Napier - Wellington

This is the Napier and Wellington part of my trip, basically the south part of the North Island. Need a map? Click on the word map to see NZ. Napier is the Art Deco city. Now I'm a big fan of Art Deco. So I was fairly psyched about seeing a city of Deco. Don't get me wrong - Napier is a nice little seaside town. It is lovely. However, it doesn't have as much Art Deco as I would thought - judging from the advert's I saw. I was expecting everything to be Art Deco! Maybe even the people. Still, there is a lot of Deco there, and it was fun walking around trying to find it all. But the most interesting part of Napier is the Kiwi house! It's a research facility that studies Kiwi's - the bird. Now Kiwi's are nocturnal, so the chances of seeing one in the wild are very slim. This is where the Kiwi house comes in. They have a closed environment that is opposite to the norm, day is night and vice verse. So this is a great opportunity to see a live Kiwi!! It was fun. Strange little birds. Click on brochure for Napier's official web page. Nice site, lots of info.

This is the flyer that got me going towards Napier

Here's one of the main avenues in Napier. It's very early in the morning. No one's up and around yet. I probably shouldn't be either! But early morning is the best time to explore a new city.

This is Cape Kidnappers. Named by Captain Cook or his crew. It seems the Maori kidnapped someone here, thus the name! How cool is that, gotta love history.

This is a self-portrait!! The little guy was looking for part of my breakfast. I left him some bread. I love eating my breakfast in parks early in the morning. The little critters seem to like it too

This is Pania of the Reef. A Maori equivalent to Copenhagen's Little Mermaid. I forget the whole story.Hopefully her head doesn't go missing as often as TLM!

A view of Napier and Cape Kidnapper. It looks very Mediterranean. The climate is supposed to be very similar as well. I will say that it was very warm there, in the winter. Just a few hundred miles west it snowed like crazy only a few weeks later.

Wellington harbor! That's the South Island in the distance. Ah, there's snow in the air.

Wellington harbor and city

The harbor at dusk, looking to S Island

This is a photo of the city of Wellington. It's the last stop possible on the North Island. The harbor is really great. A hike into the hills surrounding the city is something. The view was terrific.