Wednesday 28th February 2007. My Birthday. Day 1. Napier

Downstairs to Breakers for breakfast and I must say it was a real surprise, and a most welcome surprise, to be presented with a gift and a card from my fellow travellers’ in celebration of my 35th birthday. (the wrapping paper said ‘A nice present’ and it was).

For my birthday I have the pleasure of riding around the wineries of Hawke’s Bay (the country's oldest winemaking region) on a tandem bicycle with Trish as my partner.

The East Coast region has more annual sunshine than almost anywhere else in New Zealand and Hawke's Bay is known as the fruit basket of New Zealand.

Our first stop on this 26km bike ride is not in-fact a winery but a brewery. We have our first tasting at The Filter Room of Hawke’s Bay Independent Brewery Ltd where I must say the Bug Ginger Beer was excellent.

At Brookfields we learnt that the beautiful roses at the end of each row of vines serve the purpose of attracting the bugs away from the crop.

Brookfields has built quite a reputation since it was founded in 1937 here along the glistening waters of the Tutaekuri River between Napier and Hastings.

The wine tasting group of Paul, Judy, Corinna, Wendy and I had a wonderfully educational visit.

Arguably Brookfields two most famous and exquisite wines are the Brookfields Hillside Syrah of which we got to sample the 2005 vintage and the Brookfields Gold Label Cabernet/Merlot Reserve Vintage of which we got to sample the 2004. This is actually the most expensive wine sold by Gordon Ramsay in his London Restaurants.

I also took the chance whilst here to enjoy the collection of Piera McArthur paintings which form the series ‘Aspects of Music’ and include a brave Scottish piper…this winery actually has a deeper Scottish connection being part owned by David Murray of Rangers Football Club fame.

Back on the bikes and our next stop is the Park Estate Winery where I got my first ever taste of kiwi fruit wine. Here I also sampled kiwi green fruit juice as well as other highlights such as the Boysenberry made by Bay Classic wines and the rich and creamy homemade fudge.

Lunch is at the Silky Oak Chocolates Café where we learn a little more about this delicacy that was first discovered by the Maya Indians around 2000 BC when they stumbled across the Cacao Tree (Theobroma Cacao) growing in the rainforests of Central America.

Chocolate was drunk by the Aztecs who used the beans from the Cacao tree which were ground to a paste and mixed with ingredients such as vanilla and chilli pepper and then added to water and drunk as a frothy bitter tasting beverage.

By 600 AD Cacao beans were being used as a local currency and were in-fact a highly prized commodity. As late as the 1540’s Nicaragua’s ladies of pleasure were charging 10 cacao beans for their services.

In 1502 Christopher Columbus “discovered” chocolate but it would be some 20 years before Hernando Cortez brought chests of cacao beans back to Spain as a prized cargo.

By 1660 chocolate was known as a beverage in the illustrious streets of Oxford and in 1842 another English city (Birmingham) became the site of the world’s first ever chocolate bars when they were created by Cadbury’s. It did not take long though for milk chocolate to appear on the scene and in 1875 the Swiss chocolate maker Daniel Peter combined Henri Nestle’s’ condensed milk with chocolate.

Some interesting facts about chocolate…


Theobroma Cacao (the botanical name of the Cacao tree) translates from Greek as “the food of the God’s”.

Each year approximately 1.5 billion kilos of chocolate are consumed worldwide.

Bloom is the name given to the white film that appears on chocolate after it has been exposed to heat which causes the natural fats in the chocolate to melt and rise to the surface. Bloom, contrary to popular belief, does not spoil the chocolate.

Back on the bikes and our next, and last, stop is Church Road Winery.

Cocktails tonight were in the Conservatory before we headed out as a group for my birthday dinner at Charlie’s…great steak, great company and Paul and I even sang Danny Boy for the crowd. The night was rounded off at Rosie O’Grady’s.