To the end of North Island

As we drove away from Napier, we were left with the view that nobody actually lived there, which would explain why the restaurants closed at 9 o’clock. We drove through the next town, Hastings, which was similarly built in Art Deco style, was bigger than Napier and seemed to have a ‘real life’ feel about it.
On the road South, on the map, we saw an advert for Yummy Mummies cheesecakes at Woodville. Well, you would expect us to stop and taste them, wouldn’t you? We did, and they were fabulous (tell Pete and Brian to come quick).

Our next overnight stop was Martinborough, a small sleepy wine town whose town square is designed to reflect the Union Jack and where we found a lovely bed & breakfast hosted by David & Lorraine Murray. We drove to the very southern tip of North Island at Cape Palliser, where it was amazing to see around 60 or so brown fur seals (see picture) in their natural habitat, swimming in the sea and lazing on the rocks in the sun. This was very wild country with cliffs coming down to the sea, roads only partially sealed and hugging the coastline. We came across a 9 hole golf course, which had electric fences around the greens (just like Brora), but the greens were very rough (see picture) even though the club employed someone to cut the greens (?).
Before we left Martinborough, we had enough time to visit the golf course (see picture - note vineyards at the rear) (we will be arranging a golf tour, but beware Wednesday is Ladies day – suggest wine tour alternative) and tested the Palliser winerie before moving on to Wellington, where we chatted with the manager, Narida, who will be coming to the UK in June and we hope to see her again.

We were able to put some extra detail to the Palliser name for their brochure. Admiral Palliser was Lord of the Admiralty and was responsible for sending Captain James Cook on his journeys. We also pointed out that there is a monument to Captain Cook in the grounds of the Vache, a large house in Chalfont St Giles, which was formerly owned by Admiral Palliser.
The road to Wellington was very twisty as it went across another mountain range (as high as Ben Nevis). In Wellington, we found a lovely hotel located right on the bay with splendid views. However, the weather in Wellington was dull, with lots of low cloud so the views were not always viewable (shades of Ireland – Jim). Nevertheless, we found some good nightlife and can recommend the Hummingbird restaurant and Sweet Mother's Kitchen. Today, we did a half day tour, rode the cable car (see picture) and Linda bought 3 more pairs of shoes – yes, that’s right 3 pairs!! That makes a total of 6 pairs this trip and we are not even half way yet! We will have to send more stuff home when we get to Blenheim.