Wine, Water, and Worms

On the 27th, we packed up, Craig’s shoes and all, and drove over to Napier. Napier and Hastings are on the east coast of the North Island and are known for their wineries. We didn’t really have any set plans but wanted to do some wine tasting so we stopped at an info site in Napier for some info. There were all sorts of options for wine tours but most wineries closed at 5pm and it was already about 2pm. Craig found a wine tour though, called Twilight Odyssey, that began at 5.30 that evening. We called and they had space so we booked it, went to our campsite in Hastings, and relaxed for a couple of hours.

The shuttle was running late because of the previous tour and finally picked us up at 6.45. There were 6 other people: a couple from NZ and their parents from Ireland, and a girl our age from Hong Kong with her British sugar daddy. All nice people. We went right to the first winery, Vidal, where we tasted about 6 wines and were served an appetizer platter. The platter (see pics) was an array of fancy foods including squid, green-lipped mussels, smoked salmon, red wine mushrooms, breads, beef, and I can’t remember what else. It and the wine were amazingly good, and the winery was really cool, with big wooden barrels throughout.


Wine Tasting at Vidal

Vidal Winery

From there, we hopped back into the shuttle for a ride up to the top of Te Mata, a high peak in Hastings famous for it’s panoramic views over the area. We arrived a few minutes before sunset and were served champagne while enjoying the evening air and beautiful sunset. Also from up there, we could look straight down to see the next winery, Craggy Range.


View from Te Mata Peak

Back in the van and on to Craggy. This winery was modern, gigantic, and gorgeous. It was set near a river and had a large lake next to it. There was a huge sphere shaped thing next to it with a roof over it. Our guide informed us it was a huge wine vat! It was about the size of maybe 4 large houses. Amazing! We were led through the winery restaurant and out onto a large patio on the lake for more wine and our main course. I had Bluenose fish and Craig had Filet Mignon. Both were really really good but Craig’s Filet took the cake. The one morsel Craig shared was the best meat I have ever tasted.


Craggy Range from Outside

Craggy Range Winery

With full, happy tummies, we left for the third and finaly winery, Mission Estate. This one was in a huge old church and was also very beautiful. Once again we were seated outside. Ice wine and dessert were served, followed by tea and coffee. Craig had some Rhubarb fluffy stuff and I had a warm chocolate, fudge filled cake thing with ice cream. Heavenly is all I can say. Followed up with some hot tea, the evening was complete. A 3 course meal at 3 different wineries, good wine, and good company on a beautiful evening. Can’t beat that!

Mission Estate Winery

The next day we wanted to check out a new farmers market in Hastings. It ended up being quite a bit bigger than the one in Dunedin, with a wider variety of stuff. Also some good live music being played with people relaxing in the grass in the middle. Lots of fresh fruits, veggies, and breads, and also lots of homemade goods such as jams, jellies, oils, dips, and canned goods. There were tons of vendors selling food such as brick oven pizza, smoothies, fruit drinks, waffles, breads and lots more. Craig tried a cheese and bacon bread which was all right. We shared a berry smoothie, made with strawberries and blueberries blended with yogurt. Pretty good, and healthy too. Then we decided to try the waffles and oh, what a great decision that was! We started by sharing one but I ended up ordering one of my own because they were so good. It was like a light, fluffy, rectangular belgian waffle topped with a little syrup and some whipped cream. I don't know how that guy made his batter and he wasn't about to tell us (although he did divulge it was his grandma's recipe) but it was a tasty one.


Commence Drooling

After digesting, we drove the 15 minutes or so into Napier to check it out. This had more of a city feel than Hastings’ wine region feel, but was pretty cool. It was set right on the ocean so we walked along the waterfront for awhile before leaving to drive north to Rotorura.

