Leaving Piha, Lions Rock from the beach
After our couple of days in Piha we headed south to stay with Anne and Keith for a few days, initially in Kinloch on Lake Taupo and then in the Hawke’s Bay Area.
Quite a long drive so we stopped off in Hamilton for our thermos of tomato soup and cheese sarnies. We were very lucky as the annual rose festival was underway in Hamilton Gardens, where we found a shady spot for our lunch. For one week in the year rose cultivators plant up additional beds in the rose gardens and invite the public to vote for their favourite varietals. The results give them an insight as to what is gaining / loosing on the popularity stakes and thus what they should focus on cultivating for the next year. What a great idea and also a wonderful way of restocking the beds.
My favourite were the ink spot roses opposite. Would love to have one of these plants back in Wales
Prior to Hamilton the drive was predominantly on the motorway and not that interesting. However after Hamilton we passed through more rural areas. In one area in particular Mike commented that he could visualise Gandalf riding on his cart through the rolling countryside with beautiful large deciduous trees, outcrops of ‘standing stones’ for the orcs and so forth. It was very evocative scenery.
Kinloch where Anne and Keith have moved to is in a very pretty area, it’s on the shores of Lake Taupo which is an enormous crater lake. This area is still an active geothermal area and the next day when we were driving south we passed some steaming vents visible from the side of the road and a very large geothermal power plant.
We had a lovely dinner. Keith had made French Onion soup which I have not had someone cook for me since I was a student in London lodging with a French couple. We followed that up with home made beef ragu paired with a nice bottle of red and an Anne had made a chocolate torte so we were treated royally. The next morning as we had eaten so well the night before that we decided to have a walk round the lakeside before brunch at a very funky local café. It was a lovely walk, we ended up by a water wheel where we saw a white face heron fishing in the shade. Very relaxing.
Delightful place, (L’arte Cafe) very arty, exactly as the name implies.
Loved the little ceramic flowers they make to put in pots to add a splash of colour when the flowers have not come out yet. Not practical to take back to Wales but if I lived here I would have some in our garden. Saw a window hanging that I thought would be ideal for Andrew so that is his pressie sorted!
The drive down to Hawke’s Bay took longer than we thought, some of it was stunning thorough volcanic hills and alongside a winding narrow river valley. However we also had a lot of torrential rain which made the driving conditions very difficult. We arrived before Anne and Keith so took the opportunity to pick up a couple of (heavily discounted) warm softshell jackets we had ordered from Mountain Warehouse to keep us warm on the dive boat between dives. They are very voluminous but should fit over the 7mm wetsuit and vest and thermal layer! That together with the hot water bottle I bought should keep us toasty. As it so happened we did not end up using them so they have just added to the copious amount of luggage we are trawling around with us
Anne and Keith have a smaller home in Hastings, which they are in the process of listing. Very kind as they gave us their bedroom. Beautiful garden which I think Anne will be sad to leave when they sell the property. She has created a very restful, woodland space, with lots of hostas and ferns planted up in pots round the edge of the lawn giving a feeling of depth. A lovely oasis. We will be here for a few days before heading back up north hoping for good weather and warm seas.
