Te Mata Peak II

At least I think this is my second Te Mata Peak entry. Last time, we drove most of the way up; on Sunday, we walked from our house to the top. It's about 6.5 km (each way) by car; I'm guessing the walk was a bit longer. There was supposed to be afternoon tea near the top, but this place was closed.

Here's a photo from the top...which might look exactly like a photo I posted last time.


And would you believe we have redwoods right here in Havelock North?


Yesterday, I finally got around to hanging up our Coke lamp.


I just wanted to add that our New Zealand dining room looks nothing like our Newport Beach dining room. (The bookshelf in the photo above was in the bedroom.)

Hastings Market

Alternative title: I don't want to think about what the other 10% might be

Hawke's Bay has some incredible farmers' markets; the best of them is in Hastings. We've been stopping by most Sunday mornings to sample the local wares...and Nico cannot seem to pass up anyone trying to sell her: 1) grapes 2) herbs 3) avocados.


I'm mostly certain this is Kiwi humour:


And I believe this one is serious marketing:


Can somebody tell me why Kiwis don't have accents when they sing? If I sing something, will they think I don't have an accent?

Napier Sailing Club

I had not been putting much effort into finding my way onto a boat, but as it's starting to get cold, I figured I'd better get around to it. A single email later, and the sailing club manager had said he'd put me on a "trailer sailor". I was not sure what to expect.

I ended up crewing (rather poorly) on a Noelex 25.

At the helm, 16 year old Mathew:

His grandfather, Alan was calling tactics; Alan (like most Kiwis) did not seem amused by my camera, so I don't have a picture of him.

Here's another Noelex 25, and the only boat we finished ahead of:


Some pictures around Napier that made me start thinking we're living too far from the water.








Sorry for all the pictures. I was having trouble finding a single one that captured the beauty of the marina; probably because I was steering on the way in, and I could not figure out how to turn the throttle down.

PS: The answer to both of your questions is "Yes". [The boat is named Big Bird, and that is a tractor.]

And now for the important stuff

Last weekend (while taking a break from tandeming), we stopped at Beach House Wines, where the charming owner invited us over to his other (apparently more profitable) business: Roosters Brew House. Sorry, there is no link (or photos--I had a camera, I'm not sure it was the sort of place where I'd be snapping pictures). Very Kiwi bar; full of men in coveralls, just off work...and possibly carrying their own beer mugs. Unlike any US brewery I've been to (which are really just restaurants that happen to make beer), Roosters is more like a winery that makes beer (they also serve Beach House wine). Although a sign on the door made reference to "lunches", I saw no other evidence that food is served. The best part about Roosters: Free beer from the Irish bartender--or maybe that's the best part of drinking with Irish friends...

In other news, there is good Indian food in Hawke's Bay: Master of India in Hastings (there's apparently another in Ahuriri) was considerably better than typical Orange County Indian cuisine. Now, if only I could track down a Mexican restaurant.

Not quite paradise

Alternative title: Fair and balanced journalism

Everything you always wanted to know about the sand fly.

I believe I made it through white water rafting without too many bites (the provided wetsuit was pretty good protection). Afterwards we stopped for lunch (was that at the River Valley Cafe in Esk Valley?), and made the mistake of sitting at an outdoor picnic table on the grass. I am covered with bug bites. I am never going outside again.

I could sing a few lines of the Purdue and IU fight songs, but I can't for the life of me remember how Butler's goes. I'm sure a couple of hours of dueling pianos would set me straight.

River of Terror!!!

Alternative title: And I wished I could ride a horse

Brief interruption: Yesterday's lunch in a vineyard.


This morning, it was up to the Mohaka River for white water rafting.


These were Grade II rapids...which I guess means that on a hot day, you can do this sort of thing. (Yes, those are my feet).


Aoife jumping off a cliff. She was supposed to take a picture of me jumping off an even higher cliff, but apparently did not, as I have no such picture.


The water on the lens helps capture the ferocity of the river.


Maybe next time:

Thank G-d it's (Good) Friday, and the Official Sports Drink of Backyard Cricket.

In case I didn't mention it already, Easter is a four day weekend here. It is my new favourite holiday. As I type this, it is now Saturday...the sun is out, the birds are singing; or at least chirping their 4 note song (which I think is really a two tone song repeated twice, but Nico disagrees, and she is a bit more talented musically, so we'll go with 4 notes).

Yesterday, we spent the morning with my coworker Jason and his family on a hike through the Blowhard Bush Scenic Reserve. I was a little worried about the level of difficulty this hike might present because of our recent experiences on other voyages; but it turned out to be a relatively easy walk (through caves, native forest, and some plants that looked a lot like the California coastal sage scrub I had to identify in Biology 5C (or whatever class that was that made me decide not to be a botanist).

If you look closely, you may notice that I'm trying not to think about the bottomless abyss behind me.


Kiwi children do not share my fears.


I somehow forgot to take pictures of the backyard cricket game we played in. Jason patiently went over the basics; I promptly forgot those I may have understood. Anyway, hitting a cricket ball is a bit easier than hitting a baseball.

Today, we're off to the Clearview Winery for lunch; I am happy to report that our first tandem ride since becoming Kiwis will be a sober one...not so sure about the second ride.

Tomorrow, it's Final Four. I am guessing that no Butler alumni live farther from Indianapolis than do I. So we broke down and had Sky installed. One month was a long time to go without TV. Unfortunately, the antiquated receiver would not work with our American television, so we had to go and buy a new one: 32 inch Samsung; cheap even by US standards. Due to a problem with online ordering (from a local store), I've ended up with two. It was so cheap, I'm thinking of keeping the second one. Is anyone not interested in us having a television in the guest bedroom?

Afternoon walk around the Tainui Reserve

Please seek out Nico's blog for a differential diagnosis of Parks, Domains and Reserves in the NZ. Nico does not get a link yet...as some of you may recall, the requirements for a link to your site (from takealotofdrugs.com) are ALL of the following:

1) You must apply in writing

and ONE of the following

2) You must have updated your blog with at least one semi-interesting post in each of the last 3 months

OR

3) You must be deployed on active duty in the military branch of your choice

[For those of you who do not work at Prescription Solutions, this is a sort of funny Prior Authorizations joke. Of course, if you have to explain a joke...]

We live over at this end...it's more of a park over here.


And just a short hike into the reserve, and things start looking foresty.

A grape by any other name

A little rain today, so instead of mowing the lawn, we set off in search of zinfandel. Kemblefield Estate Winery claims to be the first (and now one of two) wineries in the NZ growing zinfandel.

The winery/vineyards are stunning.



The zinfandel they were pouring was not quite recognizable as zinfandel, though a few of their other wines were quite good. We hope to return when they are tasting the (much more expensive) reserve zinfandel.

PS: Nobody is skyping me. Not even my parents. I've added a skype button to make it even easier. If you don't have skype, sign up here. It's free.