Route 52 between Weber and Pongaroa wound on and on. There was paddock after paddock, sheep, lots of sheep, flowering broom, the occasional farm house (rare but we did see one or two), very few other cars on the road (make that three), and no shops, no service […]
The long road home from Gisborne to Napier takes you through the boondocks. Tiniroto Road, also known as the Inland Road, between Gisborne and Wairoa is almost as far off the beaten track as it’s possible to get in New Zealand without going off road. It’s 104km of […]
Last weekend, for the first time in nearly two years, our children were all together in our old family home. They are city dwellers. Currently, that means living in Wellington and Bangkok – although change is afoot, one way or another. So, what better to do than get […]
Most people associate Wimbledon with tennis and some with wombles on the Common. Not many will think of the small, okay tiny, settlement in Southern Hawkes Bay. A bright spark, probably in an office somewhere in Wellington, has changed the boundaries and technically Wimbledon is now in the Tararua District. […]
So far it’s been a day filled with music, parades, air displays, promenades, and lots of laughs. Everyone is out to have fun. . And now we’re Otane bound. What Ho and all that.
Some might think that Otane, in Central Hawkes Bay, is about as off the beaten track as it’s possible to get. Wikipedia seems to think so. But Otane does have a school, a café, a town hall, a country pub and, on Sundays, a market. Once a year, on Waitangi Day, […]
Eschewing Ormondville toasted sandwiches was one thing, coming up with an alternative was another. We were hungry! We fancied somewhere untried, somewhere with food, lots of it, and not too far away. Our stomachs rumbled as we drove south. If there’s a debate to be had whether Mangatera ( the hotel is […]
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. […]
Jill's Scene 
The korero