Napier

When we got to our campsite in Rotorura, we were able to relax and nap a bit before dinner. We ended up just hanging out at the campsite for the evening which was a nice break. The next day, we woke up to lots of rain, so packed up quickly and went to check out town. We wandered around into a few shops, bought nothing, and decided to go see a sheep shearing show we had heard great things about. We also decided that since it was still raining and was forecasted to continue, that we would get a “cabin” to sleep in that night. We called a campground and reserved our cabin and then went to check in. The “cabin” was really a tiny shed-sized, free standing room with a bed. It was just what we needed to keep dry though so we moved in and left for the show.


New Zealand "Cabin"

Now, if it weren’t for all of the rave reviews about this sheep show, I never would have been interested. However, it ended up being really cool! When we first arrived, the sheep were lined up along the walls and we were able to go pet them and take pictures. When the show started, the sheep were brought up on stage one at a time and a guy told us about each different kind of sheep. Next, he picked one of them to shear onstage and completed the whole thing in less than 5 minutes. It was crazy! This guy definitely knew what he was doing because it did not look easy to restrain a large, unhappy sheep with a bear hug while shearing it naked with a sharp electric razor.


Shearing

Next, he brought some kids up onstage to milk a cow and feed some lambs. Entertaining. Then he held a pretend auction. Love listening to those fast talkers. Finally, he brought 2 separate dogs up to demonstrate herding. These dogs were amazing! They followed both verbal (turn left, flat, and walk them in) and whistle commands. At the end, they were commanded to run along all the backs of the sheep! While jumping from sheep to sheep, they were ordered to STOP. The dog immediately stopped on the back of whatever sheep it was on and stayed there until commanded to move. It was crazy! Definitely a really cool show. Afterward, we went outside (in the rain) to watch the dogs a bit more herding sheep in a field, and then inside to see how wool is processed. This was a surprisingly really cool way to spend our day.


Merino, The King of Sheep

Next day, on our way out of town, we hiked along the Kaituna river, which Craig rafted when he was here with Katie a few years ago. The river was beautiful and we got to watch some rafters come over the waterfall it is known for. Then we walked around a thermal area park (the only free geothermal site in the area) to see some boiling mud and steaming ponds and such. Apparently the area last erupted in 2000 so it was cool to see something so active.


Geothermal Craig

That was enough of touristy Rotorura for us, and it was still raining so we drove down to Waitamo, a tiny “town” known solely for its glowworm caves. We booked a blackwater rafting trip through the caves for the next morning and drove to the nearest grocery store to stock up on food to get us through the new year holiday. In the morning, we met for our tour at 8am. We were given thick, rubber wetsuits (very attractive), booties, gumboots (also very attractive), and helmets equipped with lights, and then were taken to a practice site. Here we picked our inner tubes (yes, the old black ones from when you were a kid, just minus the long metal stem that caused so many injuries). Once we had our tubes, we had to practice jumping into the water with them for the waterfalls we would soon be launching off of in the caves. I, lucky me, was chosen to go first. I was instructed to stand on the edge of the practice dock on the creek, with my back to the water, bend over, and stick my inner tube on my bum. Then jump backward and land in the water on my tube. Success! I landed with a large splash, stayed on my tube, and all was well. After everyone in the group performed this task, we piled back into the van and drove to the cave entrance.

The entrance was basically just a hole in the ground. We climbed down in and hike a little ways deeper into the cave. We got to crawl through this cool, small little cave passageway, and our guide met us at the other end with out tubes. Here was our first jump into the water and then we had to lie on our backs on the tubes to float under a low cave roof (about 18 inches between rock and water). Super fun! The rest of the trip was spent paddling our tubes through the caves (sometimes in the pitch black which was a challenge), a cool jump off of a 5 foot waterfall, and a stop in one part of the cave to see and learn about glowworms. The worms were so bright in the pitch black cave that we felt like we were outside looking at a starry sky! It was really amazing.

After floating through the caves and looking at the glowworms, we reached the exit, climbed out, and then walked in the creek to the pickup point. It was a really great trip, and we were served hot soup and bagels at the end! After our soup and bagels, we hit the road to drive the “Forgotten Highway” down to Taranaki Park for the final few days of our trip. We’ll describe that drive in the next blog. Stay tuned!

Rotorua