We had a lovely sleep in a very luxurious bed – heaven!
We’re starting to feel saturated with food and drink so we skipped brekkie and went for a walk though residential Napier which took us up high above the city to a viewing bluff. Really glad we took the time to do this before leaving because it gave us a very different perspective of the town.
Having skipped breakfast and then walked, we’d worked up an appetite so we grabbed a yummy brunch of black pudding and poached eggs before the 4 hour drive to Wellington.
Just outside Napier we stopped at Mission Vineyard intending to do some wine tasting but it was a bit too touristy/commercial so we moved on to a more low-key vineyard called Pask.
We’ve had Pask wine a couple of times at different restaurants while we’ve been here so it was fate that this is where we ended up stopping. We had a lovely hour talking to the pourer and trying a good selection of their wines, we ended up buying a few bottles to take to our hosts for the night, Ben and Pauline.
Ben & Pauline live in a small town called Miramar which is a sleepy little suburb of Wellington but it was put on the map more recently when WetaWorkshop became the special effects and prop creators for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Even though the Workshop has been in business since 1987, Lord of the Rings has expanded it significantly and it’s now a major employer in the town which is pushing house prices up and turning some of the old mom and pop places into hipster cafes and restaurants. Is that good or bad? I’m conflicted.
Ben and Pauline have a fabulous house and a multi-level deck with great views. The weather was nice enough to be able to hang out, have a beer and catch up before taking their dog Snoopy for his evening walk on the beach.
Back at the house we had homemade pizza and the wine we picked up from Pask earlier today. It was great to catch up and after all of these years finally be able to visit them in their NZ home.