Here you'll find my thoughts about life, travel, books and, because I love a laugh, the occasional spoof. All this from the perspective of a small town, on an island, in a country that's too close to the Antarctic for comfort.
Nau Mai, Haere mai. Come on in!
After a long hiatus through the winter months, spring, and a birthday in need of a celebration, saw us out and about once again. This time to the Ormondville Pub, more correctly known as The Settlers Arms. We’d never been before and it well and truly met our core […]
Central Hawkes Bay is beautiful at any time of the year. On our most recent visit – for lunch at the Duke of Edinburgh in Porangahau – the poplars were still yellow, the maples were turning and, after the first rain in months, there was a hint of […]
Just when our readers may have given up on us we were out and about again at Easter. This time we chose somewhere a little closer to home for some of our group: The Puketapu. Once this hotel may well have been described as off the beaten track. […]
We’ve visited the Norsewood cafe several times over the years but this time in keeping with our aim to visit Hawkes Bay Country Pubs we lunched at The Crown Hotel. It was immediately apparent that this is the haunt of the true local: the sort who go along […]
‘We’ll see,’ I thought when I saw the blackboard, not entirely unreasonably, after all Patangata is a long way from the markets and there’s not a lot of competition nearby. Although it turns out bike clubs, car clubs, and even cyclists (keen ones, very keen ones) make the […]
Occasional trips off the beaten track in Hawkes Bay take us (four regulars, others by invitation) away from the high profile cafes and wineries familiar to most tourists and foodies to places known only to those with the inside know how. Often our small but fussy group visits […]
Jill's Scene 
The korero