Gentle Annie Taihape to Napier run

Sixteen members and one visitor assembled in the Taihape Railway station carpark on Saturday 22 May, together with a fine collection of Wolseley cars. The weather was cold and sunny as we started the drive through mostly farming country towards Napier.

The road is good and the scenery amazing and is dotted with rivers and streams as well as forestry.

We arrived at the Blowhard Bush Scenic Reserve for lunch, having been escorted for the last few kilometres by Bob Ackerley from the Hawkes Bay VCC who organised our programme in Napier. Once reaching Napier we went to the interesting Lemmon Family Trust private museum of colonial and farming artefacts, as well as an amazing collection of vintage vehicles collected over many years.
Then we were given route instructions to the Quality Inn on Marine Parade, and all met up for happy hour and dinner at Drift Restaurant.

On Sunday we went out to the Clearview Estate Winery and were given a highly informative talk on their wine production, as well as a tasting of 8 of their wines. Their wine shop did very well, and their café was full of people having brunch. Then it was on to the Hygge Café for lunch. This is a large old house overlooking Clifton Bay and is very popular with locals and visitors. At this stage, we said goodbye to the Belchers from Tauranga who needed to get back home before nightfall.

Next was an interesting drive through the countryside past Craggy Range winery down to a large cattle and sheep farm with such steep terrain they use horses to get around. This is home to Martie’s Red Shed which is home to another great colonial collection of their family stuff dating back to the 1840s.

From there we went our various ways, with some calling into the honey shop. Eight members went to the Indonesian Restaurant for dinner and stayed another night in Napier. A very enjoyable weekend was had by all, with many thanks to Bob for all his work on our behalf.

Winton and Ruth