No Fixed Abode: On the wine trail

Sunday 13th December - Day trip to Hawke's Bay on the Wine trail

With torrential rain all night and rain set in for the day in this central zone, we set off for a 2 1/2hour journey to the warmer east coast and Hawke's Bay, a famous wine region in the North Island which has numerous vineyards and a small selection of breweries too.

The drive on the highway was a tedious and straight route to Napier, a coastal town set amid the wine makers. Following an earthquake in 1931 it was rebuilt in Art Deco style which makes it quaint.

Here the Tourist info centre helped us select the Mission Estate vineyard for lunch and luckily got us the last reservation. We wanted somewhere with a bit of history, so established in 1851 by pioneering French missionaries and the oldest winery and birthplace of NZ wine, fitted the bill.

First though we popped up the road to the Filter Room brewery and sampled a couple of beers. It was lively there with a couple of Christmas works do's on, which looked like a minibus tour of breweries. It was all very friendly though.

Onwards to Sunday lunch. The Mission building was very attractive and people were having lunch on the lawn outside. It was nice and busy with a lovely summer's day atmosphere, ladies in colourful outfits, tinkling laughter and clinking of glasses. The restaurant had won awards for its lamb over several years so we opted for that and the sommelier helped us with our wine choices. Both excellent.

We took the mountain road home through beautiful countryside, which took longer but the views were worth it, passing our mountain of choice for tomorrow's tramp still laden in cloud and blowing a gale even at the end of the day. Fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow. Oh yes and we mustn't forget to check the volcanic alert website for the area....