Blogs from Napier, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 9

From Kaikoura I went to Blenheim, the wine region. It was a scorching day and the sky was soooooo blue, it looked like it had been photoshopd! Went straight to i-site and booked a 3/4 day wine, distillery and oils/preserves day.....oh dear. So drop bags at place I'm staying that is actually a vineyard and they accept guests, so had a glass of wine (should mention here due to band had so far that day eaten soap on route, a biscuit/cookie and had 3 cups of chai latte), then guide picks me up....he had the complexion of a man who likes his wines and soon we were off. Picked up an Irish guy travelling around who knew alot about wine, it was then I had a feeling that I was going to dissappoint/embaress my mother and ... read more

There are some thing you always have to do, even on holiday in paradise. Thats Right - the washing. Because we had been travelling for two weeks we decided (well Nancy did) to do some washing and cleaning of the van. The facilites on these Parks are first class - lots of washing machines and drying. All done and dusted in very short time. Time to walk into Napier the Art Deco capital of the world. This building desgn all happened of course following the Magnitude 7 earthquake of February 1931 when some 157 people lost their lives. The city which stands on the East coast of New Zealand's North Island and Hawkes Bay. On our one full day in Napier manged to pack in a lot of activities. We went on our customary long walks ... read more

When we got up at 6am I gave the shuttle company a call to find out the latest weather report; it wasn’t good. The up to date report said there would be rain showers that could turn heavy. The guy on the phone didn’t sound optimistic. We decided that it wasn’t worth paying $40 each for the shuttle, plus paying for hire of waterproofs, hiking boots and everything else if in an hour or two we’d be turned back. We decided to get back in bed and change our plans for the day. We decided to use our spare day to go to Napier, the Hawkes Bay wine region. We’d wanted to go there all along but had run out of time so had cut it out of our itinerary. I called the i site in ... read more

"My chocolate pudding has got the same recipe, but I make it a bit different, it's better." ;) (Die Besitzerin des Backpackers in Picton, nachdem wir vom Pudding in Nelson geschwaermt haben) Nachdem der Wecker uns wirklich frueh aus dem Bett geholt hat, haben wir erst einmal herzhaft gefruehstueckt (so richtig mit Bohnen in Tomatensosse auf Toast), so wie es uns die nette Frau in der Information gesagt hatte. Dann gings auch schon los zu unseren Kayaks. Wir lernten kurz unseren Guide Scotty, ein wirklich dynamischer, lebensfroher Kerl, kennen und wurden in kayaktaugliche Schuhe gesteckt. Schon bald holte uns dann das Wassertaxi ab, das zunaechst auf einem Trecker angerollt kam. Wir durften hinten im Boot Platz nehmen und wurden bis ins Wasser hineingefahren. Bei Ebbe ziehen die Traktoren die Boote 50m weit ins Meer hinaus und ... read more

A three day weekend calls for a road trip to Napier. Three-quarters of the team that rolled to the south island last year made the trek this time (Marcos, Sarah and me). It was a seven hour drive with a few stops along the way, including a café well outside the suburbs of Auckland that served water with coffee flavoring for lattés, a hydro power dam and swing bridge, the driving range on Lake Taupo (floating barge with chance to win $5000 for holes in one), a waterfall and finally Napier. We pulled into Napier around 4pm Saturday afternoon. We hit the Opossum shop and museum, checked out the world famous art deco architecture in town and prepared to go out and watch the rugby equivalent of the super bowl - the New Zealand team handily ... read more