of the convoy in the split, but this time we have been relegated to near the end of the buses. It feels so strange not having the split here, but the wedge is so much more suited for camping. Although if we'd had a better camping interior in the split...things might have been completely different. Theres always next year...by which time the split might be put back together again!
Anyway, back to the convoy. We drove out of Napier towards Hastings, then off into the countryside ending up by Te Mata Peak. Great scenery, so different from Northland. There are so many more deciduous trees, their leaves turning red, orange, yellow, so much more contrast with the few remaining green trees. The earth
too is so much browner and drier. We must really have so much more rain up north! There were orchards and vineyards everywhere, and some huge houses too. There were a few places where you could see far enough in front, or the road wound round, and you could see other VWs strung out in a line.
We ended up going back along Marine Parade all the way through Napier and past the port to a park called Perfume Point. We lined up, vans at the back, bugs in front, for some pics. Shame the lie of the land wasnt really suitable. There was no high spot to look down at the line up and take pics from. And that was the end of the show really.
From Perfume Point we drove back round into the city centre and parked up. We walked up to the old Napier Prison, hoping it was going to be open today. We were lucky and there was a tour leaving in 15 minutes. Theres no option for just walking round yourself. The prison is also partially converted into a backpackers - pretty basic looking though, and cold!
The tour was good,
the guy taking it quite bouncy, he couldnt stand still when talking to us! He came up with all sorts of tales about life in the prison (opened late 1800s and working up till 1993) then and now. Its apparently haunted, plenty of people have tales to tell, and many video clips are on you-tube, so we'll have to have a look later! Looking at the cells and facilities, you kind of think that may prisons today should be like this one, rather than the luxury units you hear about. Might be a bit more of a deterrent. No space, no heaters, no tv rooms. If you didnt like solitary confinement, there was also the “hole”. In Napier, it really is a hole, dug into the rock face, maybe 1.5m all round, not pleasant looking! The people running the tours have made a good effort with the place, but it cold have been so much better! The mannequins in some of the cells were more of a joke than anything else.
From there we went into Napier for lunch and a wander round the Art Deco buildings. Some really neat architecture really!
We skipped the winerys this time
Convoy
A pic of our wedge at last! Well, some of it ;o) round for some reason, but did go to the Te Mata Cheese Factory for some tastings. Yummy! We didnt buy much, it was soooo expensive! Only a little block of blue cheese.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.379s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 35; qc: 150; dbt: 0.2468s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
