I woke up from a sleep full of interesting dreams – probably caused by the horrendous Leo film the night before. I mean Tom Hardy wasn’t even attractive in it, so there was nothing attractive about any of it and I am still in shock.

Ryan went for his morning dip in the form of jumping off the pier and in to the fast flowing river. Luckily he wasn’t swept too far awaiy and stayed above the Rapids/falls. 

 

We packed up and headed to ‘Huka Falls’ where the Waikato river becomes narrow and is forced down rapids and in to a large pool. The surge powers about 7% of New Zealand and it is pretty spectacular! 

We watched the water rush under the bridge and as it went over the falls and crashed into the pool, it became very calm and almost gelatine like. 

  

We hiked up to a high view point where no one had spotted (or had been bothered to venture up to) and got great views of the falls. They were massive – not in height but just the mass of water was incredible. You could watch it for hours it was so enchanting.
We moved on to a few other view points and watched the jet boat race up the pool towards the falls and hall its passengers around. They were screaming and waving and having a whale of a time! 
Maria and Paul had recommended we go to ‘Craters of the Moon’ whilst in Taupo, so we took the short drive to the geothermal area – a forest of craters, mud pools and steam vents which have been created as a result of human interference. 

It was amazing to see and learn about how they work and there was steam everywhere. You could hear the mud bubbling under the surface and the roar of steam as it came out of the vents.

It was a nice walk around the park and up the view point, the rocks were warm under your feet and the sun was coming through the clouds. 

Next was the drive down to ‘Hawkes Bay’ so we said goodbye to the lakes and hello to the sea again – deciding to explore Napier in the afternoon and then head down to Hastings where we would stay for two nights. 

Napier was very cool, it had a great Art Deco district that was built in the 1930’s after the 32 earthquake that destroyed many of the buildings. It was really cool and we loved the vibe it brought to the city. 

It was bloomin boiling so an ice cream was a must and we walked down and window shopped and had a browse round the streets of Napier. 

   
 

Back up to the seaside and out on to the pier, the sand was grey but the sea was clear and it was a gorgeous day! 

We paddled about in the fountain to cool down and got back in the car to our final stop of the day – Hastings! 

We pulled in to a larger than recent holiday park and pitched our tent. There were tennis courts, a swimming pool, big kitchen, bqqs, showers and everything here. Even hair straighteners!!!! I couldn’t quite believe it – I mean really, at a holiday park, they could have at least had two hair dryers! 
The tent was up and we wacked out the wine (mainly for the risotto of course) and enjoyed the gorgeous evening. Dinner was yummy mushroom and spinach risotto and after a few glasses of vino, we slept like logs! 

Starting to love camping life and sleeping very well! Must be the wine!
After left over risotto for brekkie we hired bikes from the campsite and set out on our vineyard tour.
The map wasn’t that great as it didn’t have any road names and looked more suitable for driving – which seemed silly if you were going on a wine tour!! 

Careful Colin gave us a few tips and made sure we would be wearing cycling helmets so we wouldn’t get told off by the rozzers.

We could smell the wine and the views were amazing being a mix of Italy/Scotland (on a good day) and I enjoyed them especially on the downhill, whilst hating life on the uphill. Ryan being chirpy and giving me ‘helpful tips’ as per so you can imagine I was very happy as we approached vineyard #1:

Black Barn Door. 

The setting was a gorgeous and they even had a little Saturday market going on with coffee, Olive oil, preserves etc. 

We sat in a beautiful courtyard with small trees, tables and chairs with a cute shop at the end selling lovely little things. 

We had a flight of summer wines and both favoured the rose. Being travelling folk, it waks a bit too expensive for us so we decided not to buy – we would definitely recommend it though. 

A quick wander through the bistro, and out onto the patio which had steps down in to a beautiful dining area covered in vines. You could see the hills and the gorgeous blue skies just above the greenery – perfect place for a wedding I thought!!! 

Back on bikes we headed to vineyard #2: Te Mata – which seemed to be more of a Meditteranean setting. The Sav Blanc was gorgeous and we bought a bottle for the chilly box. The Zara was also very tasty and to be honest we could have bought all 6 wines that we tasted. 

I needed a bit of water by this point and we cruised down the hill to vineyard #3: Craggy Range 

     

Now this was a site – a relatively new build, and so we were told a holiday retreat owned by a retired billionaire who just wanted a small project – pretty sweet if you ask me.

Rose was my fave here also and Ryan drank all of my red tastings because I was a feeling a bit drunk by this point but he tells me they were great! 

They only made one wine here ‘Sophia’ and we didn’t get to try it but the other wines are made in Marlborough, Martinborough and Hawkes Bay. Very cool place.
With every downhill comes an up hill and it wasn’t fun, especially now slightly tipsy but Ryan promised me a food stop at the cheese cafe on the other side so we were ‘downhill to cheese’ and I shouted it all the way down.

Lunch was scrumptious – a three cheese board recommended by the lovely ladies. #1 sheep Camemberts #2 sleeping giant – a strong hard cheese which was a bit like a manchego #3 cows Camembert in Chardonnay to mature. 

(Yolanda I’m sure you will be appreciating this!!!!)

