Again, I had a friend more than happy to host and show me around NZ. I met Rebecca while living in Lexington a couple years ago. We skiied the slopes of Indiana once upon at time. Since then she and her boyfriend have relocated to New Zealand to work for a couple years. She also went above and beyond to show me a good time in the Hawke's Bay area.
I arrived in Napier, NZ around 1:30pm via the Naked Bus. Since Rebecca had to work that day I introduced myself to Napier. Conveniently enough there was luggage storage for $1/4 hours right next door to the bus stop. Napier is known as the Art Deco Capital of the World and it lives up to its name. All of downtown has the Art Deco theme.
I walked up and down the beach and through town. A very unique thing about Napier is that the beach is not sand. It is smooth black rocks and pebbles. Very similar is look and feel to a worn river stone. That's the first time I have been to a beach like that.
In my wanderings I stumbled upon The Wine Center. The center carries wines from several different wineries in the area (Hawkes Bay is also known for the number of wineries). It also has a small museum dedicated to wine, an aroma room, and a tasting cinema! I thought what the heck! Ill do a wine tasting, try out the aroma room and hear a little history about the area. They first sent me through the aroma room which housed the scents of about 50 different aromas that can be found in white wines. I got to smell each and everyone of them. Next, I was put into the tasting cinema. Here there were 6 samples of white wine poured along with a sheet with the description of each. Then a film started that told a bit of history about the area and then visited each winery represented in my tasting selection. Fancy!
I also found Opossom World.
I searched out an internet cafe and logged onto the internet to get in contact with Rebecca and she came to pick me up! We dropped by the grocery and then headed to her and Kyle's place to meet with some of their work friends for a pizza making night. It was a fun cozy night in socializing with some new (American) folks.
The next day Rebecca and Kyle took me out to Cape Kidnappers. Its a huge plot of land that is still a working farm, a high end lodge, a world class golf course, a wildlife sanctuary, home to some stunning views and their employer. They had set me up with an ATV tour across the property. As they has already done the tour a couple times they took mountain bikes for a ride while I went adventuring. Lots of pics!!! The tour was amazing. We went up and down mountains, out to the beaches, to 2 different Gannet colonies and a Kaka aviary (endangered birds), and mudded through a creek bed at high speeds! So much fun!
Rebecca and Kyle also took me to the peak of a mountain just outside of town by their house.
That evening we met back up with their friends for a friendly game of Cricket. This too is a game in which I had to learn the rules in NZ. But definitely a fun way to finish out the day!
As I mentioned the Cape Kidnappers property is home to a wildlife sanctuary. The property itself has a predator proof fence and the sanctuary has another predator proof fence within the property fence. One of the big projects ongoing is rearing Petrel sea birds in an effort to re-introduce the species to the area. Rebecca and Kyle were able to land us volunteer positions for the day to help weigh, measure, and feed the 115 Petrel chicks being raised.
As a bonus to the volunteering we were able to see one of the Tuatara dinosaurs in the sanctuary as well. Ok, not exactly a dinosaur, but one of the worlds most closely related descendants to dinosaurs. It looked a bit like a tiny stegosaurus. OH! and we saw a dead (thankfully) Weta. Yet, ANOTHER strange creature found in NZ. Its a MASSIVE cricket like bug.
A double bonus was the view!
A great big huge thanks to Rebecca, Kyle, and all their friends for making Hawke's Bay awesome!
What I have learned:
There are some super strange creature and tons and tons of sheep in NZ.
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