Our travel from Te Karaka was uneventful but the farm land and scenery changed dramically as we neared Gisborne. I had forgotten how extensive the Vineyards extend out from the city as well as other food crops.
POP-#3579-Roy and Betsy Houghuijzen.
What a find this was through the NZMCA site. Roy and Betsy are wonderful hosts and very accommodating. This POP (Park over Property) is an ideal place to bike ride into Gisborne City around the foreshore or ride to Sponge Bay beach and Wainui beach.
This is Ness
Sunshine Brewery
When in Ohope at the Cadera Mexican restaurant, I tried a Mexican Lager by Sunshine Brewery in Gisborne. Well, we had to visit as the lager is great and for a person who does not drink much beer, I had to go to the boutique Brewery. While there we had an awesome Pizza and will visit again I am sure because Robyn said this ‘daily special’ Pizza we had, was the best since Italy!
Farmers market
Every Saturday from 9.30am to 12.30pm there is a Farmers Market in downtown Gisborne.
What a great variety of fruit and veg and other food delights and the music by a one man band was awesome.
Matawhero Vineyard
The weather was good so wee made the 8klm drive from Gisborne city to this wonderful Matawhero vineyard.
The original owners, the Irwin’s crafted their wines with the dry-farmed method with no irrigation and only natural rainfall. Their whites are to die for. Our favourites are the Pinot Gris and Chenin Blanc.
We enjoyed the wine bridge of 5 wines to sample with our food platter.
We cycled into the city around the waterfront and Waianae beach foreshore and viewed the Monument for Cook’s landing in 1796.
The ride was 18klm return as we did a couple of detours to explore. As you can see Fletcher loves his bike rides and stopping to run in a park somewhere.
RAILBIKES
The guided tour on the Rail Bikes with Jeff from Railbikesnz, was fantastic. The 32klm return trip with several stops on the way to listen to history of the track and surrounding areas was very informative. The concept by owner, Jeff, took many years of negotiations to get this unique operation off the ground. The 1.5klm tunnel with a couple of curves in it was a favourite. When we reached the top and end of the usable rail trip, a sea fog came in and blocked any view we may have had unfortunately. We were joined on this tour by two sisters doing a “roadie” together and they were a wealth of knowledge being in the tourism business.
Our last stop in Gisborne was at the Showgrounds Campground. While parked there we met some wonderful people and got together for some pre-dinner drinks and share stories. Mark and Sarah, Ernie and Faye good to hear your stories. Thanks Sarah, for your travel tips.
ALONE IN THE TASMAN
One of our fellow travellers was Tony Allan who shared his true story of survival at sea in a life raft.
Tony talked about his miraculous 20 days “Alone in the Tasman”. The gripping accounts of the shark that would not go away, the life raft capsizing several times and dealing with the mental and physical aspects of his remarkable story. Thank you Tony and wonderful Marj for sharing. We will share the book with family already wanting to read.
6 Comments
James Bonham
What a wonderful website you have set up, and great to see Pete’s terrific photos, and feel like we’re traveling with you.
Gerry
Make sure you bring one of those beers with you when you get back home and we get back to normal unless they invent a mask that you can eat dinner through.
Patsy
What an adventure you are having. Stay safe and healthy. Love to read your blog.
Dianne
Wonderful travel log. Very inspiring can’t wait to travel in your tire-marks
Phil
With rail bikes I could still ride a bike even with my balance problems
Young Phil
With rail bikes I could still ride a bike even with my balance problems