Four days in the Hawkes Bay Region

Cecil just happened to have a few days off so we decided to high tail it to another region of NZ we had not been called Hawkes Bay.  Basically this area is a few hours north and on the east coast of the north island (see the image below).  

(The area we visited is highlighted green in this image)

Monday we basically leisurely got up and worked out before packing up the car and heading out.  Cec had been on nights so we wanted to sleep in.  Basically, we didn't get in until the evening.  We ended up driving through a town called hastings, We stopped into one of the information sites, or isite, to see what information they have.  Unlike in the US, sometimes there are things you find out about that are not easy to find on trip advisor or through google searching.  As usual, we got some great maps,  The lady helping us also suggested we check out an ice cream place that is the oldest in NZ.  Well, who can resist THAT?  Cec and I went to the ice cream place, and yes it is THAT good.  After that, we made our way up to Te Mata peak.  Its the regions highest point and one of those "must sees" in the region.  We got there just in time to watch the sunset.  Then, we headed to our hotel which was right across from the ocean on a thing called marine parade (more on that later).  The hotel room was AMAZING.  We had a bathroom with toilet and stand shower, as well as a Jacuzzi soaking tub, a super king bed, sofa and TV and a 2 person kitchen table.  The kitchenette was great as well with a mini fridge, cook top, microwave and kettle.  I seriously could live there, it was spacious and clean and CHEAP only $135 NZ dollars ($93 US).

(Cec thoroughly enjoying his ice cream at the oldest ice cream parlor)

 (View from Te Mata peak)

 (Oh, did I mention that people hang glide off this?  There is a LAUNCH RAMP, see the VIDEO here!)

 (Another view from the peak, this is all volcanic)

 (Can you see cecil?  Look for the white speck?  Notice the tails, they are steep!  See a video of cec showing this HERE)

 (I'm proud of this pic of cec, what a handsome guy in a gorgeous place!)

 (Tired of selfies yet?)

 (Sunset.....)

Tuesday I had prebooked a giant scenic tour of the area through bay tours.  We were the only ones on the tour, but that suited us just fine.  Our day was a whirlwind of awesome.  We headed out the Te Mata again, which was also fine because it looked different in daylight vs. sunset.  The next step was to a place called the honey hive.  Lots of tasty samples and products.  We didn't get anything because we had been somewhere similar in taupo and still were eating that lol.  We then headed to an olivery and tasted locally made olives, olive oil, and other related products.  Let me tell you what, this stuff was AMAZING.  The olive oil was drinkable,  They also had drunken prunes (prunes soaked in red wine), which sounds super nasty but they were to die for.  After purchasing to many things (depending on who you ask :-P) it was time for lunch.  Cec and I were ready and we ate at Vidal winery and had a meat, cheese and bread platter that was by far the best Mediterranean spread I've had.  The dessert wine was smooth as silk too!!  The day wasn't over by far.  Our tour guide took up through a winery (and 9 wine tastings).  We learned about how wine is harvested and planted.  PS. after the wine is harvested in fall they let the sheep in to graze and to weed and fertilize the pastures.  We headed to the oldest winery in NZ as well, called mission estate.  It was set up by monks.  In fact the building itself was brought in 9 pieces.  I'm not usually into "old" but this place was pretty whimsical and well done.  No kids, the days not done yet.  We headed to napier lookout and the old tobacco company next.  Napier is a city that is VERY art deco.  An earthquake leveled the city in the 1930's so when it was rebuilt everything is art deco.  Even the mcdonalds (they call it Macdecos).  We both saw the city and the lookout (which shows the super active port).  Finally, our last stop was the walkout bridge on the coastline.  The beach isn't swim-able as the waves are crazy strong and there are rips along the coast.  However, they did build a walkout bridge which makes for some amazing views.  We basically were done by the time we got back.  It didn't help that I was still battling/getting over my flu from the previous week.  

 (The nice part about having a guide is not always needing to take selfies!  Us on Te Mata.)

 (Inside the olivery)

 (Lunch!)

 (Dessert wine is yummy)

 (Sheep in the field!)

 (did we mention we went in fall?)

 (In front of Mission estate)

 (Pic looking out onto mission estate winery)

 (The 1930's art deco style, this was the national tabacco building, everything as it was in the 1930's when built and used)

(View of the coast from the walkway.)

Wednesday morning we started before sunrise.  We wanted to catch the sunrise as the east coast of NZ is the first to see sun everyday on earth.  We got some beautiful sunrise pictures on the marine parade.  The marine parade is over 10 miles of paved track along the coast for people to use to bike, run and workout (it also is a fitness trail).  Cec and I went running, separately, he runs to far. One of the best places I've ever ran- seriously drop dead amazing.   After breakfast, we headed to the Ahuriri Estuary to walk around it.  Tons of wildlife.  Notably, I saw my first WILD kingfisher!!!  We headed to a cafe called Agnor watt for a quick bite to eat after our walk.  Anytime there are a ton of locals you know its good and it was.  I had a mini mince pie and smoothie, both homemade and amazing.  Then, we headed to a farm park to do a trail riding tour.  Great place to do it!  We rode through the changing color vineyards and along the coastline with cape kidnappers in view.  We also got to hold guinea pigs before we left, which is always fun.  Dinner was at a restaurant called Pacifica.  One of those pay-for-the-meal-and-eat-the-local-made -food-you-are-given-no-menu places.  It was good, don't get me wrong, but we left hungry.  I tried beef tongue and sweetbreads for the first time, both surprisingly good.  We got home late and ate popcorn and soup before basically collapsing in bed.  It had been a long day!

 (Had to share this one.  Look at that sunrise on the ocean- first of a new day)

 (Cec on his morning run)

 (Us starting the estuary walk.  It was low tide and you could see crabs in the mud)

 (Do you see the kingfisher?)

