We visited Gisborne, New Zealand, for a short visit, with an all-aboard time of 2:30.   This was also a tender port which reduces your effective time ashore even more.

The rainy weather we experienced over the last few days was gone, and today was a beautiful summer day with temperatures in the mid-’70s.

The locals pronounce Gisborne –  “Giz-bern”  also Gizzy for short

Susan, from our table, arranged for a private wine tasting for our group with Wright Vineyards.   More about the Vineyard and Tour HERE and HERE.

Our tour didn’t start until 10 AM, so we didn’t have to rush off on the first tender, but we headed down at 8:30  AM to avoid rushing.   There wasn’t much of a wait for tenders, and we were soon on our way.    The tender took 20 minutes to get ashore.

Gisborne offered a free shuttle bus to the center of town, but it was only 1/2 mile away, and with such nice weather, many people chose to walk.

As usual, there were people selling tours on the pier.

There was also a vendor renting push (pedal) bikes and e-bikes.

Free maps were available from friendly people at an information kiosk.   We also ran into Beth, Tourist Ambassador, who was very friendly and provided interesting and useful information about the area.

Geoff Wright,  the owner of Wrights Family Winegrowers, arrived at 10 AM to start the tour.   Five of us from table 89 piled into his SUV and we were off for a brief city tour before heading out to his vineyard.

We stopped at Cooks Plaza, which has a nice overlook of the Harbor where we could watch piles of logs being loaded onto a ship headed for Hong Kong.   Several women were stretching together who didn’t seem bothered by the steady stream of tourists wandering around this scenic overlook.

The Holy Trinity Church was our next stop, where we saw a beautiful stained glass window.   Geoff had arranged a private tour, and this church is not normally open.

A little after 11 AM, we arrived at Wrights Vineyard, and Geoff showed us around his fields and described some of the challenges of running a small family winery.   Inside, he gave us a brief tour of the large room where the grapes are pressed, and the wine is created.

We sat down at some picnic tables where we enjoyed a spectacular cheese plate, and we sampled some of his wonderful wines, including the following:

• Sparkling Artist Series Blanc de Noir
• Pinot Gris
• Pinot Rose
• Pinot Noir

The wines were all delicious, and I bought two bottles of his Pinot Noir to bring back to the ship.

After about 90 minutes, we climbed back into Geoff’s SUV, and he dropped us off back in Gisborne.

We walked up and down the main streets. We spotted a large sculpture in the shape of a tauihu (canoe prow) called Te Tauihu Tūranga Whakamana, which articulates the relationship of Māori to the area of Tūranganui-a-Kiwa.on.

On Saturday, there is a Farmer’s market close to the shuttle stop.  We didn’t have time to check it out, but you can find out more HERE

Back on the ship, Cantare, a male quartet, performed their show titled “All In” including such hits as:

• Beach Boys -God Only Knows
• Abba – Mama Mia
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love
• Got to Get You Into My Life
• Jive Talkin

They were outstanding a very entertaining.

Tomorrow we will be in Wellington for our final port in New Zealand