Point Howard to Days Bay

The females of the family are in Melbourne. I am hoping that Jenny will be able to blog some photos when she gets back.

Sam’s team are off the bottom of the table. They beat Taranaki 4 nil in a fairly bad tempered game with several yellows and a red card. I thought Sam played well and made some good saves.

Today we went for a walk in the hills behind Eastbourne. We’ve done the main bit several times before, but this time we started at Point Howard. As you will see, it was dull and overcast, but remained dry all day.

Initially there are views over the harbour to Matiu/Somes Island
(this is the hole in the rock at the north end of the island),

south to Makaro/Ward Island and the passage out to Cook Strait

and some unusual views over the industrial area of Seaview, across the mouth of the Hutt River to Petone.

The group heading into the bush

and resting for the traditional photo on the seat by the lookout on Mount Lowry.

I love the vegetation in this area. This is a young (only about 20cm) fern that will grow into a monster if left undisturbed.

Much of the track is through gentle beech forest

with glades of tree ferns.

Pine-cone hunting

One of our favourite autumnal activities is collecting pine-cones for the fire. Noreen is having a new fireplace installed soon so we need to stock up with fuel. On Tinakori Hill there is still a ready supply from the pine trees that were felled years ago after storms in 2004.

Here is the ceremonial retrieval of the first cone of the season!
Soon we found a rich lode of cones on fallen trees.

There was also a pile of cut up logs that we plundered.

All this and good views over the city towards Mount Victoria.

Sam was away for the day, playing football in Napier. They lost 3-2 so are now bottom of the table. He will be disappointed.

A Typical Weekend

After all the excitement of cycling round Hawke’s Bay, this weekend was more mundane –but still enjoyable.

On Saturday I went to see Sam play football. He had a good game, I thought, but his team came off second best. The score was 1 – nil. Here are a few action shots of the lad.
On Sunday a few of us went for a walk along the Eastern Walkway. There are good views over Breaker Bay and the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

Saturday was the 42nd anniversary of the sinking of the Wahine during a ferocious storm. The ship lost power at the end of it’s journey from Lyttelton and ran aground on Barrett’s Reef. Here is one of the current ferries, Arahura, passing the reef on her way across Cook Strait to Picton.

Cycling through Hawke's Bay

We’ve just completed a five day cycling tour around Hawke’s Bay. (Note to the apostrophe purists – the region is properly given with the possessive, the actual briny feature is just Hawke Bay). This is an initial posting with a general overview of the trip. Links to further posts with more details on each of the days are at the bottom of this.

Here we are, all bright and bouncy, setting off from the headquarters of Takaro Trails.
The first part was easy riding along a coastal footpath and cycleway, initially skirting round the port and seafront of Napier.

Later in the afternoon we are approaching Te Mata Peak, en route for the night's stay in Havelock North.

This is typical wine country. It must be a lucrative business as all the vineyards seem to have fairly palatial dwellings.

The next morning was another fine, sunny and warm day. We were off early cycling on back country roads

following the Tukituki river to Waipawa, one of the oldest towns in the area.

The third day I completed on my own as Noreen was a bit crook. It was on largely deserted roads, over gently rolling country

but well signposted.
The sheep were trying to blend into the background (as you can see it has been a very dry summer).
Noreen made a miraculous recovery so she could complete the last two days which involved travelling through the Gimbletts Gravels wine growing region. Here she is after a few tastings trying to prove that she is perfectly capable of cycling safely.
The last winery we visited was New Zealand's oldest - Mission, established by Marist Brothers in 1851.
Day 1 Napier to Havelock North

Day 2 Havelock North to Waipawa

Day 3 Waipawa to Hastings

Day 4 Hastings to Taradale

Day 5 Taradale to Napier

Day 2 Havelock North to Waipawa

Our second day on the cycle trail took us to Black Barn winery in Havelock North. Not for the wine you understand, but to stock up on provisions at the Farmers’ Market they hold there.
Next stop was Birdswood arts centre for coffee and to view the amazing sculptures and other art work they have there. The couple running it were farmers in Zimbabwe. They organised their workers to produce art work using recycled materials. After being evicted from the country they kept in contact with some of their former workers and periodically visit to buy more stock.

Here are some more non-frisky cows.

The road follows the Tukituki for most of the day.

We stopped for lunch at the tiny settlement of Patangata. In olden times it was a hive of activity. This information is from The Cyclopedia of New Zealand published between 1897 and 1908.

Then it was on to Waipawa

which is on the Waipawa River (a tributary of the Tukituki).

Day 1 Napier to Havelock North

The trail starts from Bay View which is a settlement north of Napier. Most of the first half of this day is along a combined cycle and walk way organised by Rotary. It follows the shore towards Napier.
This is Bluff Hill with the port nestling underneath.

The first Custom House was built in 1856. It was replaced by this one in 1895 which served until 1953.

Further south the coastline is dominated by the cliffs leading to Cape Kidnappers.

There was a large flock of black swans on a lagoon near where we turned inland.

This sign caught my fancy and I was looking forward to meeting frisky bovines but the only ones we saw were very placid.

After stopping for lunch the track turns inland, following the Tukituki river. Hawke’s Bay is a major producer of apples and similar fruit.

Nowadays grapes for the wine industry are a growing business (no pun intended).

The track follows the stop bank so is largely flat and well formed.

For the last hour or so we were on minor roads and had a bit of a climb before coasting down into Havelock North where we stayed the night.