Happy New Year!

Ian, Ethan and I saw in the New Year in Napier, the art deco capital of the world by all accounts. It is also one of the first cities in the world to see the sunrise on a new day. Our New Year revels didn't quite go to plan as we had drunk all the champagne by 9 o'clock (made the mistake of having it with a very hot thai takeaway) and we couldn't use the spa bath as ethan was sleeping in the bathroom. I had fallen asleep by 11 o'clock.

We leave Napier tomorrow and will probably head further into Hawkes Bay to try out a few of the wineries before we head north again. We met a couple from Hastings which is the next town over, when we were up in the Coromandel. We just got chatting to them on the beach and they invited us to stay with them. we will look them up. We have met loads of nice people on our travels. Another couple on the campsite in Maketu brought us 3 freshly caught and smoked snappers as they had had a bumper fishing trip. We've met some lovely people here in Napier too. They all seem pretty convinced that this is the best place to live in NZ.

I almost forgot, Ethan had his first bike ride today. We had bicycles for the morning and headed out along the coastal path. He loved it until the wind got up and he got a bit chilly so we had to stop for a fluffy.