From the far

Our time with Lou and Nick in Gizzy is coming to an end, at least for now. We spent last night away from (our adopted) home and ventured out down south a little to Napier and Hawks Bay. A lovely drive in Samson through beautiful natural scenery and past interesting man-made sights, including Australasia’s largest viaduct (ooooh, the excitement), brought us out to the wonderful seaside art deco town of Napier (approx 55,000 population).

Look at those disgusting teeth. And the shark's...

We spent the afternoon mooching around the shops, and then caught a bit of action at New Zealand’s National Aquarium. We saw lots of little fishies, including some that looked suspiciously like x-ray fish (Tris, Em – nod to you!), some sharks, some stingray, a huge crocodile, and a kiwi. We didn’t like to tell the staff that a kiwi and a croc aren’t quite marinelife. Especially since both kiwi and croc were happy to parade around accordingly for us to gormlessly gaze at for a while.

Then last night we made a brilliant last-minute decision to drive by Havelock North to check out the Black Barn Vineyard’s Open Air Cinema. We stumped up $18 each, and chilled out on the stunning terraces with our blankets and picnic (thank you Pack n’ Save for your lovely tabouleh – and this time I managed not to spill it all down the hill (see Camino blog post re. first day up the Pyrenees)).

Lashings and Lashings of Ginger Beer

The views of the surrounding countryside were absolutely first class stunning, and we were really lucky with the gorgeous sunset. A day of cartoon clouds ended with creamy watercolours in the sky. We met a lovely couple, Alex and Andrea from Vancouver who we shared travel tips with, and put the world to rights for a while. A bit of red wine and some freshly made popcorn later, the film started. What Just Happened is “a shrewd tale of a man besieged by people who want him to be all sorts of things – a money maker, an ego buster, a bad news breaker, an artistic champion, a loyal husband, an all-knowing father, not to mention sexy, youthful and tuned-in – everything, except for the one thing he and all the preposterously behaved people he is surrounded by really are; bumbling human beings just trying to survive by any means necessary”. Starring Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn, it was an ambitious film which, for me at least, never quite delivered. But, the beautiful setting made it all beautiful, so it didn’t matter.

Little Fluffy Clouds

After the film we spun back to Napier and freedom camped on Marine Parade for the night. Despite the supreme comfort of Samson the van, I woke up this morning with terrible lower back pain again (the results of my having turned 30 continue – but I have since figured it may relate back to the massage I received on my 30th birthday where I am now convinced Mr Masseuse Man may have put me out of joint). I am really wanting to now head back to Narelle, Louisa’s amazing acupuncturist who is just incredible. I had never had acupuncture before coming to Gisborne, but Narelle has been an absolute star in sorting out my back pain and my much unwanted and unneeded 30-something spots. My skin is so much clearer than it has been for the past year.

Tonight we are back in Gizzy and heading out for a Thai meal with Lou and Nick (all other restaurants are completely booked due to the town’s Jazz Festival).  Then tomorrow we will say goodbye for a few days whilst we head up the east cape, before we meet them again in Rotorua soon.

Much love, and hope you are all recovered now from NYE. Thank you for all your lovely messages. xxx

By the way, we have unfortunately stumbled across THE worst TV show ever – Perfect Catch. It is so ridiculously terrible it’s genius. TV does not get more dire than this.

Hello Mr Fishy