Hey everyone! Lauren here to tell you about our time in Hawke's Bay. We originally weren't planning on going to Hawke's Bay, but after meeting a couple on our Salkantay Trek in Peru from the Hawke's Bay area, we decided to check it out!
To Our Airbnb
The drive from our Airbnb in Turangi to Hawke's Bay was pretty uneventful. As with the rest of New Zealand, the scenery was amazing. We even stopped at a viewpoint for Lake Taupo to take a picture of the gorgeous lake views!
The drive took about 3 hours, and soon we were pulling into the driveway of our next Airbnb in the Hawke's Bay area! The driveway was surrounded by apple trees, and at first we thought it may be an orchard. But as we followed our place back it seemed to be behind the orchard.
Our Airbnb was so nice! They had a separate bedroom and bathroom off of the garage so it felt like we had our own little place. With such a nice room, we had a relaxing evening, and decided to call it a night early to prepare ourselves for the next day.
Wine and More Wine
Hawke's Bay is known for its wine, so of course the next day we had to go to some wineries!
Church Road
First, we went to a winery called Church Road. Our Airbnb host said that a sommelier came and stayed with her and after going to every single winery in the area, determined Church Road was the best.
The tasting at Church Road consisted of 4 wines each. There were three different levels of tastings. I opted to do the Innovation tasting, which ws 10 NZD and consisted of unique wine varieties. Gerrod did the Prestige or reserve wine tasting, which was 15 NZD.
All of the wine was absolutely fantastic. I ended up getting a bottle of the Church Road Gwen Rose to take home, which waived my tasting fee!
Mission Estate
Next we went to Mission Estate Winery, which was just down the road from Church Road. As we pulled in, we noticed they were setting up for what seemed to be a big event.
In the winery, we requested a tasting. We asked for two tastings, and I jokingly said that I think Gerrod probably doesn't want wine so just one tasting. My sarcasm went right over the Mission Estate employee's head, which led to an embarrassing start to our tasting.
The tasting consisted of 6 different wines each, for 6 NZD per person. The tasting came with a cool stemless wine glass, but since we were traveling and didn't want to carry glass around, they said we could donate our wine glasses; we opted to do that.
The wine was good, but definitely was mid grade compared to the wine at Church Road. While we were tasting the wines, we asked about the event set up, and it turns out there was going to be a huge Phil Collins concert in a few days! Too bad we missed it.
Dinner with the Kiwis
We contacted the New Zealand couple that we met on our trek in Peru, and made plans to have dinner together while we were in the area! We decided to meet up and have dinner at their place in Hastings.
After chilling a bit following our wine tastings, we headed to their house in Hastings around 6pm for dinner. You meet so many great people while traveling, it was amazing getting to catch up with them. Especially over dinner and drinks!
Te Mata Peak
The next day, we packed our things and prepared for our drive to our next destination: Wellington. We decided before we hit the road, we wanted to explore a bit of the area, so at the suggestion of our Airbnb host we went to Te Mata Peak near hastings.
We thought about hiking to the top of the peak, but ultimately just drove to the top to save time. The view was incredible! The surrounding landscape was beautiful, and there were signs about a Maori legend regarding the peak. There were even people paragliding around the peaks! While enjoying the view, we saw what looked like a cool winery down below us.
After consulting Maps.ME and the internet, we decided to drive down to it and check it out in person.
More Wine
The winery below us was called Craggy Range. The winery property was beautiful, and you could look up and see Te Mata Peak! The tasting was 10 NZD for 5 different wines. The wine was delicious, and we were even given a 6th bonus wine to taste! I decided to buy a bottle of the Pinot Gris to enjoy later, so my tasting fee was waived!
To Wellington We Go
After buying the bottle of wine, we made the long drive to Wellington, only stopping for lunch in a small town along the way. Our Airbnb was a little outside of the city, and we had a little difficulty finding it due to many one way streets, weird turns, and steep hills!
Eventually we made it, and were greeted by one of our hosts and given a grand tour! Gerrod and I settled in, and headed out to find some dinner. After enjoying some mediocre Chinese takeout for dinner and chatting with our hosts, we headed to bed to prepare for a busy day exploring more Lord of the Rings filming locations outside of Wellington!
Until next time!
Lauren (and Gerrod)
