Driving Day - Saturday, 1/19/08

Our Saturday is reserved for moving down the road as we travel from Napier to Wellington. After exchanging universal hospitality horror stories with our host Gary we head back to the Black Barn Winery for the Saturday AM farmer’s market. There didn’t seem to be too many farmers there—it was mostly a collection of folks who do some home canning of sauces, jams, relishes and other tasty homemade goods. There were a couple people selling some organic veggies but not what we were interested in.

It is about a 4 hour drive to Wellington and our late lunch stop is in Grey Town, about 3 hours out. As we head south we are bracketed by a spine of mountains to our right (west) and rolling hills to our left which stretch back down to the Pacific. It is a blessing that traffic is fairly light and moving well without the load of trucks around on weekdays. With the exception of a couple miles of motorways around the big cities, all of the roads are two lane with an occasional passing lane to relieve frustration. Otherwise, the passing options are few with twisty roads and a steady stream of oncoming traffic. That being said, the roads are much better than the country lanes in England and Ireland, with the main difference being a bit of a shoulder and a visible fog line. The fog line in England is usually a rock wall or hedge which gives you limited options when facing an oncoming bus who is sharing part of your lane. That would be being between a rock and a hard place.

Grey Town was nicely developed and is in the center of a continuing flow of NZ wine country. Downtown is charming and the White Swan Hotel where we stop for lunch seems to be the pivot point of the shops and restaurants. After sitting in the car for a few hours John opted for the best-yet fish and chips and Mary nibbled on a smoked salmon bagel. We backtracked for about a mile to the north end of town where we had seen a row of fruit & veggie stands. We grabbed some strawberries, blueberries and apricots to be our hotel breakfasts for the next couple mornings.

Half of the last hour into Wellington was a twisty up and down spin through the hills that stretch north from the southern tip of the island. Wellington, the NZ capital, is at the bottom of the north island with a spectacular harbor and land that rises right out of the ocean and up to wrap-around hillsides.

We struggle for a few minutes finding the hotel downtown as the streets change names and go off at odd angles, but we finally get the hang of it and get checked in. We are turning the rental car back in and have to get it to the downtown office by 5:00 so the desk staff gives us the quick directions to the gas station and Hertz office and we’re all done by 4:30.
It is about a mile and a half back to the hotel so we take advantage of a late sunny afternoon and hike along the harbor and mingle with a lot of local folks milling around. When we get back to the hotel we check on the restaurant scene and find out that the best action is right around the Hertz office. Oh well, we can use the exercise.

We do wander around Courtenay Street and Cuba Street and finally settle on a place called Coyote which is a direct rip-off of the Santa Fe restaurant of the same name, right down to the logo. John had the "Texas Club" and Mary had the Quesadilla, and the folks in New Mexico should not be threatened. The action for the young folks is picking up in the area and the old folks are heading back to their hotel.

Today’s Local Headline: Govt’s Bill for Good News: $47m Star Times (Government’