We started with a movie about the earthquake, listening to elderly citizens describing their…read morepersonal stories to day of the earthquake & it's aftermath. We walked through an exhibit with a lot of photographs, artifacts, correspondences and first hand accounts. There were many mangled items and surprisingly many things that survived unscathed. We went upstairs to the Māori exhibit filled with art, history & cultural info. We saw a beautiful wood carvings, clothing & photographs. The stories of the native people here was interesting. I found beautiful gifts in the gift shop and reasonable prices. They boxed each up nicely for travel.

This was one of our favorite wineries that we visited while here in NZ. The grounds are beautiful…read moreand the tasting room was stunning. The inside has two bars on either side for wine tasting with a gift room in the corner, a beautiful entryway, and a sunken room with rustic wine barrels in the back. We were there first thing in the morning because when you're on vacation there's nothing as 'too early' for starting a good day of drinking wine. We were greeted by a lovely woman who poured for us and kept us company discussing the history of the wine and grapes of the region. She also was so friendly that she even got my rather reclusive husband bubbling about his job, our wedding, our cats and more. We enjoyed both the conversation and the wine we tasted. Our tasting fee was very reasonable and both of them were put towards the bottle of wine we bought. I also had been looking for a cheese board and found the neatest one here made from one of their wine barrels. Despite the difficulty of carrying it all the way back to the US I had to have it. They have a very nice variety of wines and we both felt that the tasting did a great job of sampling them. There was a great bubbly to start with and then a good sampling of their reds and whites. We really enjoyed the McDonald's reds. Overall this was one of our favorite wineries we visited. It had the beautiful grounds, the great service, and fantastic vino. A win win win!

We popped in to this place as a part of a private guided wine tour on the Hawkes Valley and it was…read moreone of four we tried throughout the day. During our visit at this impressive winery with a big modern tasting room and lush grounds we learned they were started in 1897 making th We were served by a newer employee who, while knowledgeable about the wines, still had work to do on her customer service demeanor. We tried 5 of their many wines: -sparkling Blanc du Noir-very yeasty with fairly large bubbles-ok -church road Hawke's Bay Rose -a surprising blend of 6 grape varieties - excellent -Tempranillo-very dry, boozy tasting-just ok -McDonald series marzemino -a unique red grape that is only grown here in NZ, very dry -Syrah -young, needs time to mature -cab Sauvignon-McDonald series-standard cab characteristics Bottom line for me, other than the Rose, nothing I would purchase for my cellar, but decent mid-market wines for everyday drinking as reasonable prices.

Great local museum. See the natural and local history of the Taupo region. Māori and settler…read moreartefacts and stories. Loved the quirky 1960's caravan and the huge trout caught in the lake. Attached to art gallery, tranquil health garden and beautiful rose garden next door. Well worth the time.