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We stopped off on our way into Napier at a fishmongers suggested to a lovely couple that we met in the bay of islands. We bought some really tasty snapper. Unfortunately the weather was pretty rainy that afternoon and we didn't want to see Napiers Art Deco buildings in the rain so . . . Debs remembered that Breaking Dawn 2 had just come out in the cinema (Lucky Debs . . . not so lucky James!!)! Another couple (Rhys and Tara) that we met at lake Waikaremoana suggested that we should stay at Clive's Motorcamp whilst staying in the area. It was such a cool place, 90% of the sites were taken up by permanent residents, and most of those you couldn't even see the caravans for the buildings and gardens built round them! The lady who works there at the owners were so welcoming and friendly. The next morning we hired two bikes from the site and set off on the bike track along the seafront towards Clifton. The track was beautiful and the sun was out and to make it even better there were vineyards . . . with wine tasting :) Our first stop off was at 'Beach House' vineyard. The building was a terracotta rustic Spanish style building it was really gorgeous! We were greeted by a really lovely lady called Jill. Beach House vineyards are owned and run by Jill, her husband Chris and his parents. She explained all the wines to us and of course we had to have a taste! The wines were delicious!! We had a nice time there chatting about wine, Beach House and our travels. We then headed further down the coast to Clearview Vineyard this place was bigger and set up with a restraunt and bar. They were berry welcoming. The lady who did the tastings asked us "Would you like to choose which wines to taste or would you just like to work your way down the list?" . . . There were over 20 types of wine . . . we worked our way down the list, stopping half way to eat some lunch!! On our cycle back James was a hero as he heard someone calling for help, we turned back and found an elderly lady who had fallen in her garden. James stayed with Cathy whilst I found her husband Wayne and we then helped her up and to the porch, luckily she was not too hurt. They were very grateful and we were glad that we stopped! The next morning we went into Napier and had a good wander round the market and all the Art Deco buildings. We loved it, Napier has got a really nice feel to it. We then drove into Hastings and stopped at Roosters which is a Brewery owned and run by Chris who is Jill's husband from 'Beach House' Jill had suggested it to us. It had a cool bar an we stopped for a pint and enjoyed them in the beer garden! We had Jill's number and she mentioned for us to call her so we could come and have a look round their vineyard in Hastings. We went over and were greeted by Jill and her daughter Brittany, Chris was soon to follow and Angus the son was out at a sleepover. The family were so welcoming, we saw the chickens and the rooster (they were massive!) had tea and cake then Chris showed us to his underground cellar . . . It was really cool, then he showed us where the wine was stalked, pressed and stored. It was awesome seeing how it all worked and having the opportunity to look around. Next thing we know we have been invited to stay the night in the paddock and have dinner with the family! We had a lovely evening eating a delicious dinner and drinking scrummy wine! The next morning Chris and Jill told us about the farmers market in Hastings. The market runs every Sunday and only sells local area produce, it was much bigger than others we had seen and we had a lovely time mainly chilling out on the field drinking coffee and watching the band. We picked up some yummy bread and cheese for our picnic and drove down the coast to Clifton. We ate the picnic on the beach looking out to Cape Kidnappers. We ha booked a tour on a tractor up to the cape, well we were on the trailer! It was a great trip and the driver was really informative letting us know all about the different sediment layers which you can see so clearly on the cliff. He also explained about the fault lines in the cliff where it was obvious the land had shifted and slid (up to 11m at points) during quakes and tremors. This was all an added bonus as the real reason that we went up to the cape was to see the Gannets! We walked up to the cape head and there were hundreds of them. They are such funny birds! So elegant and beautiful in the air but on ground they looked like they had two left feet!! We loved watching them. We decided to walk back as it was a beautiful day and we still had time to get back before the tide came in! On our way out of the area we popped over to see Jill, Chris and Brittany to say thank you and goodbye. We were persuaded to eat yet another lovely dinner before swapping details and heading off. We were sad to leave the Hawkes Bay Area but excited to head down south!
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Trish & Craig Wow, it sounds brilliant! Keep on enjoying:-) Loads of love, Trish & Craig xx