With the car loaded up with wine we left the kids behind with the Grandparents and travelled Hawkes Bay to Taupo to visit Scenic Cellars. ‘The Intern’ Syrah 2010 recently won their ‘Bigs Reds Tasting’ from 140 red wines! Fantastic, great to meet the crew and see the new ‘café’ at the front of shop… a great place to spend some time and of course, too difficult to leave empty handed.
From Taupo to Whakatane to visit the water plant where ‘Deep’ is bottled. Helped with the run for Japan. Stunning picture postcard part of New Zealand. Volcanoes rising from the flats, the beautiful lakes, steam rising beside the road, lush vegetation of Palm Trees and native forest, water everywhere! We were visiting customers but it felt like a holiday!
The Sebel at Trinity Wharf in Tauranga, on the east coast of New Zealand was a sight for sore eyes.. the hotel was built out over the water and we could have gone swimming from our veranda… the port and city lights reflected over the water from the restaurant. After dinner joined by Alain Degas in the bar for a good night of tales and wine. Worth a visit.
A day drive to New Plymouth on the West coast. Following the GPS probably meant we took some unused roads, but on arrival at the surfers Highway we were greeted with big waves and inlets, famous for surfing and fishing..
Dinner tonight was at the Garlic Press – highly recommended and definitely easy to see why it was the busiest place in town. ‘Danger’ cooked just for us, venison, scallops, duck, apple crème Brulee to finish! A Great crew working here, friendly and comfortable and fantastic food. Popped in the next day and he kindly gave us some South Island ‘Tar’ to bring home for the family – another threat! We’ll be back sooner rather than later and booking our table early!
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| Roadside scenery |
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'Hobbits Hole'. This tunnel is sometimes
closed for parties. You either join in or
have a long wait! |
The fun continues as we meet up Raewyn and Grant at ‘Treehouse’. This was a very comfortable place to sit either around the fire in winter or on the deck in summer. Great people, glad to meet them and be sure they'll look after you well.
Gusto, New Plymouth is near the port and the water flows right up to the restaurant.The large windows give expansive views and its always great to watch the weather and goings on.
We’ve always loved Waiau Estate, very popular for weddings and functions and its easy to see why! Beautiful trees, sound of waves on the beach, lovely lovely gardens, fresh herbs growing outside, indoor outdoor.
We decided to take the route home we hadn’t been before called ‘The forgotten Highway’ state highway 43.
It took all day before the cell phone regained reception! Some unsealed road and bright green hills for hours on end - we got tired of the color! You wouldn’t believe the color if someone painted it. This route detailed the pioneering history of New Zealand, in a wet part of the country. 4 Volcanoes, 2 active, towering waterfall, tiny towns, a magnificent gorge. We passed through four tiny one lane tunnels hewn from rock. One with giant fossiled crabs. One had over the years ‘hosted numerous impromptu parties from the locals, forcing other travellers to either join in or wait patiently”. With a car full of wine, water and venison, at least it was a daunting prospect to get stuck.
We did arrive at the one and only place to eat in on the whole journey of 7 hours, at the Whangamomona hotel, a place full of character and history and is said it “was once sold with a wife transferred as part of the payment”!
After leaving here watch out for the sign – ‘no petrol for 100kms!
The scenery just got better and better, through the gorge and a small walk to the 74m waterfall.
This scores a definite ‘Highly Recommended’ from the Hatton Estate team.
Read more of our travels.