Hawkes Bay

I decided to get out of town by myself for a couple of days, and when the weather guy says, "the only place in the country that will have nice weather the next couple of days is Hawkes Bay." He also added that Taupo, where I had planned, was going to drop 14 feet of snow in 3 hours. Or something to that effect. So my plans changed- flexibility is one of my endless character strengths.
The Hawkes bay area is known for it's warm weather and fine wines. It turned out to be in a lot of ways like Napa valley. All these wineries having cellars to purchase wine at- which I didn't take advantage of. I was there for one thing: produce.
To some it may sound odd, but as it is berry season, I was all about taste-testing all available. I consumed 2 pints strawberries, 1 pint raspberries and one pint boysenberries. All were choice.
Not forgotten in my eating were peaches, golden kiwis and tomatoes. The former were so good, I ate them out of hand like an apple. Summer. Good food. Screw root veggies to all y'all back home.
Napier is the biggest city in the region, and had some really cool art deco buildings . Iris and Mark: I though of you when I was looking at the buildings; they were right up your alley. I guess Napier is second to Miami as a representative of this style, and the city holds a big festival every year.
Some pics (not mine, which are still on film)





And some quick videos of León, El Rey de los Bogans Piñatas. He was the entertainment for the massivly successful Boxing day Ranchero Brunch. The first is "Ben Davie, piñata punisher" (I swear I watched that show in Mexico last year!) and the second is entitled, "demise."

And yes, I am wearing boots with jeans.





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