Missing Macrons

Pākōwhai Regional Park in Hawkes Bay. I appreciate the macrons!

It’s now Monday 20 October, 2025. Kia ora!

We have just returned from a wee road trip. We went to Taupō, and then on to Hawkes Bay.  It was a treat to get away, although we left a messy driveway with wind-blown camellias and cheery blossoms.  We came back to lots of wind-blown camellias, but the blossoms are over and have blown away.

It was fun to drive north again, this time to Taupō; because it was later than we’d planned when we got away, we stopped for lunch at a café called Taper, which we hadn’t visited before. We had delicious scrambled eggs (JD had mushrooms too), and shared chocolate cake with butter cream icing afterwards. The drive to Taupō went well, although there were a great many big trucks on the road. It was good to drive over the Desert Road again, although it was colourful but not quite as beautiful as it sometimes is.

At Taupō we were staying at the Hilton (formerly Debrett’s Hotel) in Napier Road.  I had taken advantage of a special winter offer; fortunately they’d been able to move the booking to October (it was meant to be in August) and I think they upgraded our room. It was a bit of a rabbit warren getting there, but it was a lovely big room with a balcony, although it was too cold and windy to go out on the balcony.  Thankfully we could use a trolley for our luggage, and there was a lift to our room on level 3 of the new block; it was also covered walking there. We had brought lots of luggage to cater for our visit being between seasons: I’d been advised that Hawkes Bay was quite hot, but I felt we’d brought the Wellington weather, cool, windy and overcast, with us.I was glad of my cardigans and my puffer jacket.

As a welcoming touch, they’d left a plate of goodies for us, with a beautiful large chocolate slice, two madeleines one coffee flavoured, one raspberry), and a bunch of grapes. There was a coffee machine, and several coffee capsules which were replenished each day,

That evening we dined in the hotel. It was really too far to walk into the central area of Taupō. We had an entrée -king prawns, with a salad and JD ordered some fries. 

The next morning I had a bath in the beautiful bathroom. There was a nice long bath, but although it had handles, it was very difficult to get out of.  The towels were wonderful – very thick and absorbent, on a very effective heated towel rail. There were two hand basins!  It was beautifully equipped. There were very nice scuff-slippers as well.

On Thursday we had breakfast at the hotel. This was quite expensive, but delicious – I had the full breakfast, I’m afraid: I do like to have scrambled eggs if possible; plus juice, fruit, toast and coffee, of course.

We went and visited the cemetery there, and took the obligatory photo of JD’s parents’ headstones. They were in good order in this peaceful spot.  Then we visited the museum, which hasn’t changed much since our previous visit. It’s well worth visiting, though; this time we went inside the Māori meeting house, after taking our shoes off. We also saw a fine exhibition of craft work, including some paintings: I particularly liked some felt work.

We had lunch at Victoria’s Café Kitchen Bar. We’ve been there before, so we know it’s good. I had a salmon bagel, which was beautifully presented so that I could assemble it myself: a toasted bagel, a good-sized piece of salmon, a dish of cream cheese, and plenty of capers and pickled red onion. I had great fun putting this together and eating it.

Our friends who have recently built a new house in Acacia Bay were not there because he was having a cataract operation in Wellington the previous day. But to our surprise he rang JD, and he and his wife were on their way back to Taupō! So we went over there and saw their beautiful new house. It’s very private, and has a lovely view.

That evening we all had dinner at the Hilton Hotel.  My friend and I had schnapper; JD had fillet steak and our other friend had duck. There was salad and chips too, of course. The fish was beautiful.

The next morning we had to check out, but not until 11 am, so it was nice to have extra time. It was a beautiful day, with a glorious view of the mountains, now that the cloud had lifted. It seemed a shame to be leaving.  I had a shower that morning, rather than another bath!  We had breakfast at Victoria’s again – scrambled eggs, orange juice and coffee.

Then we drove to Hawkes Bay. There wasn’t a lot of heavy traffic on the road, but there were lots of stops for roadworks, so it seemed to take a long time.

We stopped in Napier, where JD bought a puffer jacket from Kathmandu.  It’s pretty nice, with a hood too – like his original blue one, which is now truly worn out.  With my membership there was a voucher meaning a reduced price. Then we went through to our motel in Havelock North. On the way there, we stopped at Hōhepa Hawkes Bay at Clive to visit our daughter at her workshop, but she wasn’t there – as she had a cold, they’d kept her at home. I visited the shop there and bought some more Danbo cheese, a deodorant, some more quince paste, and some candles.

