Down to the Beach

Today, for Chrisversary (Christmas and our anniversary) we decided we'd like to do a Kiwi kind of celebration and go to the beach. Ocean Beach is about half an hour from our house. This is the road down to the beach and the little colony of houses there. The sign says, "Give way to uphill traffic." It's a narrow, winding and steep little road. (Not any different than a lot of roads here!)

Ocean Beach

This is a view to the south. The beach is wide and flat and very nice; we estimate it to be about 2 km long (about 1.6 miles) ~ so lots of room to walk and enjoy.

More of Ocean Beach

A view to the north. You can get a glimpse of the waves (ok, look harder, it's that white stuff on the right); some of them are actually quite large. There were several people surfing today.

Pohutukawa Tree

This is considered by many to be New Zealand's Christmas tree. They grow quite large. This small one was just back from the beach in a little park area.

Beach Girls

Couldn't find anyone to ask to take a picture of the 4 of us. Everyone was too busy surfing or playing cricket. A little breezy and misty, but we had a nice walk.

Craggy Range

Just across from this little range of mountain-like hills is a winery called Craggy Range Winery. Clever, don't you think? This is just a little scenery on the way to the beach from our house.

Montana Vineyard and Winery

Just outside of Havelock North, a "village" very near to Hastings and on the way to Ocean Beach from our house, is one of the many wineries in the area, the Montana Winery. We have tasted some of their Chardonnay and found it delightful. (If you have enough Chardonnay everything seems delightful.)

Welcoming Lane

This is the lane into the Montana Winery. Just as an aside, we pronouce this name as we would the state, Montana. The Kiwi's have a way of pronouncing words that makes them completely unrecognizable.

Winery Buildings

Many vineyards have rose bushes at the end of each row of grape vines. These roses are all the same beautiful shade of peach and are so pretty in contrast to the green of the vines. In the background is one of the winery buildings and assorted trees. Next to the building is a silo-like building (the green cylinder) that is covered with ivy.

Roses and Grapes

A view down the vines.