(We got to cross several bridges.  What a perfect day)

(There were a lot of wetland birds around, cec took some great ones I couldn't resist sharing them) 

 (View of a winery from horseback)

 (Our guide graciously took our pic)

(We also got to ride along the shore with cape kidnappers in the back!  WOW) 

Thursday was our last day there.  We slept in and checked out at 10, the latest we could.  We headed out to a art gallery and old time candy shop.  The art gallery was super interesting as it was all stuff brought in from Africa and all the items had information about them on them.  The old candy shop was like a step back in time,  We bought a couple postcards and candy but that's about it.  Really, we were killing time before the thing I was the most excited about- the national aquarium.  Now the aquarium itself is small but well done.  Super nice displays, just small.  However, what you can do is pay to feed the penguins.  Yes, we fed penguins.  It was in all ways as glorious as one would expect.  You aren't allowed to hold them or anything because that can mess the oils in the feathers up,   Pictures are worth a 1,000 words, I also have a couple videos HERE and HERE.

 (I am pretty excited to be here.  On a side note it was about to start raining.  Good day for an indoor activity)

 (One of the largest turtle tanks we've ever seen)

 (I couldn't resist)

 (they had a nice walkthrough tank)

 

(Apparently the penguins spend about 18 hours a day in the water.  If you missed the video in the paragraph, here it is again.  The noises they make are adorable)

 (See how happy we are?  That is what it is like to feed penguins)

 (This was an amazing expereince.  The one is like standing on my shoe.  If you missed the video in the paragraph, here it is again) 

(Cecil made a buddy even after the food was gone)

 (Look how cute they are!)

 (On our way home we made it a point to stop at the longest place named in the world.... and it is long!)

(The story behind the naming)

(Road hazard we encountered on the ride home.  Seriously, it is scary to crest a hill and see a cow in the road on the wrong side of the fence!  It had moved off the road by the time I took the picture,)

Rotorua half marathon and 5.5 k

So this post will be divided into two parts (with pictures). The first part is written by Karen and the second by Cecil about our separate experiences.

Karen-

I love staying in Rotorua because we stay at the holiday inn and the beds are SO COMFY!! Like seriously I was so excited to go to sleep! It doesn't help that our beds in Wanganui are rock-like (uggg). Anyway we drove up the night before and grabbed dinner at a steakhouse called Ambrosia on "eat street".  It's a place with lots of nice eateries and bars. Steak and veggies :). 

The next morning we drove in VERY early to insure a parking spot. Cec started his race a little before 8:00am and I cheered him on and waited around because mine started 8:50am. Lots of people-watching to do. 

The 5.5k (3.4 miles) started at the convention center and weaved through the geothermal say flats and seaside coast and Boardwalk. Beautiful views! Unfortunately, the paths were Tiny and there were a lot of people. I ran the whole thing, which I was very proud of as it's the first one since my illness a few years ago, but I spent a lot of it trying to pass people. I also was getting over the flu so I was hacking a lot lol. The only other memorable, and stupid, thing is they didn't allow headphones! I wore mine anyway and took them out around race marshals, I know I'm a rebel lol. Running is too boring without music!!

(The salt flats we ran across)

(Selfie! Notice my hood is up to hide headphones)

(The boardwalk across the geothermal area)

Cecil-

So the morning was chilly and I forgot my garbage bag (yes I said garbage bag. That way I can just throw away the garbage bag minutes before the race and stay relatively warm. Why wouldn't you just wear a sweatshirt? Because then at some point when you are running you get really hot and your pace suffers, and most runners are too cheap to just throw away a sweatshirt every race) 

There were a good number of people, about 500-1000 so it felt like a real marathon! 

The starting gun went off and of we went!  There were people with balloons tied to them and I realized that they were pacers! Which was great because I was originally aiming to beat my time of 2 hours 21 minutes, my training had been going really well so I started following the 2 hour pacer. Knowing that his pacer was  going to be fast I wanted to stay relatively close and my main goal was to finish, my secondary goal was to beat 2:21 and my ultimate goal was to beat 2 hours! 

The pacing runners were the best part of the race unfortunately, the course was narrow and cramped and we spent a lot of time running right next to the road or on a sidewalk! We were also running right next to busy roads so there was a lot of cars and trucks passing us and all that exhaust... Most runners were hacking and coughing. But as the race went on the runners spread out and I was still hanging in a few hundred meters behind the 2 hour pacers. We got to the 10 mile mark and at that point I knew I had to make my move, I was either going to lock  in behind the pacer and finish or I was going to take it easy. The pacer slowly started speeding up, from a 9:30 pace down to an even 8:45 and it was hard to keep up those last few miles but it was mostly mental and just pushing my body. 

The last mile was the hardest because instead of a gentle easing course, there were some sharp turns which meant that you lost speed and your pace was disrupted. But the distance melted away, and I was able to cross the finish line at under two hours, and met a life goal! 

I looked around to see where the medals were being given out because although I run half marathons for the sport, I also like to collect he medals! But there were no medals for the half marathon! But I established a new PR (personal record) for the half! 

(Cec posing before the race)

(And getting psyched up to go!! I don't care if they yell at me about my headphones! 

(A new PR!! Under 2 hours!!)

So Karen  And I went back to the hotel got cleaned up and then went prawn fishing... Where Both Karen and I got a new PPR (personal prawn record) and caught 7 prawns! See a prawn catching video here: https://youtu.be/ViZxgFb6Oc0. 

(Cecils first catch)

(We will go to great lengths!) 

(Karen's first catch)

Lastly, driving home we passed a hilarious sign. Apparently, it's "winter" at 68F outside! So "cold" lol!!