At 2 am this morning, the clocks have gone forward so we have one hour less of sleep ☹️

Nevertheless, we have a plunger coffee before getting up and driving down to Hastings for the Sunday Hawkes Bay Farmers Market

Lots of fresh produce stalls from places all over the Hawkes Bay; we get a couple of coffees and a share a pork smash focaccia sandwich

There’s a small lake behind the market and it has a couple eels too!

The market closes up at 12:30 pm so we hop in the car and drive to Napier with our first stop being the Centennial Garden Waterfall

The land was a previous limestone quarry from 1906 and was transformed into the gardens in 1974

Opposite here, on the Marine Parade, we stumble on another Sunday market which seems to be more of a car boot sale with food vans

As it’s right on the waterfront, it would be rude not to wander over the black sand and dip our toes in the sea

After, we get back to the car and drive up to Bluff Hill Lookout – it has a vibrant floral gardens and gives a nice view of the water as well as Napier’s port

The day seems to have run away with us so we head back to Taradale to drop the car off at our motel and make our way to our next activity

Because it’s a Sunday, places are closing earlier than usual so we get an Uber to Mission Estate Winery

We’re here to do a tasting of six wines, for $15 each, and look around the venue – it’s New Zealand’s oldest winery, starting business back in 1851, and we learnt a few bits about it:

• In 1836, a group of French Missionaries sailed over, with blessing from the Pope
• By 1851, the Fathers established a mission station near the Ngaruroro River, between Napier and Hastings at Pakowhai, and there they followed the tradition of running a balanced farm property with fruit trees, cattle and a vineyard
• In 1858, the missionaries moved to a land they’d purchased in Meeanee where they founded a major community
• The first record of commercial sale dates back to 1871, consisting of mostly dry red wines
• In 1880, a new two-storied house costing £2,020 and 10 shillings was built
• There was a disastrous flood in 1897 and it was realised that the land where this was built was subjected to periodic flooding… As such, an 800-acre site, which hosts the current Mission Estate venue, was bought and a small orchard and some vines were planted
• 1910 was the year the house was cut into 11 sections and rolled on logs and pulled by traction engines over two days with it taking 18 months to put the house back together on the new land
• Devastatingly, on 3rd February 1931, a 7.9 level earthquake struck Hawkes Bay causing severe damage to the region as well as killing two priests and seven students who were meditating in the stone chapel when it hit

Because we’re so close by, we wander down the road about 10 minutes to the Church Road Winery

We participate in a wine tasting of five here, for $25 each

The place is closing up so we stroll back into Taradale town

Rosie O’Grady’s has happy hour on so we pop in for this and for Dave to thrash Daisy at both pool and darts

Getting hungry, we start walking back to the motel but pop into Shani’s Family Eatery and Bar to have a cheeky snack – some garlic bread and a drink each

Finding that it’s cheaper to sort dinner as a takeaway, we get back to where we’re staying and order a Domino’s takeaway deal

Pepperoni and Hawaiian pizza, two garlic breads and wedges

Bed time