   
 

Cumin seeded crackers, fig terrine, chutney and a cold brew coffee – we were actually in heaven !!!!!! 
We ventured out to vineyard #4: Askerne. Greeted by a sports car with the number plate K SYRAH and we knew we were in the right place. We tried pretty much all of the wines and ended up chatting with the guy for a while – mainly about Parmesan, everything italian, travelling – oh and wine! 
Topped up with wine and nicely full of cheese, we went on our way saying K Syrah to the very nice wine man and set out to ‘Havelock’ to have a look at what to eat for dinner! 

Fish, prawns and cous cous were on the menu so we cycled back to the campsite for night #2.  
A scrummy dinner, cuppa tea and another good nights sleep – the wine helped again! 
Up early with left overs for brekkie, we packed up our troubles and went to the Hastings farmers market – it was very busy and we were looking for goodies for lunch. 

Ryan had his coffee from Hawthorne and the lady remembered his name from the black barn door market yesterday – of course she did! 
I had a chocolate milk and a macaroon – ooooooo  

 

We bought cheese, caramelised onion and sundried tomato bread, tomatoes and strawberries and strolled round in the sunshine. 

Full up on testers, we had been told to go up ‘Te Mata Peak’ and see the view of the vineyards. We drove up lazily because we didn’t have much time and admired the views. Craggy range looked amazing from up high and the hills were vast. 

Paragliders passed and we stood and watched for a while.

Our next stop was a hidden waterfall – a secret place barely known to the tourists apparently and this was a must see. So see it we must, walked down the hill with our swimmers and came to the gorgeous ‘Maraetotara Falls’ they were picturesque and the water was clear but cold. It was busy but only really with locals cooling off on a Sunday! I tip toed in slowly and Ryan headed up to the rocks to jump in. 1 jump from the high rock, 1 from the waterfall and 2 from the rope swing, he was loving it. I only made it in to my shoulders and just enjoyed watching! 

Feeling refreshed we drove to ‘Ocean Beach’ for lunch and had a feast of farmers market goodies!!!! The sand was hot and the sun was strong – it was gorgeous and New Zealand was ticking all of the boxes. 

Unfortunately we had to leave but only to our next stop on the adventure – Wellington! 
We decided to treat ourselves to an Airbnb rather than a hostel and stayed in ‘Hataitai’ just outside of the city with an amazing view of the sea, hills, and the edge of the airport runway. Great for plane spotting when the fog cleared! 

  
The view was much clearer the following morning and we FaceTimed family and planned our day exploring the village. Having received many recommendations from different people we tried to cram in as much as we could. 

First stop was coffee at the Flight Hanger, where we tried three different beans – me in the form of flat whites and Ryan espressos (of course) 

 
It was amazing and we bought our fave one (both agreeing on the same) but we were wired by this point and having not had any food yet, I did feel a bit on edge! 

Luckily there was a food market next door and I chose the Korean Bibimbap whilst Ryan had a chicken Katsu bowl. They were both delish and we were slightly more on the ground after our coffee hit. 

A  good wander to settle our stomachs and it was now time for beer – the garage project, a place Ryan had heard a lot about. It was very cool actually and they had lots of different craft beers and the bottles/cans had amazing artwork on them. Very cool to look at and after trying as many as we could, Ryan chose a few cans (the Star Wars special being one of them) and we walked back in to town and to the museum. 

  
We learnt about the Mauri culture, the treaty, went in an earthquake house and learnt all about the history of New Zealand – in the space of about half an hour! I told you we were cramming! 
We popped in to a chocolate factory for a pick me up – a simple truffle and a chocolate covered banana slice was all that we needed and we ventured through the small streets, looking at wall art, hidden bars and thrift shops. 

 
 It started to rain so we took cover in a bar and drank for a couple of hours – the bar lady was funnily enough from Southampton so that sparked up a bit of a convo and then we went to Tommy Millions for a pizza slice, crumpets for a cocktail and then Hot Waffle for a hot ‘Tim Tam Slam’ waffle (vaffle for all you Emma’s out there) 

    

Full and a little tiddly we boarded the bus and took the windy roads back to our air bnb. 

We had managed to move our ferry to Picton back from 9am tomorrow to 2:45pm, so we had a bit more time to explore! 

The weather was glorious the following morning and the view from the giant window was even better! After brekkie we packed our backpacks and said bye to the house, loaded the car again and drove to ‘Brooklyn’ to see the lone wind turbine which was next to the Zealandia park (which we didn’t have time to go and see) unfortunately the wind turbine had been knocked down in December so it wasn’t there to see – the views however were great and you had a 360 degree view of the city and the sea. 

   
   
The weather was coming in and we were in need of coffee, so we found a little coffee shop, got our fix and went back to yesterday’s market for sushi. 

  
It was now time to catch the ferry to the South Island for the next part of our adventure. 

    

We had a glass of vino and an interesting cream tea of a cheese scone, cream and jam. I queried the cheese scone (thinking it was maybe a NZ thing) but they had just run out of normal ones, giving me more jam as consolation. Interesting….

  

We drove through the windy windy hills in the Marlborough sound to our campsite about 20 minutes away from Picton. The scenery was gorgeous and we had a quiet little spot not far from the beach. Tent pitched once again and a Mexican feast for dinner tonight. Happy campers once again and looking forward to our southern adventure.

  
Two jam packed amazing weeks of exploring the north and we will definitely be back to explore some more. 

E & R xx