GodsOwn Brewery

Godfrey and Rachel are the faces behind GodsOwn Brewery. Situated in rural Maraekakaho, south of Hastings along SH50. The family moved onto their 6.5h property in 2010, and set about making the long held dream to run their own brewery finally happen.

Owen had arranged for our group to stay here overnight and we were warmly welcomed by Rachel.  We were joined later in the evening by Barry and Dianne.

Of course, we had to meet for 4zees in the large safari tent.  Geoff and Robin ordered the tasting selection of six different beers, and they arrived in quite an impressive wooden rack. 

 

Eileen, Geoff, Robin and Jenny, with Don and Helen at the back

As well as the safari tent which certainly lent an African flavour to the proceedings, the bar is their former caravan.  The business expanded, and an extra caravan was added for food preparation, and a wood fired pizza oven.  There was no worry about dinner, as we all took the easy option and ordered a freshly cooked pizza. 

Walking around the property we came across Godfrey hard at work brewing his latest batch of beer.  With a good selection of different styles on offer, it must be an ongoing challenge to keep up with the demand, I imagine.

Godfrey in the brewery

And what's this we found tucked away by the driveway?  It was the front half of an old Austin truck, and  was left behind by the previous owner we were told.  Always a talking point for visitors to the property.

Garden feature

Such an interesting place to stay, somewhere quite different, after all, how often do you get to stay in a brewery? 

Seen around Hastings

We are currently staying at a CAP (cost applicable parking) at an apple orchard, where we were lucky to find a space as apple picking is still in full swing.    Most of the sites  are taken with people staying here in their caravans and motor-homes who have seasonal work at the nearby packing houses.  Boxes of apples are waiting to be collected and taken to the processing centre.

We are tucked away in front of the managers Ross and Rose’s site, making sure they still had a good line of sight over the grounds to look out for any visitors or new arrivals.  They have a playful new puppy now, so that makes two fluffy white Bichons and a big grey and white cat to keep them company.  The grounds are still rather wet after a lot of rain.

Staying at the apple orchard

It seems that no matter how often you visit a region, there is always something new to see.   Such as the interesting range of sculpture we spotted as we were driving out to Havelock North.  What was that we just passed, we wondered, so quickly turned the car around to have another look.  The little house had been made out of concrete blocks placed one on top of another, and various bits of rusty metal sculptures were dotted around the paddock.

 

Sculptures in the country

We were on our way to Birdwoods Sweet Shop, and what a lovely little place it was.  Robin had been lamenting to a couple of campers about how hard to was to buy blackball sweets these days.  You must go to Birdwoods, he was told, must admit that we had never heard of this establishment before.  Just look at all those temptations in the glass jars.  We purchased blackballs, acid drops and raspberry drops.

Birdwoods Sweet Shop

Birdwoods is a whole lot more than the sweet shop, we soon discovered.  There is a gallery and café housed  in the relocated  church hall from St Peter's in Waipawa built in 1894. The café was buzzing with customers and the food looked delicious so we will be returning to try it out on our next visit up this way.  And out the back was an amazing sculpture garden which we were invited to wander around at our leisure.  Many of the pieces had an African flavour.

Giraffe, herons and crocodile

The white ducks at the far end of the pond were keeping well away from the hippo lurking in the water.

Ducks and the lonely hippo

It wasn’t all African art, these colourful birds were made by a local potter and looked so pretty sitting there in a row.

Birds in a row

This is such a lovely establishment, and there is no doubt we will be returning.  After all, and we will need some more blackballs and acid drops next time we visit Hastings.  Plus a visit to the café too, I’m sure.

Driving through to Hastings

With an unexpected trip to Hastings coming up we packed the van and set off after an early lunch today.  We drove our usual route over the Pahiatua Track, and drove a rather convoluted way wondering if we had in fact got lost in the rural countryside.  But luckily we reached the Ballance Bridge, crossing the Manawatu River and onto Woodville, so we weren’t lost after all.

Ballance Bridge over the Manawatu River

Then it was up SH2 through farmland and small towns, through rain showers, with a few road works along the way, stopping at Waipukurau, the largest town in the Central Hawke's Bay District.  The old station building houses a quirky little coffee shack, and we certainly needed coffee after several hours on the road.

Stopping at Waipukurau Railway Station

It was obvious as we drove closer to Hastings that there had been quite a lot of heavy rain recently.  These low lying paddocks have water almost swallowing the fences.

