Cray fish lunch on the ferry

Lunch at Clearview Winery

Art deco masonic hall , Napier

Electric scooter

We had a very restful time at Gorbay, walking and painting then it was time to move back to North Island. We set off early, stopping on route to see seals basking on rocks beside the side of the main road just past Kaikora, Sue would have stayed all day watching them play but we had to catch the mid day ferry from Picton. We had an excellent lunch on board eating fresh caught crayfish, well the locals call them crayfish but they were huge, more like lobsters as you can see in the photo. The weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky all the day, the was scorching down and it was a pity when we landed that we had another 200 miles to do to reach our next B&B near Napier. It was something of a nightmare drive after the peace and quiet of South Island. We found ourselves in horrendous traffic jams as the evening rush hour was starting and we drove northwards on the main road only covering 80 miles in the first two hours so it took us until nearly nine in the evening to arrive in Napier. It was too dark to see our surroundings but it turned out to be a whole two bedroom cottage so plenty of room to spread ourselves. But our view of North Island is coloured by the greater density of population and the concentration of housing. Everywhere is so neat, trimmed hedges and lawns and nearly all the homes are single story bungalows.

When we woke on Friday we were able to see better where we were and get out to enjoy the delights of Napier. We started by driving up to the top of Te Mato ( was this the Maori for tomato?) the highest local mountain from where we could see about 40 miles in every direction. A local who had cycled to the top, they are fit out here, explained that in 1931 there had been a huge earthquake which destroyed Napier and Hastings. Unusually the whole area had been rebuilt in 2 years in classic Art Deco style which was well preserved today. We drove there to see for ourselves and found a delightful town with many beautiful buildings in excellent condition. We hired a bike for Sue and a strange electric powered scooter device for me with which we explored the seafront footpath. After all that excercise it was time for a late lunch and as Hawkes Bay is the home of New Zealand wines we went for a tasting as one of the better wineries, Clearview, which has the unique situation of being right on the beach. I enjoyed one of their best bottles of a wine called “Old Olive Block” which was great but sadly not available in the UK, all the wine from Clearview being sold in New Zealand. That was our Friday, now we have to move on during Saturday to be near Auckland and the flight home on Sunday.