Ending the year on two wheels: part 2

This entry should probably be called "bringing in the New Year on two wheels," but I started with a part 1 so it's only right to have a part 2. Picking up where we left off...

Day 5 (New Year's Eve): Lake Waikaremoana to Napier
Distance: 176 km
Weather: Hot and sunny (and then some)

After a restful night at Lake Waikaremoana, it was back down the gravel road and then south. We stopped along the way at another pretty lake for lunch...

And then we rolled into Napier. We knew our friends Hannah and Gareth were here for a few days and we hoped to crash their New Year's Eve celebrations and bring in 2011 together. We were in luck! It was a night of fajitas, fireworks, and friends.

Day 6 (New Year's Day): Napier to, well, Napier
Distance: ~12 km??
Weather: Hot and clear, followed by overcast and cool, followed by steamy torrential rain

We'd originally intended to spend only one day in Napier, but when the invitation came through to join Hannah and Gareth on bicycles touring some vineyards, there was no hesitation.

First stop was the Black Barn Market...

So maybe it seems odd to start our winery tour off with a farmers' market, but it was too good to pass up. We fuelled up with hot espresso, admired the fresh organic produce, and sampled the whitebait fritters (fritters made from tiny little fish fry that basically look like two oversize eyeballs on a translucent body). These are an iconic treat in New Zealand but one we hadn't yet tried. Mmmm...tasted like fishy egg.

And next was the Black Barn winery for our first sampling. Delicious. We loved nearly all of their wines, but the sangiovese in particular stood out as something different, so a bottle of that made it into the panniers (okay, I lie, we took full advantage of the tour "service" and had our bottle picked up for us later on!).

Next up was the Te Mata winery, with more delicious wines. This time we were all actually shocked to like the chardonnay best. Really? Yucky oaky headache-inducing chardonnay? Well, I'd never have pegged this one as a chardonnay if the label didn't claim it in black and white. #2 for the panniers.

And just down the road was the Te Mata cheese factory...here we heard interesting stories of what goat's milk cheese tastes like compared with cow's milk cheese ("it's like licking a goat") and found enough cheese worth taking with us to make our doctors frown with disapproval.

The cycle tour was mostly on a new cycle path, which kept us away from traffic. This was a good thing, as we found it pretty strange (and giggle-inducing) to switch from heavy motorbikes to light bicycles. I kept looking for my rear-view mirrors, turning signals, and clutch lever!

Of course, since we were in rural New Zealand, we had to watch out for potentially temperamental farm animals. We considered ourselves duly warned...

Thankfully the trail was also mostly downhill, as with our market and cheese factory stops, we were a little behind schedule! We were supposed to visit more wineries, but we had to head straight to our last stop at Clearview to make our lunch reservations in time.

Unfortunately, the restaurant was also running a little behind, and short of ingredients. After they had to come back four times to tell us they had run out of what we had ordered, and then telling us there was no way that we'd have lunch before we were due to be picked up 45 minutes later, we gave up. We simply ordered more wine and breads and cheeses and just enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

Lunch became leftover fajitas and a movie in Hannah and Gareth's hotel room as the grey skies delivered on their promises and bucketed down the rain. What a relief when we got back to our brand-new tent to find it dry inside!

What fun we had in Napier. However, we weren't sorry to leave the holiday park the next day. The Kennedy Park Top 10 Resort was a strange experience. It had the dubious honour of being by far the most expensive place we stayed, offered up a supremely uninspiring campsite of chain link fence topped with barbed wire next to a traffic light (that beeped throughout the night to let us know when it was safe to cross the street)....

And dictated that fun be had by all...

Its general clientele seemed to be cookie-cutter families, with the obligatory family-size Kathmandu tent, two and a half children, and perma-smiles accompanied by glazed eyes. Stepford camping much?