Flooding south of Hastings

We pulled into the driveway at one of our favourite CAPs (charges apply parking) at Dick and Elly’s apple orchard.  My goodness, there were vans and buses everywhere – hope there is room for us.  Manager Rose  welcomed us with open arms, as did Dick and Elly, we always get such a friendly reception here.  Dick helped us get on site in the muddy conditions, and commented that his property has had plenty of rain and flooding  too.  Once we were organised, the power plugged in, we went to join the others having Happy Hour under the awning.

Just in time for Happy Hour

There was plenty of chatter going on around the table, and one couple recognised us from our last stay here back in March.  As the light started to fade, it is mid winter after all, we all departed back to our vans to prepare the evening meal.  There was just a little bit of colour in the western sky on the way back to our van.

And the sun sets in Hastings

We are making this trip to support my sister Kathleen and Dennis as their younger daughter died of a brain hemorrhage in Australia last week.  We are joining the family at a  memorial get together on Saturday to remember Jody and celebrate her life.  

Busy Weekend at Hastings

It’s been great to be back in sunny Hastings, parked amongst the apple trees at one of our favourite places to stay.

Happy to be back in Hastings again

The fruit trees are laden and the pickers have been busy.

We had another chat to Karen of Travelling K fame (find her link here) and swapped names of favourite blogs to check and see what we think.   Perhaps we will have some new ones to add to our respective lists, which will be great.  

And a trip to Hastings wouldn’t be the same without a visit to the Arataki Honey centre to replenish Robin’s honey supplies.  They fill our empty containers with liquid gold – we refilled a jar both manuka and rewarewa honey, that should last for some time.  Did you know that honey can last forever?  (Unless a honey lover eats it all up)  With an indefinite shelf life, and the properties of processed honey keep it from becoming a hotbed of microbes and other things that may spoil or contaminate it. 

 

Arataki Honey

We had two family events to attend here in Hastings.  Friday night was the 50th Birthday Bash of our niece Lisa.   Lisa’s Birthday Bash had a 50’s theme, with the guests dressed in their rock’n’roll inspired clothes, ready for a night of music and fun.  Older ones, like us, had lived through these years, and reminisced about  our dancing days when full skirts and stiff petticoats were all the rage as we rocked the night away.  The juke box pumped out the music, the candles were lit, the birthday cake was cut, and the gifts were opened.  There were even a couple of Pink Ladies on the dance floor – hadn’t we seen them in a movie a while ago?

Lisa’s 50th party

The photo board was particularly interesting, with snaps of Lisa’s life through the years.  And look what I found, a photo of Lisa, her brother, and my two children, perched up high having an elephant ride at Wellington Zoo.  That would never happen these days - no rides allowed.  And who can remember the Chimps Tea Parties at Wellington Zoo?  They were always a favourite with the kids.  But things have moved on, and the animals live a more natural life these days, which is certainly a good thing.

On top of the elephant – my son Michael, Lisa, her brother Shane, and my daughter Nicky

On Sunday we gathered for a family lunch at Breakers, Napier for an anniversary lunch for my sister Kathleen and her hubby Dennis.

Happy Anniversary

Wonder of wonders – West Coast whitebait was on the menu, so there’s no surprise in what I ordered.  The whitebait omelet was quite nice, but I must admit, whitebait fritters would have been better.  But I can’t complain, I’ve been hanging out for whitebait for ages.

Lunch at Breakers, Napier

We took a drive back along beautiful Marine Parade, lined with two rows of Norfolk Pines, planted about 1893 in order to create an English-style ‘noble promenade’. There was a cruise ship in town, so buses and tourists were everywhere.  There was plenty to keep the visitors busy, beautiful gardens, cafes, and the National Aquarium close by.

Marine Parade, Napier

It’s been so nice to catch up with family over the weekend, but it will be time to move on in the morning.  Next stop, Taupo.

On the road to Hastings

With the packing finally finished, it was time to hit the road – the only thing forgotten, as we discovered later, was Robin’s tomato sauce.  Being a true blue Kiwi who loves his tomato sauce, this was a disaster, and it will have to be added to the shopping list.  Travelling up SH57, we then went up and over the Pahiatua Track, passing through some lovely native bush.

The Pahiatua Track

This brought us out, as would be expected, at Pahiatua.  It’s always nice to cross over the lovely bowstring arch bridge on the way into town.  The reinforced concrete bridge was constructed between 1931 and 1932, built for the Pahiatua County Council in the midst of the Great Depression.

Bowstring arch bridge at Pahiatua

Welcome sign

Not too far up the road is Mangatainoka – almost the Holy Grail as far as Kiwi blokes are concerned.  This is where the world famous Tui beer has been “brewed on the banks of the Mangatainoka since 1889”, as the advert says.   No time to stop, all we had time for was a quick snap out of the window as we sped past.

