Wine tasting in Napier

Although we enjoyed our night in the cells, we decided that the location of the jail at the top of a hill wasn't going to be fun after doing an afternoon wine tour today, so we moved down to near the waterfront for a second night in Picton spent in Archie's Bunker hostel ($52 for a double room). This hostel has excellent facilities, including a large DVD library and a pool table, as well as very knowledgeable and helpful staff, and I would happily come back here again.

Having chucked our stuff into our small but comfortable double room, we headed to the shore for a picnic breakfast before going back to Archie's at lunchtime for our wine tour. We booked this with the Grape Escape, who do small groups (there were 10 people on our minibus) and charge $55 for the afternoon. We had a lovely, relaxed afternoon, driving from vineyard to vineyard, tasting all kinds of different reds, whites, and roses, and getting to know the other people on the bus. Skry and I spent most of our time chatting to an older Dutch couple, and to a young American girl. The rest of the group was all English, I think. After visiting four vineyards we stopped to enjoy a bottle of red and some crackers and cheese, relaxing in the shade of some trees, before hitting our last venue and then heading home. Although I tasted some lovely wines today, and definitely have a better idea of what to look out for in future, I didn't buy anything because the boot of a car is no place to store it. Oh well, we probably got our $55 worth in tastes anyway!