We were to have dinner at our daughter’s house with other parents, staff and PWS (People We Support) that evening. As we hadn’t met many of them, we were a bit nervous. On the way we stopped to get juice and ice cream as promised.  Our daughter was very pleased to see us, and we met the new House Manager (whom we hadn’t met before). The parents of one of the residents were there, and they were also from wellington, and we’d recently met them, so it was good to talk.

The dinner was amazing: there was marinated baked chicken, garlic bread, coleslaw, asparagus, lettuce salad, lasagna, and a vegetarian curry with tofu and rice. For pudding there was fruit salad and several varieties of ice cream.

The next day it was a family session at Clive, thankfully with a much reduced program than previously. It was supposed to start at 9:30 am; of course, we were late, but we weren’t the only late ones. There were group activities with other parents, and then the AGM of the Parents’ Association. Sadly not much printed information was available.

The afternoon was given over to the Hōhepa Spring Market.  We’d been to many fairs (in March) and some Spring Markets; this was a little different, in that although there were plenty of seats, I had difficulty finding somewhere to sit, although JD kept finding people to talk to. There was lots of food available, although much of it had names that I didn’t recognize. But I bought three empanadas, which were easy to eat, and then my daughter joined us. We shared a delicious Filipino cake – a sponge cake covered with a kind of caramel custard. Amazing!

There didn’t seem to be much to buy, although I have already bought many things at Hōhepa Markets and their shops. There was a lovely cushion cover, but at $125 I thought it was too highly priced. I saw no jam, much less apricot jam, which I wanted to buy.

That evening JD and I walked to Alessandros in Havelock North for dinner. It seemed very busy outside, but they found us a table. We shared a pizza, and I had a mocktail, a peach bomb, while JD had a glass of chardonnay. For dessert he had tiramisu and I had affogato – vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce in a tall glass with wee glasses of espresso coffee and kahlua to pour over it. Yum!

The next day (Sunday) was another early start, with us aiming to be at All Saints Anglican Church in Taradale for the 10 am service. We expected to see our daughter there, and while she was not, several Hōhepa folk were, and another couple whom we knew.  We sang the Lord’s Prayer in Māori, to the tune that we’ve sung it to at my Wednesday morning hymn singing.

Afterwards we went up to our daughter’s house at Poraiti, and took her out for lunch. We went to Adoro Café, one of my favourites. Thankfully it wasn’t too busy. The food is delicious, and they have a convenient rest room. I bought some more of my Shiseido Foundation at Farmers there, and then we went to the antique shop in Tennyson Street. We also got our daughter some more nail polish at a chemist there. It’s complicated in Napier and Havelock North where some shops (but not all) are closed on Sundays. 

In Havelock North the Annah Stretton store was still open, although according to the internet it was only open from 10 am to 2 pm. So JD spent up, buying vests for my daughter and me, and a dress for me – chosen by JD!  I really wanted to get a floral denim jacket, although it was a little small, and there were no larger sizes in any of the AS stores.  When we got back to the motel, I put the dress on, and although I wouldn’t have chosen it, it looked great on me, and I am grateful.

We took our daughter back to her house for her dinner. JD and I retreated to Portofino, an Italian restaurant beside Clive Square in Napier. It was lovely there. We shared bruschetta, and both had veal for our main courses. It was delicious, real veal, thinly sliced, with vegetables.

This morning it was a lovely fine day in Havelock North, although it had been overcast and windy the day before.  It seemed a shame to leave, and of course the weather worsened on the way home. There was a wind warning, but it’s not too bad back in Wellington. We had lunch in Woodville (guest Wi Fi at Café 88 is much appreciated!), and we drove on the new road which replaces the Manawatu Gorge, the Pahiatua Track, and the Saddle Road, which we’ve had to use for the last few years. The new highway, Te Ahu a Turanga, is quite wonderful, and much appreciated: it seemed a long way round to travel on the Pahiatua Track (going north) and the  Saddle Road (going south), both of which are hilly and not great roads.

Now we’re back in Wellington, where, surprise! It is very windy. It is quite nice to be home again.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.