The double
glazing at the Motel in Taihape did its job and we had a good night. Heading further up to
the north, Dessert Road (we hoped for some nice vistas at the Volcanos - we did see nothing, not even the road 200 meters ahead) in mist
and rain towards Taupo. It was definitely not the National Trout Center that
let us choose that way. I was not enough motivated to go there or to the Taupo
region at all, but it was rather the bad weather that made us not to go east via
the (upaved) Taihape-Napier road, but to go via a big arch first up north towards
Taupo and then back south-east via Taupo. Driving towards the lake we run into
the trout center more by surprise as I thought it was supposed to be somewhere
else. It was interesting to see the (hatchery) rainbow trout in close to
spawning mood, nevertheless this center is not worth a significant detour.
Unless you want to fish the famous hammered Tongariro – in that case consider
that you need a special DOC Taupo catchment fishing license! The normal NZ
license is not valid!
In Taupo I tried
to have a sleep in the rainy car, did some mailing and Ines and Tobias went for
the local swimming pool. Late that afternoon we started towards Napier. Again
one of these boring NI roads – it leads through the world’s largest man-planted
forest. Man planted forests in NZ means tree by tree in the exact same distance
and orientation – looks very artificial even from miles away. Finding
accommodation in Napier was one of these locations where it took some more time
and consideration. This was pretty much the tendency for a couple of NI
locations which was partially related to the autumn holidays and the general higher
price level than on the SI. Consequently the cheaper accommodations are really
cheap / simple / old / ‘bachy’. But we found a cozy typical bach close to the
sea some minutes north of Napier.
Napier has
two major attractions: it is the capital / highest concentration of Art Deco
buildings and has lots of wineries around. A good reason to visit Napier and
spend a couple of days there. Fishing was not on the plan!
This night Tobias was not to be persuaded to got to bed. He was up pretty late. And around 9p, something he stood up by itself and made the first steps. Just one or two. Repeatedly he stood up all by himself and made his very first steps. This night up to around seven consecutive steps without any support! The 16th of April - just three days after his first birthday. He was even more proud what he achieved than his very proud parents! He was so excited!
Before that during the afternoon in Taupo with Ines he made some water supported steps in the pool - the very first indication of this occurrence.
This night Tobias was not to be persuaded to got to bed. He was up pretty late. And around 9p, something he stood up by itself and made the first steps. Just one or two. Repeatedly he stood up all by himself and made his very first steps. This night up to around seven consecutive steps without any support! The 16th of April - just three days after his first birthday. He was even more proud what he achieved than his very proud parents! He was so excited!
Before that during the afternoon in Taupo with Ines he made some water supported steps in the pool - the very first indication of this occurrence.
We picked
some of these winery-maps from the i-Site and figured out a route to visit distinct
wineries and some we already knew from the bottle. We started off with the
young stylish modern Elephant Hill, a winery founded just some years ago by a
German investor with a focus on high quality wine. Their whites and their reds
where very promising. We bought a bottle of 2009 Tempranillo – a rather
uncommon crape for NZ – which was not available for a taste. Some surprise for
home.
Based on recommendation by a staff from Elephant Hill we continued via lovely back roads to Craggy Range. A snobby high price show-off winery. Postmodern architecture of cellar and restaurant. All looks very good, but none of the wines did even slightly persuade. They might have a hard time to enter the German market. Off main stream taste paired with high prices.
Based on recommendation by a staff from Elephant Hill we continued via lovely back roads to Craggy Range. A snobby high price show-off winery. Postmodern architecture of cellar and restaurant. All looks very good, but none of the wines did even slightly persuade. They might have a hard time to enter the German market. Off main stream taste paired with high prices.
Te Mata was a
winery we knew from the bottle (back then Cabernet Merlot Reserve 2009).
Surprisingly their whole tasted range was good value for money (good bottles
starting around 20NZ$, e.g. the Cabernet Merlot 2010 we bought). Te Mata has a
not too much exaggerated newly build Art Deco style cellar. We wanted to have some historic wineries as well so we went to The Mission. A very friendly man made a special late tasting for us. The Mission is the oldest winery in NZ constantly producing, founded back in 1851 from priests that needed wine for their sacraments. A beautiful Victorian building overlooking the surroundings.
Fifth and the last winery for the day was Church
Road. Curch Road is a very old winery from 1897 but it was not producing
without interruption. Which was sold from Montana (one of the wine big player
in NZ) to a French company (Pernod Ricard). We loved their Merlot Cabernet
Sauvignon 2009 before we knew anything about its origin. Repeatedly we were
stocking up on this as soon as it was on sale in one of the supermarkets. It comes
normally for around 28, but you can get it for something between 15 and 18 if
you are patient. This wine was mentioned before in this block, till the end of
this trip we might have had well of a dozen of this type. Interesting was that
even as we had tasted about 20-25 different wines during this day, Church Road
did still appeal. Their Reserve Syrah 2010 or their Mc Donald Series Marzemino
(!) 2010 are just pure pleasure! Full bodied, deep, interesting, pleasuring. And
their Tom range is said to be outstanding. Unfortunately we were at our
self-imposed limit of six bottles in the car and just around 10 more days to
go. We were close to be drunk and thus ready to drive to the cottage.
In the morning we went back to Church Road first to do the cellar tour and get some insights in making / producing the wine and second to taste the poured wines again. Curch Road as well as The Mission hold regular outdoor concerts in their parks during summer that attract guests from the whole country.
In the morning we went back to Church Road first to do the cellar tour and get some insights in making / producing the wine and second to taste the poured wines again. Curch Road as well as The Mission hold regular outdoor concerts in their parks during summer that attract guests from the whole country.
Northbound again towards the Ruakituri valley for the last days fishing on NI. Taking care of the cottage there was pain in the ass as the owner could not get hold of the lady in charge of the keys and pretty much delegated this task to me. However he gave some basic advice how to fish the river and where to go. I tried to call the lady numerous times and was already about to change plans and to find an other acomodation. Than out of a sudden, again trying to call here with out hope, she was on the phone and all worked out to the good.
The landscape driving there was pastoral land or tree plantations. Besides the core land of the National Parks the whole NI seems to be utilized to grow or feed something. I mention that river here as it is one of the around top five rivers on NI, very well-known and frequently mentioned in various reports you find on the internet. We reached the cottage well after dawn. A cottage more like a wooden semi-deteriorated castle. Lots of bedrooms, a large living area and kitchen. Some of the wood on the outside looked as it would fall apart by simple touch... I was very curious and with high expectation about the last days of fishing!
