And we leave on 15 Feb. and will be gone thru 8 March. I have been procrastinating this one for 20 years because of my bad back. But, we will bite the bullet and spend 16 days actually in NZ. We do plan to have dinner with Graham[AnG] in Wellington the day after my big birthday. New pics to follow---cannot wait.
If you don't have a place in Auckland yet, I highly recommend The Great Ponsonby B&B. This was the first place I ever booked over the internet back in 1999. A friend stayed there recently and loved it also. Even if you don't stay there, definitely check out the neighborhood.
Thanks Marta, We are taking a tour package---my lovely Susan made it very clear that she would only go if Bob did not drive. She has the idea that I am not as young as I once was, and have little experience on the wrong side. Poppycock!
The group is only 14 people on a small bus. We will get all over NZ, with about 9 nites on the south island and 7 on the north island.
Hi Bob - we're in Napier now - rented a cottage for two weeks. We rented a car and we say "it takes a village" to drive it! Both of us looking in every direction before we attempt a turn and shifting gears with your left hand is very interesting! Drove to Lake Taupo yesterday and "passed" for the first time - that was a major accomplishment!
On the subject of restaurants, a very good restaurant for any special meal in central Napier is the "Chambers" at the Country Hotel. It gets great reviews and despite its name it is very central and less than 300m (sorry, about 900 ft) south of your hotel. (of course it won't be as good as Wellington!!)
And LizS, great to see you are getting into the NZ driving and hopefully relaxing as well. Would be interested in where you are approximately in Napier. If you want a great restaurant/cafe for lunch one day, drive out to Clearview Winery (probably take 15-20 mins). It is our favourite lunch spot in the Hawkes Bay and has just won "best restaurant in the Bay" in "Cafe" magazine. It is also the start of the beach trip to the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers, so maybe you could do both the same day!
We're staying at a bach in Bay View - so far we've eaten at Te Awa (very nice food but expensive) and Silenis (we enjoyed the food and wine a great deal but the service was a bit iffy). Plan to try Terroir but maybe we'll change that to Clearview - what do you think?
Actually the best meal we've had so far was Saturday night at our neighbour's house - a lovely couple we met earlier in the week. Great barbequed lamb! We've invited them to dinner tomorrow night and have had fun traversing the countryside shopping. Went to the Farmer's Market in Hastings yesterday and bought all sorts of lovely things - serving lamb - maybe I'm mad to serve lamb to Kiwis!! Bought a lovely merlot at Silenis to go with it.
I just remembered that we had a nice relaxing lunch back in 1999 at Clearview. The food was good. I checked their website and the restaurant is often mentioned with the other two you visited, Te Awa and Sileni. Back in 1999, I wasn't to impressed with Clearview wines compared with the others. But Clearview does have a great outdoors dining area and we really enjoyed the lunch. It looks like much has changed since 1999.
I also took a look at Terroir and that looks very impressive. We just had a bottle of their single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc last week and I liked it very much. It was from Martinborough (Te Muna Road Vineyard) and done much more in the Loire French style than Marlborough. The menu does look expensive but very interesting.
It would be a tough choice for me to make. I'd probably lean toward Terroir just because I'm more intrigued with the Craggy Range wines. But I bet Clearview would be a much better value.
Posts: 7486 | Location: Edmonds, WA | Registered: 25 October 2001
Hi Liz & Marta, We are at risk of convering Bob's thread into a discussion on Hawkes Bay restaurants, but after all he is visiting there in just over a week.
Liz we know Bay View reasonably well and you have a good winery just up the road - have you visited Esk Valley yet?
I wouldn't like to choose between Clearview and Terroir but if it's lunch I'd go to Clearview and dinner to Terroir. I think you should try both, Liz!! I'm sure your lamb dinner would have gone down just fine (I'd certainly appreciate it and lamb would be Annette's favourite dish.) Glad you found the Farmers' Market it is a lot of fun. Did you go to Te Mata Winery just along the road from the market. They probably make as good a wine as anyone anywhere (particularly cab sav based which is the grape the Bay excells in). Incidentally Craggy Range make a very good Pinot Noir which is not common in the Bay due to the warm nights). Another consistently good restaurant is at Vidals Winery in Hastings should you need another suggestion!
I hope your weather is good as Wellington has had brilliant hot calm weather for 2 weeks now. Enjoy the rest of your stay.
Marta, I agree with your wine comments. Clearview have some very good wines but also some very average ones, however one can taste to decide what to have with the meal.
Quick note - Terroir it was - absolutely stunning location and a beautiful cloudless day made the decision easy! Lovely lunch - might try for Clearview today.......
Hi Liz, Great that you had an enjoyable lunch and will be interested in whether you do get to Clearview. Not nearly as upmarket as Terroir but a lovely location.
Did you see any of the Art Deco Festival yesterday. I hope the weather stayed fine. You must be due to move on shortly as you must have been there almost 2 weeks!
Bob has gone quiet but probably doesn't have access to the web while he's on the move. He is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, Sunday, and we will see them, all going well, when they get to Wellington on Friday.
I will be taking my first trip to NZ this summer and am very excited to hear all the great things that you did, so I will have a clue when I go. Are you planning on doing anything extreme? I know you said you had a bad back but if anyone in your group goes sky-diving let me know how it went because those are my only plans of to date!
Graham - we did see alot of the activities in Napier - while the weather was a bit threatening it held off for the most part.
We had a great time in Napier - due in equal parts to the lovely area PLUS meeting and enjoying people - the Slow Trav way!
We went to Waitomo yesterday and did the cave tubing (we're getting too old for this but are very proud of ourselves today!) and now we're in Paihia - the weather is outstanding - tomorrow we're off to Cape Reinga for the day
Hi Liz - you obviously enjoyed your stay in the Napier area and we hope you enjoy up north as well - as long as the weather lasts as we are due for a day or two of rain it appears.
We've never done the cave tubing at Waitomo and think you were adventurous to have a go. We'd probably say we're too old as well for that but would enjoy it too I'm sure.
Glad you are enjoying the country - we also enjoy your country a lot. We were there last year and are going again in May - son's wedding in NY so I suppose we'd bettter turn up!!
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I'd probably lean toward Terroir just because I'm more intrigued with the Craggy Range wines. But I bet Clearview would be a much better value.
