Winery weekend where 50% of the people don't drink wine...

If you go to the liquor store and look for New Zealand wine, chances are it will be from Marlborough (South Island) or Hawke's Bay (North Island).  We've been wanting to get to Hawke's Bay since we moved here, and we finally bit the bullet and made the drive for a long weekend.  February 6-8 was a holiday weekend for the Treaty of Waitangi.  We went with our friends and Lance's co-workers, Jason and Orycia.  Jason and Lance initially bonded at work over ice hockey since he is from Canada.  Normally when they say 'hockey' here they are referring to field hockey (which then Lance diplomatically tells them is for girls).

We rented a bach near Napier and spent the slightly overcast and drizzly weekend driving around the area, attempting to go to vineyards, although the majority of them were closed.  I really have bad luck with vineyards being open when I try to go.  I repel wine.  Sad day.  But we managed to find Mission Estate Winery and Church Road Wines, which were both lovely.  Jason and I were the wine drinkers of the group and it was nice to have someone to drink and discuss wine tastings with since Lance doesn't care for wine. Orycia isn't really much of a drinker herself, so she and Lance would explore the grounds and keep James entertained, which worked for Jason and me. I don't have any pictures from the wineries because, well, I was busy drinking wine.  I did get a picture or two of our walk along the boardwalk/railroad (which on a side note is apparently illegal in NZ?).  Orycia and I also went to the aquarium while the boys golfed.

The beach in Napier was a beautiful smooth-pebble beach rather than sand.  It felt so nice to walk on, and had the benefit of not tracking sand into the car when we were done.  I wanted to take more than a dozen home with me.  James and Lance had a blast in the waves.  The beach dropped off very steeply at the water's edge so it made for great waves (although no actual swimming with the undertow).

Jason and Orycia were incredibly kind and took care of cooking all the meals.  I can't tell you how nice it was not to have to worry about any meals for a whole weekend.  Our bach wasn't anything glamorous, but it felt homey and child-friendly.  James sniffed out the box of toys in the closet and had a grand time making a mess while we sat and enjoyed our meals and wine.

The view and proximity to a barren beach was nothing to sneeze at either.

The drive home went much more smoothly than the drive out.  On Friday we had left around James' bedtime, hoping he would sleep the whole way.  He slept about an hour of the five-hour drive so that backfired.  The windy roads were terrifying in the dark with fog and rain making every curve a nail-biter.  Needless to say when we arrived after midnight Lance and I were both a little tense.  But the drive back on Sunday was gorgeous.  We had done the drive as far down as Lake Taupo in the past, but the segment from Lake Taupo to Napier exhibited some of the best New Zealand rolling, green hills dotted with trees and farms.  I took some pictures but for the most part I just sat back and enjoyed the views.

Scooter Camping!

Hey all!  Maggie here.  February 1 was Auckland Anniversary Day and therefore a public holiday.  Auckland has festivals and celebrations and parties, so naturally I wanted to get out of dodge and avoid the chaos because I'm fun like that.
Waiheke Island is an island about a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland that is in its own climate bubble, making it perfect for growing vineyards.  I've never really been a rosé fan, but Waiheke has made me reconsider it, especially when I'm lounging in the sunshine on an emerald green island overlooking cliffs into the ocean.  We've been trying to go scooter camping with our friends for a while now but someone told me babies and scooters don't go together.  I can't recall who.  But Lance said he would watch James for a weekend while I went with our group solo.

What is scooter camping you ask?  You rent scooters, drive around the island drinking responsible amounts of wine, then head to a campsite and camp.  Scooter camping.  And minus my two accidents, both of which were embarrassing, painful, and expensive, it was a fantastic time!  For the record, neither accident was alcohol induced (we were very conservative).  It was just straight up scootering incompetence on my part.

We set up camp at Poukaraka Flats Campground, which is right on a bay.  We were all wondering how the heck we were going to get our camping gear from the rental place to the site, when the rental owners offered to drive all our stuff over for us.  We gratefully accepted.  We all just assumed we would drive over there with out backpacks on, but after trying it out and seeing how not confident I (and several others) was with my own balance I'm glad they offered.  They were probably just protecting their scooters from noobs like us!

Going back down this hill is where I had my first accident.  I was still getting used to the bike and didn't realize that you should never rev the engine while you are not on the scooter.  I was just trying to guide it over the ruts back down to the road when it shot out from under my hands, clipped my leg and knocked me down. I had a lovely assortment of bruises and cuts to show for it and I think I'll have a permanent scar for my trouble.

Josh and Katie S.

Rob and Megan P.

Maggie and Megan

Our first stop was Passage Rock Wines, which was rather far out on the island, but the drive was lovely, especially on a scooter with the wind (and light rain) whipping past.

We initially intended to go to several wineries, but we enjoyed driving around so much that we only ended up at two.  We were able to get to Batch Winery near sunset, which was gorgeous.  The view was spectacular, although the pictures don't do it justice because of the lighting.

Who's that hiding in the tree?

 Quick stop at the grocery store to stock up on some bottles for back at the campsite and we headed to the campsite to meet our pizza delivery guy. Mmmm.  Wine and pizza and chocolate.

We took our glasses of wine out to the beach for sunset, but the tide was waaaay out and we had to walk through super mucky sludge to get to the water.

I got stuck in the sludge and had to get rescued by Emily.  We were finally able to suck my feet out and then I had the joy of digging around in the muck to find my flip flops.

Megan P, Maggie, Megan C, Emily

The next morning we packed up our campsite and headed out to turn in our scooters.  And of course I crash my scooter as we are leaving the campsite!  There were wooden posts around the entrance to keep cars from driving around the gate and I managed to hit one as we were scooting through (ha, get it?).  I broke the entire front plastic panel of the scooter and knocked off a blinker.  I was pretty unscathed this time, minus my pride.  The owner was very nice about it and just charged me for parts.  Oh well, maybe I will do better next time.

This was definitely an experience I would recommend for others.  What a blast!