A different festive season

We apologise for the delay in producing this chapter, but to tell you the truth we were just too busy having fun.

Today we had two options of routes to take, a direct one or a scenic. Of course I chose the scenic one. Great views all around the Northeast corner of North Island with lots of vantage points to admire the scenery. The negative was that this way took five hours, instead of the two the direct route would have taken. This wasn't helped by it being a Saturday. Whilst the traffic was slight and the roadwork crews had packed up for the weekend they had also taken away all signs that any work was being done. The upshot of which was that without warning the tarmac road would abruptly change to the under surface of stones. Good job the car had good brakes. Of course there were no petrol stations and we didn't realise how long the journey would be. However we made it to our next accommodation in Otiku, a very comfortable apartment on the beachside road with everything we wanted. We were told that the area was very like Santa Monica in the 1970's. Bobby agrees with that.

Otiku is just down the road from Gisborne which is one of the major town's in Hawkes Bay, along with Napier and Hastings, where our next two accommodations are located. You will all be aware that these are all located in Hawkes Bay, one of the wine regions of New Zealand. So plenty of places available to wine and dine this festive season.

Our three accommodations over this season are all close together and so a lot of what we did over the period running up to and Christmas itself was in the same area. This meant we got to know it better than if we just passed thru as some of our stops have been. (Raglan comes to mind!).

Gisborne is an interesting place. A large industrial location for the region with a fully working harbour. However it also has a thriving tourist industry with the wine region all around it. There were plenty of things put up for the tourists, a lovely riverside / beach walk which we did, numerous statues etc. But the town itself strongly catered for the local population, apart from a few more restaurants we would choose to eat at. The one we did was harbour side with interesting views of the marina, unless we looked the other way, which was in the direction of the docks. Whilst this sounds as a negative it was a very pleasant working town.

In the vineyards around here I was first introduced to the concept of a flight. Basically it is a way when the Cellar Door tasting has closed the staff are able to satisfy people wanting tastings by selling a fixed range of the vineyard wines, interestingly all at tasting size measures. Those I had were enjoyable.

Our next accommodation was in Napier, a town built in the ArtDeco style. During our stay we spent a number of hours here admiring the architecture, visiting the museums exhibitions, and generally wandering around the town looking for any items we could get to make Christmas special. Including our Xmas pressies!
Our hosts were very welcoming. In fact before we arrived we had received and accepted an invitation to dine with them and their American friends. A very pleasant and interesting evening was had. Homemade dips on the balcony, lamb tagine and a Pavlova, (NZ's national dish). After all our time traveling it was a treat to be part of the conversation that flowed around the table.

We decided to find some of the wall murals by local artists scattered around Napier. As we discovered during this Napier has more of a dockside than Gisborne, both from the leisure and industrial side. Wonderful seaside boardwalks and bars (including the Gintrap). On the other side it was very industrial with goods arriving via the railway tracks and road. Luckily this did not effect our stay here.

The area around here is very beautiful. The beaches may be a drive away but they are varied and individually well worth a visit, long sandy beaches with unfortunately grey sand, not white or golden as Bobby would have liked. Along one stretch there were three uniquely different wineries. How do we know that I hear you cry. Well we had to investigate them on your behalf. Research for the Diary its called!

Our thoughts now were turning to Christmas not because of all of the decorations we encountered (practically non existent) but the same dreadful piped Xmas album that the shops in England all play. It is difficult for them to get into the whole Xmas thing, in part because it is during their summer holidays and they spend their time at the

beach. But tv and shops still sell it like mad.

Bobby had bought some decorations with her so we needed to find a tree. This proved fun. Eventually after a search we found a Lemon Pine tree, small but beautifully fragrant. The only thing left to do was to sort our meal out. A fruit de mer consisting of local shell food and fish. Something to make the day special.

Due to availability we had one more move before the big day, to Hastings. A nice property which turned out to be a converted outbuilding to a large house that had recently been refurbished, including a four poster bed. Christmas Day arrived and family calls had to be either morning or night due to the time difference. Which meant we had the day to ourselves. The beach called so we headed into Napier for a walk on their boardwalk by the sea. All the beaches and picnic tables were packed with large family groups whose

members kept arriving with large armful's of food to add to the ever increasing spreads. A true NZ Xmas.

Managed to get a few responses to our greetings of ''Merry Christmas", although their reticence may have been down to the comedy christmas sunglasses that Bobby had bought for us. AIso managed a tick on my 'bucket list', a swim in the sea on Christmas Day. Well actually more of a plunge, but I went in.

Back to the property where we had our lunch outside listening to the large family that had rented the house play in the garden and swimming pool that was the other side of a hedge to us. The seafood was excellent. Too much for the two of us, but all so tasty and fresh. The wine I had selected, after a lot of tastings and consideration went well. As, surprisingly, did the shop bought christmas pudding we had for dessert (well some traditions have to continue).

Boxing Day was our treat day. One of the beach vineyards I mentioned had a restaurant with a very high reputation, Elephant Hill, which I had booked whilst at home. The food stood up to all the rave reviews I had read, as did the ambiance. The only slightly

disappointing thing was that it was a windy and wet day so the outside tables were not being used. Which was a real pity as it was in such a picturesque setting.

With the festive season over we were now ready to move on and continue our trip. Just had to decide where to spend New Year.