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Steve's Birthday Eve
So this is going to sound more like a hotel and restaurant review than a holiday blog. The true holiday/travel blog will start on Friday approx when I get to Japan. The Wellington/Napier leg is like practice.
A short (well, four hour) drive from Wellington north saw us fit to arrive in sunny Napier. This was after multiple heavy rain warnings for the East Coast. Good old Hawkes Bay appears to have missed part of it.
We are staying in the Masonic Hotel on the main drag (Marine Parade). It is an art deco style hotel right in the city. Currently it is in the middle of a refurbishment so not all of the rooms are finished and the lobby is still being upgraded, however the potential is there. We have a refurbished room and it is fantastic. Lovely and airy, high ceilings, a mixture of art deco style and modern convenience (and a shower than could double as a bedroom). When they finish up the refurbishment, it will be fantastic. Highly recommended if you are looking for a place in Napier.
As there is a birthday to celebrate I figured one of the vineyards would be a nice place to do so. I have previously been to Church Road winery to see Jack Johnson play (many many many moons ago - thank you Heather :)) and thought it would be nice to go there, sample some wine and eat some food. Turns out Church Road does not have a restaurant. However, the winery next door (approx), Mission Estate Winery, does. And it was beautiful. The restaurant/cellar door is located up a long driveway. At night it is like an island of light amongst the ocean of dark vines. The food is stunning and wine, just delightful. Steve ate monkfish and found it delicious. The question of whether it was because it was monkfish or if it was because of the preparation is in some debate, however the overall result was a clean plate. I had lamb. It must have been a happy lamb as the meal itself was something to be savored and enjoyed. Dessert was good and the service fantastic. They ordered us a taxi to go back to Napier city and the taxi driver had the best sound system/in vehicle entertainment (which included video clips) system I have ever seen. I had to drag Steve out of the taxi as it appeared he wanted to go home with the taxi driver just to spend more time with the in car entertainment setup. Great night all round.
Now to finish watching Valerie throw some more shot puts.
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As a post script, upon awaking this morning and preparing for the drive back to Auckland, Mt Tongariro erupted overnight. The best quote so far has been "it was like a giant woke up, rolled over, farted and went back to sleep" (or words to that effect). However did end up with a fine layer of ash covering the car and who knows if the sleeping giant will awake in a fit of rage complete with raging intergestion and gas.
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