Morning Coffee With Catriona

Wendy, Catriona and I had morning coffee on Emerson Street.  Catriona had a 'fluffy'

Revas On The Waterfront

When Reva and Doug Meredith opened the first Revas in 1976, it was just a little hole-in-the-wall pizza joint in downtown Whangarei. But thanks to Revas legendary hospitality, and her love of delicious food, live music and local art, Revas 'Pizza Palour' soon became the meeting place for local musicians, artists, travellers and anyone who appreciated great food, great company and a great time.

"See you at Revas" became the farewell cry as cruising yachts left foreign ports to cross the Southern Ocean. In 1988, the pizza joint became a licensed restaurant in a new premises near the waterfront.

In 1995, Reva and Doug were invited to open Whangarei's first waterfront restaurant in the new Town Basin development - Revas on the Waterfront was born - and the rest is history.

We went for a coffee after the trip on Friday afternoon.

 

And the coffee - art in a cup

Because I Can

On a Thursday I take two of the children to the gym and a couple of hours later bring one of them home (Martin picks up Fraser on the way to Sea Scouts). So I have a couple of hours in which to do my shopping or whatever else takes my fancy. Sometimes I take a book or crossword and sit and alternate between reading and watching the gymnasts practice. Sometimes I just fancy a coffee in the sun. Napier has a plethora of wonderful coffee shops. Almost all of which are closed by 5pm. In their defence many open at 0700 and before. But that does not help me when I want a coffee at 5.10pm.

So I go to the ubiquitous Starbucks. They remain open until 10pm. They serve good coffee. They are comfortable and generally have good toilets (a must in my book). Sometimes they even have friendly staff. On the minus side I absolutely do not like standing in queues to order and then to pick up my coffee. Especially as there is rarely enough room when they are busy. I'm not sure whether it's a minus or a plus that whether you go into a Starbucks in Toronto, San Francisco, Inverness or Napier you are guaranteed the 'comfort' of uniformity. You cannot even necessarily tell where you are from the accents of the staff because, in my experience in those particular cities, a local accent behind the counter is unlikely.

But, hey, I have my coffee there and do my crossword and sit and enjoy the sun... Because I can.

There's a New World Opened Here This Month

We have an abundance of large supermarkets in the area and can shop from 0600 until midnight in many of them. The suburb of Taradale used to have a moderately sized New World supermarket. A few weeks ago that closed and was replaced by a new one about a kilometre away. This is probably my nearest supermarket. It is certainly my favourite. It is light and airy, well laid out and just an overall pleasant place to shop. It also has a lovely coffee shop in the huge bay window. It is very tempting after a shop to stop for an extra 10 minutes with a coffee and a crossword.

India of Inchinnan

The morning after I stopped the night in Glasgow with John and Sue we went to the splendidly restored India of Inchinnan Grade A Listed Building for coffee. If you are ever in the area it really is worth calling in for coffee or lunch.

A Quiet Day

The heading would seem to imply that most of my days here are not quiet which is far from the truth. Croquet and Petanque could hardly be described as riotous passtimes, nor could cycling, visiting friends (the sort I have anyway) or any of the other things I do. All in all it's a busy life but a quiet one - generally speaking!

Today I had no commitments other than having the car serviced so I decided, as it was a beautiful but not too warm morning, I would go for a cycle. I would take the car to the garage just over 5 k away at Puketapu and cycle from there to Taradale via the Ototara Pa (about which I will blog one day) and back home. Only about 18k but exercise my heart would appreciate because of all the hills. It hasn't had too much challenging exercise since I came back to N Z. This afternoon I cycled to get the car so managed another few fairly good hill cycle climbs to exercise the heart some more.

Near the Pa is the Napier Golf Club. In its grounds adjacent to the road are two statues carved from solid trees which had had to be felled.
I had coffee and did a crossword at The Café Gecko (a lizard which will be the subject of yet another blog) in Taradale. I hadn't noticed it before. The service was very friendly and the coffee good so I'll be back.

Arrived home for lunch, finished my book sitting in the sun and then cycled for the car. On the way I saw a Skylark which I managed to photograph and heard yet another Yellowhammer which I didn't manage to see despite his obvious close proximity to me
and saw a baby Song Thrush whose Mum was nearby.

After I'd collected the car I went to Napier. This evening I started by watching the News: news that will donimate TVOne for the rest of the evening.

Esquires Coffee House

A few years ago Napier, like much of the rest of New Zealand, was not a place where coffee shops abounded. I'm not sure how many there are now but 'a lot' will certainly be an accurate assessment. From excellent privately owned one-off establishments to the inevitable Starbucks.
For the American there is nothing more comforting than turning up at the other end of the earth and pretending to be a tourist (their greatest aspiration) to find that McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks and Amex offer their services. None of this having to feast on the delights of local cuisine or read a menu (albeit that it might, as in New Zealand, actually be in a reasonably recognisable tongue). They can honestly say that they disembarked from their Cruise Liner, visited the City or Town Centre, ate in a local cafe/coffee house and having discovered that the local food was just like theirs and therefore civilised, re-embark and enter once more unto their search for new and exciting places in which to be a tourists again.

I added Amex even though it has absolutely nothing to do with restaurants or coffee shops because it is the one financial institution which, so far as I can tell, really does look after it's customers. Lose your card, leave home for 6 months just before your card runs out or forget to pay one month and incur a charge. A problem? Certainly not. You will have a card in your hand or your charge cancelled before you have had time to blink. I hate to say it but it's an American instution that can teach our Banks a very great deal about service.

Anyway I digressed. Many of the coffee shops in Napier have WiFi internet access for Laptops. I suppose because there are so many visitors and so many people here have relatives abroad Internet communication is even more a way of life than in the UK. Anyway Esquires (which is an international chain or franchise) offers free WiFi access if you buy something. I don't know how much business it generates for them but I should think it's a fairly significant amount. So I spend quite a lot of time there using the WiFi and drinking their excellent coffee.