Time

We were lounging about on our second full day here in Hawkes Bay, watching the phone and obsessively checking our emails, while watching a bizarre film from reception that another bored camper couple had rented out and put on in the movie room. It was called Lonely Hearts and starred John Travolta and Salma Hayuk being a psychopath.
Anyways, it was during this odd film that we got a phone call from Val and Bren. They had successfully visisted the gardens in Hamilton, glow wormed it up in the caves in Waitomo and trekked round the volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park. Now they were in Napier and ready to rendevous once again. They arrived in the campsite and located our tent, where we introduced them to the 15 golden ducklings that like to hang around our tent. We had a brief lecture from a randomer about sadistic children attacking the ducklings, and to stay on our guard (!) and then off we went, to explore!
We directed them to the New World supermarket in Hastings, the best supermarket I have so far seen in NZ. It is so pretty, they really put effort into the displays. All the vegetables are in hessian sacks or baskets, there is a salad bar, a deli, a chocolatier, a bakery, everything, in fact that one could want from a supermarket. There is also the top notch cafe they have out the back where Alex and I ate the day before.
Alex and I offered to concoct dinner and so swept around the aisles picking up ingrediants for our special - ricotta and spinach stuffed baked cannelloni! Once we had procured these vitalities, we set off for Val and Bren's motel room and kitchen facilities where we mixed and stuffed and prepped and baked until dinner was served, all on matching plates (not plastic!) and round an actual table! Novelties all.
We were driven back to our little tent in the rain and retired to bed. The weather did not imporve, it was still raining the next morning. Val and Bren picked us up again and kindly offered to take us on a tour of the orchards in the hope that showing our faces to would-be employers may sway them into offering us jobs. Alas, no such luck. After visiting over seven different places and being point blank refused at all of them, we couldn't take the rejection any longer. We headed to Mission Bay Winery, the oldest in NZ, and very pretty and grand. There, we headed to the fancy restaurant and had some lovely lunch, surrounded by gilt mirrors and ruched red silk blinds. We took a stroll out onto the terrace, looking out over the vineyard and towards the sea and the sun actually started to peep out from behind the rainclouds!
Once back in Napier city, we wandered along the Marine Parade, dodging cyclists and admiring the view. We looked over some beautiful gardens and innovative water features, remembering the story of Pania of the Reef and generally enjoying the return of the sunshine. Then, it was decided that we go and play mini-golf, although whose idea this was I do not know!
I have never played before and the first hole was a perfect example of this. No beginner's luck for me, 6+ 'gentle taps' and the ball was obstinately refusing to go into the hole. However, things picked up, my ball getting closer and closer to the hole with each successive green, until I actually scored a hole-in-one! Round a corner as well! Skills! Alex scored his hole-in-one on the first green, showing off his golfing prowess and Val got one round a random boulder stuck in the centre of the green. Some of them are deceptively innocent looking, when really they are filled with slopes and tricky corner bits. Grr.
Back at the motel, we had a tasty tasty supper of cheese (proper cheese! Not pre-sliced!), olives, bread, anzac biscuits, caramel slice, wafers, ooh it was yummy. I ate too much.
Back at the campsite, Alex and I sat by the river for a while to see the sun go down. By morning, it had turned from a breathtakingly beautiful golden sky to a black rainy one. Doh.
I was mobbed by the ducklings as I got out of the tent this morning to brush my teeth. They have got to know us now and were jumping on my feet and squeaking at me. Alex brought the camera out and they charged him too, just as Val and Bren pulled up. Once ready, we set out to do an educational tour of the Art Deco buildings Napier is famous for. We admired the rather lovely gardens and the bizarre trees lining the streets which appeared to be decked out with little bells or dirigible plums.
Then, we dropped Bren off in town so she could attend a more detailed Art Deco tour around Napier and said our goodbyes until Oz, then the rest of us headed back to the campsite for lunch. We made some tasty packet macaroni (helped along by generous quantities of real cheese) and had some carrot cake, then set of for Te Mata peak, despite the lingering rainfall. However, by the time we got to the peak and whats more, had heaved ourselves up the vertical sides to the top, the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the view was incredible. We looked over craggy mountainous sides, smooth organised vineyards, beautiful manor houses, right down to the curved Bay, the golden sands and the blue waters of the sea. In the opposite direction, there were hundreds of hills, roughly popping out of the countryside and covered in an almost furry-looking grass.
We returned to the campsite and said our goodbyes, as this would be the last time we see Val in NZ. Sad times.
Alex and I tidied the tent and sat outside for a bit in the sunshine. Then, the sky went dark, the clouds turned purple and everything went very quiet. We decided to move to the tv lounge and 5 minutes after we had esconced ourselves on the sofas, the downpour came. The rain is so heavy, so relentless and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The wind picked up. We are concerned our tent will not be there when we go back, which we shall have to at 10pm tonight, when the tv lounge is locked up. Oh dear, and now the contingent of kids that arrived earlier are flooding (ahhh, flood possibility!) into the lounge too. This is not good!