Wednesday – arrive in Wellington
Thursday – pick up Ken, Brunch with Noel. Set off for Martinborough – Ken driving. Arrive Martionborough and find our cottage on Dublin Street. Kayleigh comes and meets us and we set off for come lunch and wineries. The town is teeny and nowhere is open, but we find the village Cafe and all have soup and our first glass of wine for the day. Wineries include Ateranghi, Tehario (where we later had dinner), Te Karinga and Murdoch James. Back in Martinborough Kayleigh and I went off to get snacks and came back to the car only to find the boys had snuck off to the pub! We headed to the cottage to try some of the wine we had bought but as soon as we’d cracked open the third bottle our lift arrived to take us to dinner. We reopened the last bottle when we got back, and continued enjoying the fruits that the land had to offer before Ken realised it was Daire’s birthday and presented him with his Ireland rugby shirt.
Friday – STILL Daire’s birthday. Up and cooked breakfast. Daire broke the shower – god only knows how! Drove all the way over to New Plymouth via North Palmerston and Waiupara, took 5 hours!! Stopped in Wanganui for lunch, the boys were hankering after a beer to steady their dull wine heads but ended up in an Irish bar with a nasty pint that neither of them drank!
Arrive in New Plymouth, B&B is a gorgeous house and our hosts Keith and Joy were so welcoming and lovely! Despite my tiredness and deepest desire to get an early night the boys took me out....the town is pretty small but we managed to find the crappest but busiest Irish pub in the world!!! Seriously full of wierdos! Dinner was Indian.
Saturday – MATCH DAY, Up around 9ish breakfast, wash and out the door for a drive around the world famous Mount Taranaki. However the clouds were so low we didn’t get a glimpse of the spectacle. After our morning investigation found that despite it being the busiest day of the year in New Plymouth 99% of the restaurants and bars were closed in the afternoon we decided to ask a local and ‘Fredericks’ was recommended to us. So we found our way there for pre match feed and beers. All exceeded our expectations and we headed off to the game (tickets left at B&B and get them to bring into town for us.) Game, beers, LJ 2 hour taxi wait and meet the boys at home.
Sunday – drive to Taupo, completely gorgeous drive. Ken was up front and clearly suffering as the journey passed extremely slowly! Arrive Taupo and go straight to Motel that Keith and Joy recommended – winner! Despite being stuffed with beer and food we managed to find one of the few bars open and devour steak and wine! Home for a Jacuzzi/spa and great sleep.
Monday – Queens birthday. Bath in the hot spring in the middle of the open wild!!! Drive around Taupo’s tourist spots include the Huka (which means foam in Maori) Falls. Lunch in the only winery in the region. Drop Red face off at the bus stop and drive to Tarungi, then over the desert road on to Taihape – find another little B&B with Tracey and Selwyn as our hosts.
Tuesday - Drive 3 hours back to Wellington. LJ fly out leaving Daire to spend some quality time with his family and really say thankyou to Donna and Dean for letting us use there truck!
