Slice of Heaven ; Part II

After much protestation, my parents finally convinced me to join them on one of their weekly bike rides.They, along with a group of friends have taken up bike riding over the past few years, taking advantage of the many tracks around Hawkes Bay. I on the other hand have developed a strong aversion to anything exercise related. However considering the state of affairs between myself and my Wii Fit trainer, a bike ride didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

                                               Heading towards marine parade

The ride starts at Clive river where vehicles can be left for the day. From here riders can either take a left towards Napiers marine parade and continue as far as the airport or right, where the tracks take in the picturesque scenery all the way out to Te Awanga beach. Over the course of two weekends we took in both routes. With a number of other bikers out enjoying the spring sunshine, it’s easy to see the potential for these tracks to generate a bit of tourism for the region. My parents particular style exercise involves stops for ice cream on the marine parade or coffee at Clifton cafe. Before stopping at the turn around point for a quintessential New Zealand packed picnic lunch of muffins, bacon and egg pie and coffee from a thermos. Good company and Hawkes bays stunning vistas. If only all exercise was this appealing.

                                                          Refreshment station

                                                       Refuelling              

While up in Napier we used the opportunity to pop into Vetro,www.vetro.co.nz a great little shop around West Quay, Ahuriri. Here you can find a great supply of Mediterranean and European, as well as local products at a decent price. It’s well worth a look if you are in the area. On this particular day we were after Italian Prosecco, for a Guy Fawkes BBQ.

I’m not sure anyone in New Zealand really knows nor cares what Guy Fawkes is about, other than a great excuse to throw a party and legally blow things up for one night of the year. I love the casual approach to entertaining in New Zealand. Could there be a better term than everybody ‘bring a plate’, to sum up the way in which we entertain? Well with Dad on the BBQ and everybody else having brought a plate, nobody could have complained of hunger before heading out to light the fireworks. It has to be said this year the fireworks were a little disappointing, what ever happened to those sky rockets of the early 90’s?

The night was topped off with huge slices of rich chocolate cake, sandwiching sweet, black cherries and whipped cream.

                                 

               The beautiful Alex with a cake good enough to bring tears to the eyes

This also marked the end of my trip home, which felt far too short but which has left me with a new appreciation of how good we have it in our little corner of the world. I may be biased but for me there really is no place like home. xxx