Drove up to a hill to admire the whakatane town and the river and the whale island across the bay, and strained our eyes to find the white island. The drive to Gisborne was through the remote waioeka gorge in a winding forest road. Stopped to photograph the Tauranga bridge, the last harp suspension bridge in NZ. the bridge was stunning with all the huge cables. The Waioeka river below was just a stream, the north island being unusually dry this year. Arrived at gisborne, a holiday and the restaurants and most shops were closed. Ended up having mickie D french fries for lunch. Stopped to see cook's landing site, Puhi Kai Iti, modern and maori, a granite obelisk, old cast iron cannon, all wrapped in a steel wall with maori designs. the monument once upon a time sat right on the water edge, now a lumber yard and harbor, with lots of log trucks. didnt bother to photograph the memorial. Walked up to the Kaiti Hill for a good look at gisborne and the beach. The day was sunny and warm. the emerald hotel is right at the confluence of waimata and taruheru rivers which combined dumps its water into the Poverty Bay. my 2nd floor room has huge windows facing the river and the wainui rd bridge. LittleSnowie of course spent the whole day at the window looking out to the river and people and cars crossing the bridge. a 3 seater and a single sofa in the room. the bathroom has an old fashion tub that is raised. the hotel is quite old but comfy enough. While the rest went swimming in the hotel pool, i walked the main street, quiet as the shops were still closed. For dinner, we marched across the river to the harbour and dined at the Works. I had the duck. not too yummy. dunno why gisborne. didnt care much for it. would have loved to spend some time in tongariro instead.
napier 2/7
Hawke's bay is famous for its wine. Napier is famous for the art deco which i didnt really care. We had an hour tour of the art deco architecture but aside from the telegraph building which was quite beautiful in its black and white and straight line art deco style, the rest of the buildings had only a few touches of the architecture. The famous tennyson st with all its shops didnt excite me much. I bought a risotto salad at a cafe on dalton st. ate some and reserved some for lunch the following day. the only interesting info about napier was the 1931 7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake which lifted the coastal areas around Napier up two metres and the lagoons became dry land. We drove through that area which is now the airport, and a small part of it is now a swamp. At the art deco centre, we saw a video showing how life was like before the earthquake. napier was sunny and filled with happy people enjoying the town and the beach. after the earth shoke, buildings leveled and the lagoons disappeared. made me emotional. the whole town had a 1920 feel, with vintage automobiles on display, lots of vintage shops selling 20's art and fashion and even locals dressed like in the 20's. Interesting to look at but not my thing.
Next we had wine tasting at the Crabs and mission estate wineries. I like the Crabs sauvignon blanc and pinot gris. They offered a plater of cheese, fruit and crackers. but we had to sample the wine standing up at the bar. the adjacent art display was quite nice. Didnt really like any of the mission estate wine. No au d'oeuvres at the mission. The mission was the birthplace of new zealand wine established by french marist missionaries in 1851 at hawke's bay. la grand maison, the seminary building is colonial style with a grand elegant restaurant and accommodations. the garden in front of the building offered outdoor dinning and great views of the bay. I took a peek at the restaurant menu and it had great variety of seafood, duck and lamb, even sashimi, excellent desserts, even glutten and dairy free, and great cheeses, including my favorite manchego, all not terribly expensive. We all wanted to dine there but it's all booked. We dined instead at the Art Deco Masonic hotel restaurant. not sure if it has anything to do with the Masons but the restaurant decor is a mismatch of art deco and medievel style. My fish was just OK. nothing to sing about. At night the fountain and the sunken gardens by the beach were illuminated. the following morning I ventured out for a stroll along the beach and quite a few people were out early to walk, jog or bike. Our quality Inn motel was filled with bikers. all the rooms have sliding doors to the outside instead of a proper wooden door. felt terribly unsafe. the bathroom wasnt cleaned properly with hair in the sink. the room was small, stuffy and noisy with motorbikes and cars and tour buses parked in front of the rooms. worse hotel on this trip. thanks heavens it was only for 1 night.
wellington, the capital 2-8/9
2 hrs to wander around Napier before departure to the capital city. why. nothing to buy. Stopped at a small village for lunch and it started to rain. Ate my left over risotto at a table in front of a cafe. I've quite enjoyed the rain and the 1 street village. Drove through gorgeous mountains and arrived in the capital city in cold and rain. Stopped at the beehive and the parliament buildings for some photos before reaching our hotel. The room at the West Plaza hotel was tiny, window overlooking a garage. for 2 nights. sigh. But around the corner, i've discovered the food trucks. So dinner was a heaven of food choices. chinese dumplings, thai noodles, vietname rice plates, burgers, meat pies. Settled on the mie goreng which were delicious but the sauce a bit on the salty side. Geoffrey and I went out to walk the harbour which was just a block from the hotel, to get a feel of the harbour at night. it was very cold and raining but it was an invigorating walk. the harbour though, not impressive at night. dead probably due to the rain. The first order of things the following day was the Te Papa National museum which was just a few blocks from the hotel. wonderful display of maori marae and statues but since it's privately owned, no photos allowed. But colorful replicas in modern style were created in a hall with Maui stories. The rest of the exhibits were just so so. After the museum, took the cablecar up the hill but no great views of the city so I descended to Lambton Quay through the Botanic Gardens. Nice areas for picnic only if i knew. Starving, dropped into the first vietname restaurant to have some fresh spring rolls with shrimp and a pho. then it's a leisure stroll along the harbour as the day was sunny and warm. no dinner tonight. just bought 2 pastries from the chinese bakery. LittleSnowie asked why he's looking at a garage from the window. sigh.
0 comments :
Post a Comment