Gail and Lois (Patrick's aunt and uncle) came to visit us the first part of June, and we had a great time showing them around the N. Island. We had heaps of fun in Wanganui -- apparently drinking a lot of coffee, because the folks at our favorite coffee shop, the Orange, have been asking after them!
We decided to spend a long weekend in
Hawke's Bay...on the East Coast of the North Island...happens to be one of the great food and wine centers of NZ. We drove to
Te Mata peak for some hiking, but accidentally drove to the top. No problem, it afforded great views of the N. Island landscape, down to the ocean. We arrived at the summit just in time to see these guys jumping off of cliffs into the wind, er, paragliding. This guy had to wait quite a while to get enough wind to jump off and float down to the paddock below. (Seems to me that if you have to wait so long for enough wind, maybe you shouldn't be jumping off of cliffs? But what do I know, I'm just an ER doctor...) When they landed in the paddock below the sheep all ran for their lives -- It was hilarious. I'm sure they were terrified!
A trip to Hawke's Bay isn't complete without a trip to the
Farmer's Market in Hastings...We had gone with Patrick's parents in the middle of summer and were happy to find that they moved the whole operation indoors (fairgrounds type facilities) for winter, so rain or shine or cold, you can come and sample as much fresh bread, jam, chutney, dipping sauce, olive oil, wine, fruit, etc as you want. Patrick found this big squash and was like, "Do you have a question?" We escaped with apples, mandarins, fresh bread, NZ cheese, marmelade, jam...I can't even remember everything. We ate like Farmers Market Kings for the next few days!
Here are Gail and Lois on the beach in Napier. We stayed at the
Manor on Parade B&B, as we did w/Lyle and Donna in December. We couldn't bear to stay anywhere else after our great time there in December. (The breakfast is amazing!) Gail and Lois spent a lot of time happily wandering along the beach, even though it was chilly and wintery. We tore them away a few times for wine tasting, delicious Turkish food at
Kilim (Gail was a big hit there since he lived in Turkey for 6 months when he was younger!), walks to see the Art Deco architecture in town, and to practice shooting at Opossum World. (Just a game, not real shooting!)
We rounded out the trip on our Kiwi Farmstay...Some friends were out of town (to Singapore!) and asked us to house-sit their farm (and their 17-year-old) while they were away. It's an idyllic place, with a warm fire, friendly cats, a paddock filled with domesticated deer (!!) and a great big newly remodelled kitchen! We were happy to oblige, so G&L got the farm experience, too. Here is Gail with his new best friend, the cat, Picasso. They look pretty relaxed -- we think they had a nice vacation!!
We decided to spend a long weekend in Hawke's Bay...on the East Coast of the North Island...happens to be one of the great food and wine centers of NZ. We drove to Te Mata peak for some hiking, but accidentally drove to the top. No problem, it afforded great views of the N. Island landscape, down to the ocean. We arrived at the summit just in time to see these guys jumping off of cliffs into the wind, er, paragliding. This guy had to wait quite a while to get enough wind to jump off and float down to the paddock below. (Seems to me that if you have to wait so long for enough wind, maybe you shouldn't be jumping off of cliffs? But what do I know, I'm just an ER doctor...) When they landed in the paddock below the sheep all ran for their lives -- It was hilarious. I'm sure they were terrified!
A trip to Hawke's Bay isn't complete without a trip to the Farmer's Market in Hastings...We had gone with Patrick's parents in the middle of summer and were happy to find that they moved the whole operation indoors (fairgrounds type facilities) for winter, so rain or shine or cold, you can come and sample as much fresh bread, jam, chutney, dipping sauce, olive oil, wine, fruit, etc as you want. Patrick found this big squash and was like, "Do you have a question?" We escaped with apples, mandarins, fresh bread, NZ cheese, marmelade, jam...I can't even remember everything. We ate like Farmers Market Kings for the next few days!
Here are Gail and Lois on the beach in Napier. We stayed at the Manor on Parade B&B, as we did w/Lyle and Donna in December. We couldn't bear to stay anywhere else after our great time there in December. (The breakfast is amazing!) Gail and Lois spent a lot of time happily wandering along the beach, even though it was chilly and wintery. We tore them away a few times for wine tasting, delicious Turkish food at Kilim (Gail was a big hit there since he lived in Turkey for 6 months when he was younger!), walks to see the Art Deco architecture in town, and to practice shooting at Opossum World. (Just a game, not real shooting!)
We rounded out the trip on our Kiwi Farmstay...Some friends were out of town (to Singapore!) and asked us to house-sit their farm (and their 17-year-old) while they were away. It's an idyllic place, with a warm fire, friendly cats, a paddock filled with domesticated deer (!!) and a great big newly remodelled kitchen! We were happy to oblige, so G&L got the farm experience, too. Here is Gail with his new best friend, the cat, Picasso. They look pretty relaxed -- we think they had a nice vacation!!
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