Today was the last day spent in separate groups before gathering at Trentham.
The roadies (minus the Adj but plus Jumbo Lewis) went fishing off Porirua. A frenzied 1.5 hrs of action saw them catch around 100kgs (65ish fish, some of them huge snappers) – probably enough to feed the team for 3 nights! The Main Coach had slightly mixed feelings about this as half the catch was being kept chilled in his shower when he arrived – about $1000 worth at supermarket prices!
There was an earlier start today for the scenic viewers, particularly for Jane who took a drive for a view over Hawkes Bay before breakfast. The group then met for breakfast across the road – familiar to all who had eaten there last night. After the usual (for NZ) mix of eggs, bacon, smashed avocado and caffeine, the group split into a bird sanctuary bus and a wine tasting bus. Both were en route to Trentham. By prior arrangement the sanctuary group then stopped at Margain Vineyard to donate a driver to the wine tasters!
The touristy group woke in Napier and went for a fine lunch-sized breakfast in the art deco town (it was rebuilt on that theme after an earthquake) and a few souvenirs were bought. Then commenced the long drive to Trentham via Yummy Mummys Café in Woodville and a longer stop at Martinborough, where they had a wine tasting and lunch at Poppies, a lovely vineyard on the same road as Margain, recommended by Owen Whiteman
Meanwhile, the wine tasting group themselves had concentrated all their wine tasting into yesterday, so took a morning walk along Ocean Beach before the drive to Wellington, stopping for lunch at the Barrel house in Dannevirke, an unusual place (in this part of the world) represented by lots of Viking imagery.
For the Aucklanders, today was a combination of recovery, breakfast and travelling from Leigh to Auckland and onto Wellington as guests of Air New Zealand. As they waved goodbye to Dom we started to think and talk more about the business end of the trip, and to prepare mentally for the challenges and competition ahead.
It was amusing also to compare notes between groups as to how many times the drivers had turned the windscreen wipers on while trying to indicate!
Everyone had had a very enjoyable few days of seeing mostly eastern and southern North Island and was eager to get into the real challenge ahead and start shooting. Everyone apart from Matt Millar, of course, who arrived this evening. At 6pm the team had a full meeting, collected all their squadding and extra kit, and by 7pm were briefed for tomorrow’s practice. Bring it on!
Many of you are seeing all the places my parents lived over a 30 year period. Wonderful photographs. Now the best of luck for the forthcoming competition.