Wednesday 23rd January

The ‘scenic viewings’ group, whose Tuesday activities went unreported before now, woke to breakfast overlooking Mercury Bay. This set them up for a two hour coastal walk to Cathedral Cove, with plenty of pauses to admire and photograph the stunning views. Nigel and Matt B couldn’t resist a swim and their shorts soon dried out on the return leg. Nigel & Jackie returned via water taxi allowing them to find the fabulous ‘Pour House’ for lunch.  The green lipped mussels were the best any of the group had seen. The morning’s experience left them starting a 4 hour drive to Taupo at 2pm.The two buses split, one enjoying coastal views and a cake stop more than the roadworks, and the other journeying via Rotorua and a brief visit to ‘Hells Gate’ geothermal park. They rejoined in Taupo for a quick change before a steak dinner courtesy of the wineries group.

Wednesday morning saw Jane and Bruce head off early for the gannet colony on Cape Kidnappers, on the east coast.  The most notable part of their viewing experience was a rock fall that missed them by 20 minutes and a subsequent air ambulance sighting.

The larger part of the group headed for Hawke’s Bay’s largest waterfall (170 ft drop) at Shine Falls – very impressive, with a small amount of exercise in reaching it.  The only one of the group to brave the rocks was Matt Button, and he fell in. The day finished with an early arrival for both vans at the motel in Havelock North, surprisingly (for a Jane’s Tours trip) undiverted by detours to lookouts and shopping opportunities. The vans had been tested by a lot of hill climbs and descents and windy roads and found rather wanting.  They will be relieved to be relegated to the range run at Trentham from tomorrow night.

For the Aucklanders, today was all about Ariana and a wine tasting tour. Ariana was their wonderful driver; a Waikato student and daughter of Lisa, Dom Harvey’s Kiwi twin and mentor. They wrapped up their time in Auckland with dinner at the local restaurant with friends, sunshine and a visit to a bar.

The wine tasting group drove over the mountains from Lake Taupo to Hawkes Bay and stopped at the Esk vineyard for a tasting before heading to Church Road for a superlative lunch. They dropped their kit off at a spacious villa before heading to Te Mata and Black Barn for further wine tastings, followed by a fish barbecue at the villa along with some of today’s better vintages.

They were just ahead of this diarist’s group, who started the day with a round of crazy golf (“putt putt” in the local vernacular) on a spectacular course. After starting with a 6, Nick Tremlett was eventually crowned putt-putt champion. The group then drove back up to Taupo for lunch at a lovely café and a wee stroll on the beach, before bumping into Veterans team members Colin, Chris and Lindsay – small world!

Nick then drove the group over the mountains to Napier, keeping pace with what may (or may not) have been a yellow Ferrari 458. On arrival, the group split into the cultural drinkers and the Pacific swimmers before convening again for a superb dinner. The food hasn’t been cheap here in NZ, but it’s been very good!

The final word goes to the Captain and Vice-Captain, who visited the Te Papa exhibition today. A rogue gust of wind took hold of the Vice’s hat and deposited it somewhere inaccessible; luckily for him, the security personnel were very helpful indeed and used ladders to help retrieve it.

Tomorrow, the various groups enjoy their last day of ‘freedom’ before a team meeting at Trentham in the late afternoon.