Nick and Pauline

Pauline and Nick were excellent hosts.  Once we finally found them we were greeted with hugs and then whisked into the kitchen for dinner – vegetable curry and rice.  It was delicious!  During dinner we chatted about our trip so far, the Edinburgh College of Art where Charles and Pauline met, American politics, and numerous other topics.  We had a lovely evening getting better acquainted.  We stayed in Nick and Pauline’s guest room, which was a welcome break from the tight quarters in Ark II (the campervan).  

We woke up Thursday morning to see the farm surroundings.  Nick and Pauline live on her parent’s farm, which is where she grew up.  After hearing about what was being planted out the window we sat down at the kitchen table and were greeted with coffee and French toast, prepared by Nick.  The eggs were fresh from the chickens in their yard and the bread was homemade.  It was all wonderful.  After our hearty breakfast and plenty of tea and coffee we set out for the coast.  Our plan for the day was to go for a “walk in the bush,” which is essentially a hike.  The bush was not really as I had imagined it – we were walking through lush green fields that had recently been soaked with rain, we hopped through the occasional stream, were ducking under tree limbs, and even encountered a few cows.  I guess I always envisioned the bush as being the hot barren desert in central Australia.  What I seem to understand now is that anywhere that is countryside is considered bush.  The hike through the bush was great, we walked and talked, and stopped a couple of times to enjoy the view and snack on some of the provisions we brought along.  As we neared the end of the 2 hour hike we started up a hill and came upon a beautiful view of Anaura Bay.   Here is a picture of Charles, Nick and Pauline from the hike.  

Charles, Nick and Pauline above Anaura Bay

When we reached the end of the hike we piled back in Nick’s truck to drive back into Gisborne.  It was rather late for lunch but too early for dinner, so we decided on a snack and some wine.  The Hawkes Bay region and Gisborne are known for producing great New Zealand wines.  Pauline suggested we go to the Gisborne Wine Centre in the harbor, where we got a beautiful view of the harbor accompanied by some outstanding food and drinks.  I had a flight of wines from the region and Charles and Nick enjoyed some local beers.  The food was amazing – we had blue cheese and brie, smoked lamb and salmon, homemade pickles and aioli, beets, eggplant salsa all locally sourced and made.  

Me and Pauline at the Gisborne Wine Centre

As if our day hadn’t been eventful enough Pauline and Nick had one more attraction to add to our day, the Dome Cinema.  Every Thursday night they play a movie.  The patrons all sit in these huge bean bag chairs equipped with extra pillows and foot stools and your own personal bean bag fluffer.  There is a brief intermission half way through the movie where they bring in pizzas and offer refills of your beer or wine.  It was so unique and such a treat to visit such a different type of movie theater environment.  Not to mention that the movie, Hysteria, was quite hysterical (not sure if it’s out in the states, but it’s very funny!).  

Dome Cinema in our bean bag

Since we had such a busy day when we finally made it back to Nick and Pauline’s home we all turned in for the night.  Friday morning we planned to have breakfast with Nick and Pauline and then head to Napier.  We awoke to another great meal prepared by Nick – eggs (again fresh from the chickens), potatoes, toast (made from homemade bread), and sausage patties (also homemade).  We sat chatting and eating and enjoying tea and coffee for a couple of hours, until we realized it was time to continue on our trip.  We had one more thing we had to do before we left.  Pauline wanted to take us over to her parent’s home on the farm to pick some oranges, mandarins, lemons, and grapefruit to take with us.  We drove the campervan down the road to her parent’s house.  Her mother wanted us to stay for tea and we happily obliged.  She asked about our families back home and asked if we had heard Michelle Obama’s speech.  The conversation once again turned to American politics for a bit (which I have found to be quite common in New Zealand – the election is all over the papers here).  Thank you Des and Grace for the tea and conversation!  Soon it was time for us to head on our way, with our 3 huge bags of citrus in hand.  We gave hugs all around and said farewell.  

Picking mandarins with Pauline's mother, Grace.

Group Photo - Nick, Pauline, Me, Charles, Grace, and Des

Nick and Pauline – THANK YOU! You were such wonderful hosts.  We hope you come visit us in the States sometime soon!