Anzac Weekend in Napier – 22nd – 25th April

We all stayed at the Riverbend Family Lodge, an ideal set up for a large group like ours with three 2 bedroom units and 4 bedrooms on the bottom floor of the owners house. We gathered for drinks on Friday evening to plan our walks for the following day. Then we split up to make our own meals.

On Saturday, we divided into two groups. Sharon led a group of 7 to climb Te Mata Peak, followed by a wine tasting at Te Mata vineyard and a visit to the The Figgery Café and Shop in Havelock North. They enjoyed the walk but said the path narrowed considerably towards the top of the peak. It was no good for anyone with vertigo. Sharon has provided the photos from Te Mata Peak.

My group of 7 started with a visit to the historic Napier Prison located at the foot of Bluff Hill. It was an extremely interesting and rather sad place. Well worth learning about another slice of NZ history. We then hopped across the road to see the Centennial Garden which was rather small but had a lake courtesy of being an ex-quarry for the prison and planting around it. We then proceeded to climb Bluff Hill to the lookout. It gave great views over the harbour, before descending down the other side and walking along the foreshore to Ahuriri. The foreshore was somewhat reminiscent of Oriental Bay in Wellington. After a quick lunch in Ahuriri, we then crossed the old SH2 to the Ahuriri Lagoon and walked around it. The lagoon was a flat walk taking about an hour, but extremely interesting. In total we walked just over 3 hours and returned back to the lodge late afternoon.

That night, we had shared salad, potatoes and a few extras others had provided. Everyone brought their own protein. It was a lovely evening and we discussed plans for the next day.

On Sunday 4 people opted to join a guided walking tour of Napier. 2 decided to go bike riding for the day and the remaining 8 piled into 2 cars for the 1.5-hour drive to the Bell Rock track inland from Lake Tutira. This was amazing countryside with the last many kms being gravel. We were slowly climbing up uphill. We finally arrived at what is labelled Hawkes Bay best kept secret, to cars everywhere and numbers of people that could rival a quiet day on the Tongariro Crossing. The parking was really tricky but finally we were off for a 45 minute steepish climb through the most amazing native bush where numerous bellbirds could be heard along with tuis etc. The volume of birdsong was just incredible. It was a bit muddy but very manageable. We popped out onto the side of a hill with views that just kept getting better. It was over a stile, down slightly then a climb to a ridge. Some of the rocks here were simply huge. We looking out at what you could only call ‘big country’. This was our morning tea stop. We then climbed another steep hill which then dropped back down into a gully and then rose steeply on the other side. I could feel my damaged knee starting to ache, so rather than slow the group down more than normal, I opted to slowly go back over the ridge and down the farm track. The photos of Bell Rock are Sharon’s and it looked amazing. Maybe next time for me. The group told me it was incredibly windy up there but the views and the rock were simply spectacular. For my walk, I had to climb higher on the ridge and arrived at the highest point on the walk. I was really enjoying the views, especially of the coastline which appeared to be reasonably close if you were a bird. It was a shame Bell Rock was hidden from view. On the walk down the hill, I passed a predator free area which is a sanctuary for Titi to come and breed. I had my lunch just above these fences. It was lovely to just sit and be at one with the countryside. Just beside the sanctuary fence was a cave where there were the bones of a large number of different birds. There was a noticeboard talking about it as the cave was covered and well secured. It was a lovely walk down but I was surprised people had to climb farm gates and there were no stiles. One of the gates was pretty damaged from being climbed over. It was a short walk back down the gravel road to our cars.  I was also surprised that most people were walking back out through the bush and not doing the loop. As I had really dallied, I only had to wait 30 minutes for the others. I was also told I had got pretty close to Bell Rock, so I do need to try this one again.

Once back at the lodge, people were trickling back in from their activities. Janice had decided to do an afternoon wine tour and must have been to some pretty awesome vineyards as she came back well stocked up.

That evening, we went into town to a restaurant called The Market for a fine dining experience. It was a really pleasant evening and a lovely way to finish an extremely good weekend away.

Judith O’Leary