Hawkes Bay again back to Wellington

Eskdale Campground

I stopped at Rotorua for fuel, 161.9c per litre, cheapest yet. I was last at Eskdale campsite 7 years ago, it's a lovely open campsite as you can see here. The next day I visited Esk Valley vinyard and the lady was very nice, I was also here 7 years ago, in Napier I visited Port Napier and had lunch at a lovely twee Kath Kidston style shop/ café called Port O Call, the owner called everyone my dear and darling and asked if they wanted tea or coffee, they had Devonshire Tea how about that, so I had a Devonshire Tea, everything had flowers on it, even my Devonshire Tea. I thought it was as close to my imaginary 'Mother Dears Tea Shop' as something could be.

Port O Call

Now with a bit more time, I had a walk up The Bluff Hill lookout which is a very nice walk to get there and watched the container ship being loaded and unloaded.

 

Back in town the pier looked a bit different from last time:

 

Would you look at that!

 

For lunch I went to Mission Bay vineyard which looks proper posh, it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner but they a reasonable snack menu, so I got fries and steamed veg which were very nice. That evening I stayed at Clive campground in Clive, a nice long haired showed me to my tent spot on his bike, it's probably the friendliest campsite ever, I was visited by one of the long term residents cat called Mischief, who wanted to play.

 

Mischief playing with the tarp tie that goes around my tent. Beautiful animal but deadly I'm told.

 

Next day I decided to go back to Wellington, I had coffee at Unisons Vineyard which looked very Tuscan, it was really lovely, I had a good chat with the owner who is very easy to talk to and told me about her career change from H.R in corporate London to running a vineyard in Hawkes Bay. From there I went to Havelock North to Craggy Ranges Vineyard and did some tasting and collected a bottle and then had a walk up Te Mata peak, and realised I had been here 7 years ago too. It's a splendid hill, reminds me of the Lake District in the UK as it's fairly open and makes a change from green tunnel walks which is most of NZ. I had a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers and plums on a fence style looking out towards the peak, I could also see the vineyard I had just been to on the plain below.

 

Te Mata Peak, Craggy Ranges

I really like Hawkes Bay. I think it's actually my favourite area in New Zealand. Cuthbert carried me to Wellington, back to my lovely Island Bay sanctuary.