DAY 46-NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND

                       Sailing into Hawke Bay for Napier this morning.

    A nice 64F at 8:00 am but warmed up to mid 70's in afternoon.  Lovely sunny day!

        Now we are on the east side of the North Island at two cities on Hawke’s Bay.  We are docked today in Napier but Hastings is just 12 miles inland from here.  They are often called, “the Bay Cities” or “Twin Cities” of NZ.  The total population of the two cities is around 130,000.
        The climate here features the most sunny days in NZ and a California type climate with rich, fertile soil.  Some of NZ’s finest wines are produced in the Hawke’s Bay area so our tour today will be to the wine producing areas.  The area is also the largest producer of apples, pears, and stone fruits.  Wool, frozen meats, wood pulp, and timber are also exported from the Napier port.  Napier is also a popular tourism city due to its 1930’s art deco architecture which was built after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake that leveled Napier and Hastings.  We opted for the wine tour rather than the art deco tour.  Wonder why????

                Preparing to dock this morning.  We will be docking on left side.

                       The Seabourn Encore cruise ship is already here.

 Amazing amount of logs to be loaded on the ship below.  Destination is China.  It take 3 days to load it with logs.

               Backing into our docking position at the industrial pier.

                  Taken as we come along side at pier from our balcony.

                                     Today's view from our balcony.

Leaving Napier by coach and after a photo stop at Te Mata, we drove through the picturesque countryside to the Gimblett Gravels, an area which has become quite famous for its production of high quality wines. The very special soils and unique climatic conditions - together with the expertise of local winemakers - are key elements to producing ultra-premium wines in the Gimblett Gravels district, which represents 32 wineries and wine growers. A distinctive feature of this area is that it is up to three degrees Celsius warmer during the day in summer and autumn, compared with most other areas in Hawkes Bay. The evenings are also warmer because of the thermal conductivity in the stony soils.  Today we visited two wineries.  Mission Estate Winery, which is Hawkes Bay's most iconic vineyard and New Zealand's oldest wine producer, started in 1838 by a group of French missionaries. The vineyard's beautiful old seminary building is set on the hills above Napier and has been faithfully restored. It is home to the Cellar Door where you walk through time and history in a setting that complements both the old and new. The Mission vineyard consistently produces some of the country's most sought-after wines which you will have the opportunity to sample.  The second winery we visited was Moana Park Winery.

 We say on the back seats of the bus.  I like it there as can move from side to side to take photos and usually no one else back that far.  Regent never fills tour buses totally up.  Ours today was maybe 60% full.  Nice new bus with leather seats.  The driver, Jan, was also driving the bus.

Driving along the waterfront of Napier when heading out on our tour.

 Hard to see but there was a strip between main highway and bay with parks and all kinds of recreation for the people.

 Here were some Maori kids about to go out in a Maori war boat.  They are learning about their old culture.

                         All different kinds of fruits are grown in this area.

                                 This is a squash field.

 The vineyards are covered with netting now as the grapes are getting about ripe and the birds like to peck on them.

 We drove up to the Te Mata viewing point 1200 feet above sea level for some great views of the bay, countryside, and Napier in the distance.

This guy escorted in front of our bus as the road at top was very narrow and he kept on coming traffic stopped at the turns so the Jan could make the turns safely.

                   A teacher was holding a class at the top for some 3 graders.

                                                     Great views

                                                A winery below in valley.

Our bus

                                          An art deco Mc Donalds

                                       Mission Winery is the oldest in NZ.

The young lady told us the history of the winery while we tasted 6 of their wines.  I bought a dessert wine and will give it to the ship's head sommelier, Emiliano.  He has taken such good care of us during the cruise.

 This was our second winery, Moana Park.  They specialize in wines produced healthier.  Fewer additives.

                                     I bought a bottle of merlot/malbec wine here.

Heading back to the ship now and passing through outskirts of Napier.

                      Seeing the art deco buildings that Napier is known for.

             This is Jan, out driver/guide.  Best guide we have ever had on a cruise.

Friends we met on our 2010 world cruise, Hank & Sondra, have a Trump banner out when in ports.

WHAT WE DID LAST NIGHT:

                          We did the "red" thing last night.

             Susanne Peters joined us for dinner in Compass Rose restaurant.

We ran into Chef Michael before dinner and he highly recommended we try his fresh fish entree so we did.  It was a very nice light flaky fish which we enjoyed.

 Tsevetelin (hard for us to pronounce so we call him "tall guy" because it is very tall compared to all other waiters)  He is from Bulgaria and a super nice guy.  Definitely one of our favorite waiters.

                   Tall guy and Mario are our favorite waiters for sure.

       Today's tour was excellent and we had a fantastic time.  We really enjoyed seeing the NZ countryside and visiting the wineries.  Our guide was super informative about the area and its history. There was a 7.8 earthquake back in 1931 in Napier that totally destroyed the city and killed nearly 250 people.  NZ still experiences some earthquakes.

       We will be sailing at 5:30 pm (in about 15 minutes) for our next port, Wellington.  We will be there tomorrow morning.  I will need to get this posted and go get ready for cocktail hour and dinner. We may go up to Sette Mari for some Italian food tonight.  The show last night was pretty good.  The Aussie singer has a great voice but still could improve his selection of songs and tailor it more to an American audience.  Probably go to see the comedian from St Louis after dinner tonight.  Well, back is starting to hurt some so must be time for my medication.