After we we left Tongariro National Park we headed south to Napier and down the East Coast of the North Island. This included wine tasting near Martinborough, exploring the southern end of the North Island and visiting Wellington.
Road Conditions
The roads on the central east coast were severely damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle in February, but they have all reopened and the area is ready for visitors. It is really hard to photograph, but below are a few examples of road issues that they are still working to fix. Mainly it is slips of hillsides that either fall onto the road or washes where the road has given way. Flooding also damaged bridges. However, we had no problems driving through this region.
Wine Country
We visited two wineries in Hawkes Bay and three wineries near Martinborough. The wines were great and we had awesome weather for our outings. In Hawkes Bay we visited Elephant Hill and Askerne Estate Winery. At Elephant Hill we made friends with the winery dog, Minnie, who wanted to jump in our car. Askerne Estate Winery is very low key with an extensive tasting list of good wines.
In Martinborough our AirBnB came with bikes so we were able to go wine tasting without a car. One of our favorites was Poppies with an excellent variety of wines and tasty charcuterie lunch. We also enjoyed B.wine since it is very small with the owners running the tasting room. It was a fun day.
Cape Palliser
After we we left Martinborough we went to Cape Palliser. One stop was a hike through the Putangirua Pinnacles.
We also visited the Cape Palliser lighthouse. There was a fur seal colony nearby where we got to watch pups play in the waves.
Wellington
We stayed in Wellington and had one solid day to explore. We hiked up Mt Victoria for the 360 degree views. Wandering around town we also saw some fun street art.
Weta Wellington
We also went on a tour of Weta Workshop. (Named after the huge, indigenous insect that literally means god of ugly things.) They have made props and special effects for 100s of movies, but are most famous for their work on Lord of the Rings. The tour has examples of how they make props and prosthesis for actors. There are also a couple creators that show how they accomplish their work. It was a very interesting tour.
No pictures are allowed on the tour, but we had fun with their trolls outside.
They also had a green screen where we had some fun.
Te Papa
We also visited the National Museum in Wellington called Te Papa. There is and amazing exhibit Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War which explains the experience of New Zealand in the First World War. The exhibit was put together by Weta Workshop and you really feel the suffering and tragedy of war. It is one of the most powerful and emotional museum exhibits we have ever seen. Our pictures couldn’t possibly capture the scale of the extraordinary scenes and the stories of those who were there.
From here we headed up the west coast to New Plymouth, the Waitomo Caves region, then finally Auckland.