Central Hawke's Bay District

Today is our littlest grandson’s birthday in Canada. Of course, we are one day later here. Nathan turned three today and is so excited for his birthday party tomorrow. He is a sweetie and we miss him...

The weather here is warm, 32C, during the day. Rain is needed badly and farmers are worried about their crops and cattle. All the hills here are yellow and dry.

Today is Friday and we are meeting up with Donna again. She is staying on the north side of Napier and we are in the south, in Taradale.

Our hostess suggested that we visit the Pekapeka Wetlands for a pleasant walk. The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council with community support have restored this area which is 10 minutes south of Hastings and it is lovely. Btw, Hastings and Napier are twin cities and are next door to each other. Taradale, where we are, is in a rural area Inbetween the two..

Pekapeka swamp is all that is left of what was once a much larger wetland complex. Tree roots have been found beneath the peat that suggests the wetland was once forested – more than 10,000 years ago.

Pekapeka is thought to be named after the bats that inhabited nearby caves as pekapeka is Māori for 'bat'.

The three of us took a walk on the network of boardwalks and pathways through historical hunting and fishing grounds for the local Maori. Apparently three villages or Maori forts were here at one time. They used to fish for eels and we saw several in the water.

We took our binoculars so were able to see lots of birds - Black Shags (cormorants), Little Shags, Black Swans, Blue Ducks, Pied Shag, Welcome Swallows, Australian Coots and a lot of birds that we don’t know the names of. We met some birders who helped us out with identifications.

For a long time, wetlands were not valued for the important systems that they are. For many years Pekapeka was used as an illegal dump and, among other rubbish, the remains of two demolished hotels are here. Some of the rubble and reinforcing rods were left after the cleanup as a stark reminder of how badly this ecosystem was treated in the past.

After a pleasant walk on the boardwalks through the wetlands, we drove our cars to the Arataki Honey Centre in Hastings.

Arataki Honey is the number one beekeeping business in the Southern Hemisphere, with 20,000 hives across New Zealand.

The centre has been set up so that visitors can learn interesting facts about honey bees, how they live, their role in the food chain and the products they produce. The centre has some large windows where we could observe hives.

At the end of our visit we were able to taste the 10 distinct and delicious varieties of Arataki Honey, gathered from New Zealand’s unique flora and fauna. That was a sweet experience.

The souvenir shop was stocked with all things to do with bees and honey. It was fun looking through the items.

Lunch was on our minds and we decided that since we were in grape growing and wine country, we would have lunch and a wine tasting at Oak Estate Cellar Door and Kitchen.

We sat outside in a vineyard and enjoyed sharing a delicious platter, all homemade, and accompanied by a generous side basket of homemade bread. We sampled beautiful pate, smoked chicken, fish pate, pork terrine, burnt butter - all with accompaniments.

The wine samplings were all good but our favourite one was the Pinot Gris.

“Grapes were selected from 2 vineyards in the Maraekakaho area. Gentle floral appeal on the nose, flowing into flavours of tropical fruits and citrus notes, with a rich texture and mouth feel, finishing with a crisp clean dry finish. Residual sugar: 5g/L”Read more