Gisborne, NZ Gizzy

Our Harbor

Coming into Gizzy was interesting. Most cruise ships anchor off shore and tender but we are small enough to enter the narrow harbor. After entry we had just enough room to do a 180 degree but this time with the use of a couple tugs. At about the end of our docking we were above the captain again listening and heard a radio call that the aft was getting too close to an old boat. "how far away" they asked? "Twenty Meters" was the reply. Bill and I rushed to the back to take a look. We didn't come close to hitting but our backwash pushed the loosely tied ship around a bit. Off to a winery tour of the very small Gizzy wine region. We had to divert around a bit because we were too early at 9:30 for the license of the winery to open. First Winery was nice and the owner had a good story about the wine. Only problem was we were still there before legal opening. No problem! Rules are meant to be broken the Kiwis say a lot. Had some nice snacks and sampled Rose, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and some others. Off to Winery II. They had an Old black Lab named Maddie who was used to and a bit bored with people at 11 years old. Sat next to a couple doing 165 days on their boat trip. It was Sunday back at the port and we took the shuttle into town center. Only 35,000 people here and they had main street blocked off for a little festival of their own. We had some pork sliders and a couple of Jugs of Tui Beer to wash them down while we watched a band play. Meandered down the street to look at mobile food vans and stopped at Mc Donalds for a coffee of Flat White, my fav. No food! Internet was almost non existent. Watched some children putting on a Maori dance and back to the ship for Sail Away.