Hawke's Bay Day Three - When it Rains, Scrumpy

Back in Ahuriri, we broke our fast at the aptly named Cafe Ahuriri. The portion sizes were very large and we should have shared one serving as we had been doing previously. We sure do eat a lot of french toast and pancakes. And tea. 

Unfortunately it was a rainy day, but we thought it would be fun to do indoors activities for one day while we waited for the weather to clear. We went back to the vintage shop and tried on more hats. Here is Yannick looking dapper with a boating hat and cane. 

Some lovely Art Deco graphic design.

Stopping by the aquarium, we saw this guy swimming close to the glass. He's almost as big as me!

It was not only raining outside, but also in he penguin enclosure. The little blue penguins repeatedly shook out their feathers and looked grumpy.

As well as penguins, the aquarium had a bird that I didn't expect to see: the kiwi. It turned out to be the best I've ever been able to see a kiwi. As they are nocturnal, they need very dark enclosures and most of the time you can just see a bit of movement in some dark foliage. But this enclosure was better lit, perhaps by using special lights which didn't disturb them, and the kiwis were very active, scampering around with each other and sticking their long beaks into the ground looking for grubs, right up next to the glass. They looked super soft.

For lunch we went to the Filter Room ale house and cidery, where we got a tasting tray of 6 ciders and scrumpies. Some of them were alright, but I actually prefer the Rochdale you can get at the supermarket. It was a little disappointing as I had hoped they had some really good locally brewed ciders, but I'm glad I did try them, as now I know. I had the lamb for my main course, and it was enjoyable but about average quality. 

While we were eating and drinking, the rain died down a little and the PYO Ruby Glen was just down the road, so we went back for a second lot of raspberries. One of the employees who seemed senior, so let's call him the Berry Lieutenant, saw us and said "You're keen." We were keen. So would you be if you had eaten the raspberries. 

Intending to see a film at 5:45pm at a cinema in Havelock North, we had several hours to kill. We decided that a cafe with a socket to charge our iPad was necessary, and one with wifi ideal. We went to Hawthorne Coffee where we were provided with coffee, macarons and Christmas tarts. We read until the cafe closed and we moved on to the cinema, Cinema Gold. We read there until Yannick had the great idea to look up the opening hours for Rush Munro's Icecream Garden in Hastings, at which time we had about half an hour to drive there, eat the ice cream, and drive back before the movie started.

The ice cream was good, but it was quite cold outside so I'm not sure I appreciated it fully.

The hills around our campsite were misty and lent an eerie feeling to the landscape. Needless to say, we did not try to find the secret river swimming hole this day.