Havelock North

Next stop was Hawkes Bay, the wine and fruit growing capital of New Zealand and home to my Granny. This should have been a pleasant hour and half drive though the hills from Taupo, but ended up taking considerably longer thanks to the New Zealand habit of not running a steam roller over the newly surfaced roads. I dread to think what damage the flying stones did to our hire car.















The main purpose of our visit was to spend some time with Granny McLeod, and given the ever increasing number of winery restaurants, cheeseries, cute coffee bars and the like, this is a great place for a few days of down time. We chose the Clearview Estate Winery for a lovely lunch outside. We also had a potter around Hastings, which although being the commercial hub of the region has a small town atmosphere. It is a pleasant looking place with many Art Deco buildings which were rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1931.

As always for me it was sad to say goodbye to Granny, but made easier given that we will be stopping by again on our way back up north.