Napier weekend

Park winery

Louisa on Napier beach



Waipunga falls
Steaming mineral waters in Taupo



Huka falls



We all took a trip across to Napier in Hawkes Bay with our friends Geoff and Linda. The cars were loaded up with the camping gear on Thursday evening and we headed across on Friday morning.
The weather was nice, and it was a pleasant drive down to Taupo where we planned to stop to show our mates a few places we knew off down there. Well, pleasant apart from when Geoff was a bit slow and took the wrong turning - we waited, saw no sign of them then decided to follow. Just after we got on the new by-pass, Geoff was coming the other way so we had to do a quick u-turn to catch up, panicking in case he decided to turn around and follow us again. Thankfully he didn't, so we headed down the road to Huka Falls to let them see the fantastic ice blue water rushing through the narrow gorge. Amazingly they had never been there, even though they had travelled the length and breadth of NZ! Duly awed, we headed in to Taupo itself for a little bit of a rest before the next leg of the trip. On a school camping trip last year, we were shown a hot springs on the banks of the Waikato rived, all free. So, we took the opportunity to take everybody there for a bit of a swim and a soak in the mineral waters. The hot springs meets the river in a calm spot, ideal for the kids to enjoy swimming in warm water... but the spring itself it very, very hot!
Duly refreshed, we set off for our trip across to Napier. Not having been there ourselves it was a nice trip to the camp site, seeing some beautiful mountain scenery. A quick stop off at Waipunga falls on the way allowed us to break out the little cooker and put the kettle on for a well deserved cuppa...
After an uneventful trip to the camp-site, we set to putting the tents up after booking in. It was getting late by this stage as we had taken longer on our trip than planned- nothing new there!
With the tents and the beds all put in, we decided to get fish and chips for dinner, but this entailed a 13k drive to Napier. But after a beautiful fish supper and a few beers we crashed for the night.
Geoff and Linda were taking their kids to see the Spanish school of riding so were up and out early. We ate breakfast and saw them off, minding their 2 dogs for them. We were to meet up in Napier later on, so we took a little time to relax in the sun before loading all 3 dogs in to the car and heading in ourselves. After a stop off at one of the many fruit places in the region, we gorged on beautiful fresh grapes, peaches, apples and plums. We stopped off at a beach to let the dogs have a run and for the kids to play in the surf. The sea was a beautiful green/blue and the sun beating down was lovely. We stayed on the beach for a while, collecting pumice stone and sea glass, then headed further in to Napier. It was extremely busy as it was also art-deco weekend, and it was amazing to see the thousands of people who head here dressed in 30's garb, along with period cars and flying displays.
We took a trip up Bluff Hill to the viewing point getting a great panoramic view of the coastline from Cape Kidnappers in the south to way up north in the opposite direction. We then drove down the hill admiring some beautiful colonial architecture and were lucky enough to find a parking spot - not easy on this weekend!
The pebbly beach was very hot, with the sunshine heating the stones making it difficult to walk on them at times. We sat down and let the dogs and kids have another run against the beautiful backdrop of the south Pacific.
At this point the kids decided to bury me in the pebbles, and it was quite an experience to be buried in the damp pebbles with just my face exposed to the sun.
Our friends had left the show and we arranged to meet them on the beach were we sat. They arrived after about 20 minutes and we sat and watched a fantastic air display by the NZ air force display team. Other notable aircraft flying over, a P51 Mustang and a Catalina flying boat.
After the 4 kids had ran themselves ragged in the surf, we headed off to Hastings for a bit of shopping for dinner stuff. On the way back, our eye was caught by a sign offering wine at $6 a bottle at one of the many wineries that dot the region. A quick u-turn (again!) we headed in to sample the Sauvignon blanc, Merlot and a kiwi fruit wine that was a bit different!
Suitably stocked, we headed off via the fruit shop, again, and got back to the site to have a lovely tea with steak, pasta, Greek salad and breads, all washed down with some lovely beer and a few wines. By this stage the sun was setting and the crickets were starting to sing their lovely song. As the stars came out, a game of Cranium was started on the table under lamp light, and with the sound of the crickets and the stream bubbling by, it was a lovely end to a great day.
Sunday morning saw us have a bit of a sleep in (7am!) and we had a hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs and tomatoes washed down with lashings of tea. A drive past by a steam train pulling red pullman coaches packed with period costumed passengers as a pleasant surprise and it was a precursor to a good drive home, ending a great weekend in the fruit basket of New Zealand.