Day 6 Morere to Napier Fri Jun 27
I stopped at a coffee shop south of Wairoa for breakfast of pancakes and bacon, unfortunately not crispy bacon like the Americans have, which is what I prefer. Very nice though. Arrived at the Napier information centre just before 12 noon, having decided that I would try to do a wine tour that afternoon, rather than wait till Saturday and then drive afterwards! Luckily for me a group of wives whose husbands were attending a horticultural conference had arranged to go on one with Odyssey tours, I did get the details from the internet last year when Hilary and I were thinking about a long weekend in Hawke’s Bay. I booked accommodation in an expensive B&B on Marine Parade, Mon Logis, so I could walk into town for dinner, had 15 minutes to get there & check in before the bus arrived, a bit of a rush!
It was a beautiful day, Napier was the warmest place in NZ that day, at 18, so I did the right thing. We visited 4 vineyards, Church Road, Matariki, Ngatarawa and Vidal. At Church Road we were taught the basics of wine-tasting by Daphne, & then tasted 6 wines, we did slow down a bit after that! Of course it isn’t necessary to drink every last drop, in fact I did throw away quite a bit which I didn’t like. However I did manage to buy at least one bottle in each place we visited. At Vidal, which we got to at about 4, we had a beautiful large platter of food between two, containing chilli peppered squid, their speciality, steak, smoked cheddar, green mussels, peppers, marinaded mushrooms, salmon & at least 3 different types of bread. Needless to say I was too full to need dinner, so it was a bit of a waste choosing a place so close to town. Gareth, the driver of the bus, also stopped at a restaurant called Pacifika on Marine Parade on the way back, to get us all menus. It changes daily, depending on what’s fresh, and the restaurant was being judged that evening for the Finals of Cuisine magazine’s Restaurant of the Year competition. I have no idea if they won or not!
I watched the news and saw how awful the forecast was for the weekend, and decided that I would give the south Wairapa a miss this time. I didn’t fancy being blown away at Cape Palliser and then being blown off the road through the Remutakas going ‘over the hill’ back to Wellington.
I stopped at a coffee shop south of Wairoa for breakfast of pancakes and bacon, unfortunately not crispy bacon like the Americans have, which is what I prefer. Very nice though. Arrived at the Napier information centre just before 12 noon, having decided that I would try to do a wine tour that afternoon, rather than wait till Saturday and then drive afterwards! Luckily for me a group of wives whose husbands were attending a horticultural conference had arranged to go on one with Odyssey tours, I did get the details from the internet last year when Hilary and I were thinking about a long weekend in Hawke’s Bay. I booked accommodation in an expensive B&B on Marine Parade, Mon Logis, so I could walk into town for dinner, had 15 minutes to get there & check in before the bus arrived, a bit of a rush!
It was a beautiful day, Napier was the warmest place in NZ that day, at 18, so I did the right thing. We visited 4 vineyards, Church Road, Matariki, Ngatarawa and Vidal. At Church Road we were taught the basics of wine-tasting by Daphne, & then tasted 6 wines, we did slow down a bit after that! Of course it isn’t necessary to drink every last drop, in fact I did throw away quite a bit which I didn’t like. However I did manage to buy at least one bottle in each place we visited. At Vidal, which we got to at about 4, we had a beautiful large platter of food between two, containing chilli peppered squid, their speciality, steak, smoked cheddar, green mussels, peppers, marinaded mushrooms, salmon & at least 3 different types of bread. Needless to say I was too full to need dinner, so it was a bit of a waste choosing a place so close to town. Gareth, the driver of the bus, also stopped at a restaurant called Pacifika on Marine Parade on the way back, to get us all menus. It changes daily, depending on what’s fresh, and the restaurant was being judged that evening for the Finals of Cuisine magazine’s Restaurant of the Year competition. I have no idea if they won or not!
I watched the news and saw how awful the forecast was for the weekend, and decided that I would give the south Wairapa a miss this time. I didn’t fancy being blown away at Cape Palliser and then being blown off the road through the Remutakas going ‘over the hill’ back to Wellington.
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