Tui Brewery at Mangatainoka

We stopped at Dannevirke for lunch, welcomed into the town by the Viking on the sign.  The town was founded by Scandinavian immigrants, who were brought to New Zealand by the government in 1872 to fell the forest that covered much of southern Hawke’s Bay and to farm the cleared land.  But did you know that Dannevirke was also known as “Sleepertown”?  The cost of carting supplies to the frontier town was so high that the settlers could not repay the money owed for their passage.  In the face of revolt, the government offered them work splitting railway sleepers from totara trees growing in the district, at the rate of one shilling per sleeper.  Work progressed so well that the road through Dannevirke was lined for two miles with stacked sleepers up to twelve feet high.  With the settlement largely obscured, it was nicknamed Sleepertown.  

Dannevirke – known as Sleepertown in the early years

Just past Norsewood, another town founded by Scandinavian immigrants, something caught our eye in the rear vision mirror.  It was the spare tire cover being ripped off by the wind and fluttering to the road side.  Oh my goodness, we didn’t want to lose that, but there was no space to pull over.  So up the road we went, did a U turn, drove back, turned again, and parked up on the side of the road with the hazard lights on.   Robin then did the long lonely walk up the highway as cars and trucks roared past, and came back clutching the prize.   Seems it needs some new elastic cord inserted, so a trip to Canvasland for repairs will be on the cards when we return home.

A successful mission

Continuing on our way, the dark clouds rolled over and the heavens opened up, and down came the rain.  Not just ordinary rain, but a downpour so hard the the wipers couldn’t really keep the windscreen clear, and we had trouble seeing clearly.  Luckily everyone had reduced their speed, so we kept trundling on, the wipers going flat out, tires kicking up vast amounts of spray, and the navigator hoped to goodness that we would make it to our destination safely.    Eventually we  drove out of the downpour, so could breath a sigh of relief.

It’s hard to see in this sort of weather

We made it safely to one of our favourite CAPs (charges apply parking) in an apple orchard to be warmly welcomed by Camp Managers  Rose and Ross.  And as luck would have it, we got the last available power site.  Owners Dick and Elly called in to see us once we were settled, and invited us to join in Happy Hour with the campers.  We have been here often over the years, and it is so nice to be welcomed back each time we return. 

 

Parked up in the apple orchard

Rose brought her new puppy out to Happy Hour and offered me a cuddle.  Isn’t she just gorgeous!

What a beautiful baby

We also met up with Travelling K (Karen) who tells her travel stories in her vlog – a video blog to those who don’t know the term – check out the link here.  It was lovely to meet her, after watching her vlogs, and we hope to get together to swap some travel stories again soon.

Hello to Travelling K

Just pottering around Hastings

After a heavy downpour during the night, the day dawned fine, but the grass was rather wet underfoot.  Staying in Hastings, we have been experiencing quite muggy weather, hot and sticky, rather like being somewhere exotic overseas, but without the air travel.

Damp start to the morning

First order of the day was to replenish the honey supplies.  So we took a drive to Arataki Honey in Havelock North to get a couple of empty containers filled.

Arataki Honey Centre, Havelock North

Robin is the honey eater in our household, and has a real love for manuka honey.  Unfortunately, it is the premium of honey here in New Zealand, and about twice the price of the other varieties.  He decided to get one pot refilled with manuka honey, and one filled with rewarewa honey.  And we also purchased a slab of comb honey – that’s really delicious too, and I’ll make sure I get my share of that.

Beautiful manuka honey flowing into the pot

Who’s  happy honey eater, then?

After lunch we called around to see my sister Kathleen and her husband Dennis, and we all carried on to another Hastings icon, Rush Munroe’s Ice-cream Garden.  Just look at that crowd, we weren’t the only ones with ice-cream on our minds.  Englishmen Frederick Rush Munro arrived in New Zealand in 1926 and set up shop with his wife Catherine, making ice-cream to his own recipes.  The shop was destroyed in the devastating 1931 earthquake, and they moved to the current site.  The new premises evolved into the very popular Ice Cream Gardens of today.

All queuing up for an ice-cream

We had to eat our ice-creams quickly before they melted in the heat.

Jenny, Dennis, and Kathleen

We had our first BBQ of the trip back in camp in the evening, followed by new season’s strawberries and cream.  Yummy, the strawberries were so sweet and tasty, how decadent that felt.  The manager’s cat decided to pay us a visit, and hopped up onto the spare tyre.  She was concentrating hard on something over that-away, probably birds going about their business.

This is our last full day in Hastings, and it has been lovely to catch up with my sister and her family.  Tomorrow we will be homeward bound.