Running with the Ward's: Hawke's Bay

Showing posts with label Hawke's Bay. Show all posts

Napier

We awoke to a beautiful, misty sunrise over the hills and vineyard out the back windows of our cottage in Hawke's Bay. We had breakfast overlooking the vineyard while Mommy carefully watched over the sheep grazing under the vines. After a relaxing morning, we drove into Napier for a tour of the city. Napier is known as the art deco capital of New Zealand so naturally, we took a walking tour to view the architecture. Napier was virtually destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the style of the time, namely, art deco. The city is very unique and we enjoyed our walk through town and along the coast. We had lunch in a cute cafe cafe and Daddy won the ordering contest with his beef stew and kumara. We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon including a trip to a lookout point over the town before heading back to the cottage. We had pizza for dinner at Pipi Cafe just down the street from our cottage.

I 'heart' tax

A rare photo of the four of us

We are swing dancing in case you couldn't tell

L on the Napier water front

Napier water front

Singing in the Rain....

They are laughing b/c they were dancing and D just spun M around

Posing in Napier

From the lookout

And another

M's favorite tree from the lookout over Napier

The Drive to Hawke's Bay

We set out Saturday morning for Hawke's Bay! The 6 hour drive was well worth it once we arrived at 35 River Road. 35 River Road is a delightful holiday bach (pronounced batch) just outside of Havelock North. The house was beautifully designed and decorated and backed up to a vineyard with sheep grazing among the vines. Upon arrival, we enjoyed a home cooked meal before relaxing in the living room by the fire.

Back porch looking into the kitchen

View of the back of 35 River Road

Sheep from the patio!

Back Patio...used for star gazing!

En route to Havelock North, we stopped to admire lake Taupo and an impressive waterfall just off the highway. We encountered some rain on the drive through the mountains and introduced M and D to the joy that is driving on the impossibly windy New Zealand roads! On the road we....

Jumped for joy....unfortunately, the pic of J, M and I all jumping at once was lost on my camera!

Stopped for horses in jackets....

Ate lunch at a cheese factory....

Drove through a town where each business had a corrugated metal sign or structure...

Saw a wonderful surprise waterfall....

Prayed on a dang stump....

And took more pics of the corrugated metal town!

Hawke's Bay to Rotorua

After another relaxing morning, we headed up to Te Mata peak for 360 degree views of Hawke's Bay The views were amazing and well worth the short drive.

From the top of Te Mata peak

And Another.....

On our way out of town we stopped at Cafe Nosh for a morning snack and latte bowls for the boys. We also made numerous pit stops for pics of art deco buildings, cattery signs, and of course....sheep.

Cafe Nosh in the background...The Frying Dutchman in the foreground

A Cattery! These are all over New Zealand

Oh, and I failed to mention that two of the sheep that were grazing behind our cottage, had babies while we were staying there! That's right....baby lambs!

We drove through Taupo on our way to Rotorua and stopped for lunch over looking the lake. We also visited Huka Falls which was amazing! At Huka Falls, the Waikato River which is normally 100m wide, is squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop. Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautful blue/green pool.

The lead up to Huka Falls

The actual falls

The pool after the falls into the calm river

We made it to Rotorua in time to explore the public park featuring boiling, steaming pools and mud puddles. The smell of sulphur filled the air but the steaming pits are pretty cool! For dinner, we took M&D for their first Indian food experience at Lovely India and it was enjoyed by all!