Final Days in Napier

 The Easter weather in Napier was a mixed bag, reasonably fine but with cold winds, making sitting outside a rather chilly experience.  Luckily it had warmed up on Sunday morning and we took ourselves off to the Hastings Market.  Geoff and Eileen had been experiencing battery troubles so decided to head home a day early.  We waved them goodbye with a few Easter Eggs from the Easter Bunny.

What a crowd there was, families with kids, people with dogs and plenty of golden oldies like us.  My aim was to purchase some fresh seasons apples, found them easily enough.  Then we did some cheese tasting, and three lots of cheese jumped into our bag.  A couple of nice fresh bread rolls for our lunch, and some beef from the meat stall, and that was our lot.  We came away feeling quite pleased with our purchases.

After lunch back at the van we took a trip with Owen and Helen out to Esk Valley to see how the Hawkes Bay Caravan and Camping Club was faring after the disastrous Esk Valley floods.

As we had been told, the club had lost their small apple orchard in front of the camp.  The club rooms had been gutted and the club members were waiting to be told what could be done.  Obviously, there had been a lot of work done clearing silt and debris from the grounds, but now everything is at a standstill.  Power and sewerage will need to be reconnected.  So sad to see.

HB Clubrooms will need a lot of work

To cheer ourselves up we stopped for a fruit ice-cream on the way home.  And I just needed to purchase a pumpkin, it will be soup time before I know it.

Helen, Owen and Robin enjoying their ice-creams in the sun shine

We enjoyed  4zees  back in camp with some Easter Eggs the Easter Bunny had dropped off for us to enjoy.

 Oh yummy, Easter Eggs

John and Flo departed the next morning, so then we were down to two vans.    Our anticipated  family lunch didn't go ahead as my niece was not well, so we took ourselves off to check out the delights of Napier.  The Six Sisters row of houses were worth a photo shoot.  Apparently they were built by an architect who wanted a two storey house for each of his daughters.  They are among the few survivors of the massive 1931 Napier earthquake.  Some of the  houses are now owned by commercial businesses, with a few  reverting back into family homes.

The Six Sisters

We then drove around the port to check out Perfume Point freedom camping area.  There was plenty to see, ships and tugs off the coast, families playing on the beach, even a couple of brave people taking a dip.

Whose is this we spotted?  It was Doug and Desma, our friends from the ICA group, who had also arrived for a breath of salty sea air.  We joined them at the picnic table and had a nice long chat.  We couldn't make it to the previous ICA rally so it was great to catch up with them again.

Desma and Doug from ICA group

Back in camp again I started to feel unwell so decided to drive back home in one day, instead of stopping somewhere overnight as we had planned.  Up and over the Saddle Road we went, dropping down into Manawatu, and we were nearly home.  Thank goodness, I was feeling quite peaky.

Wind turbines on top of Saddle Road

My Covid test came back positive - oh dear.  After several years of feeling smug because I had never contacted Covid, my time has arrived.  Guess I wont be going anywhere for the next week or so.