Napier (25th Jan - 1st March)

We've been in Napier for quite some time now and I have only just got around to updating this thing so I can barely remember what I have been up to so hang in there with the garbage I will probably write!

We arrived in Napier to look for our backpackers which is an old prison, we didn't know what the heck to expect, its right at the top of a hill looking over onto the sea and the beach with a view of a water fall and a garden to the other side, good impression so far, then we arrived at the door, as you would expect if you were going into prison a big wooden bolted door! The lady and the bloke that own it are lovely and set us straight up in a very nice double room, trouble being it was on the corridor which they haven't converted and let people sleep in the cells to scare them to death, they also have plastic dummies in them so when you walk past them you run straight back out screaming, its so scary but I have become use to it now and think the place is fab. The rooms are great, as were in doubles we get good rooms but some rooms are old cells, it tells you over each room what it used to be, the kitchen is death row and the yard where you hang your washing is the hanging yard and so on. The prison also has alot of the old graffeti and graves which is always nice! There are always loads of people about, we have met another couple, Hayley and Phil and fella called seamus (what a funny bloke, if your in prison you wanna be stuck in there with that fella!) and then a lass that came along called Paula, another scouser they get every where. We will soon be doing a tour of the prison soon, they tell you about all the history and grusome stories but if I went on while I was staying there I wouldn't be able to sleep.

We spent the first few nights going out and looking around the place, we found a great resteraunt called  Lone star, the food is great and sooo cheap so every night we were out drinking and eating (this is now why i have to work!), you can get a 350g steak for 10 quid (Petes fave) and a bouble Jim beam and coke is just 2 quid its great.

We then started work, what a big mistake, we have been picking apples in this orchard and we hae to fill a bin (a missive bin mind) to get paid for that one bin. The fruit on this orchard is so bad and not even ripe so we couldn't pick the fruit to get the bins full we weren't even earning enough in a week to cover our 7 nights a week rent which is only 36 pounds, plus they kept calling work off so we naturally sacked it off and took a 5 day holiday doing what we do best, sitting on the beach or the spa pool and drinking on a night! We will be starting work with someone else on Monday though, he is a friend of the people who own the Backpackers and people work with him every year so it should be better!

The beach on the font is so nice but not too safe to swim in so if we take a 15 minute drive we get to ocean beach, the views on the way are amazing and vary from mountains, costal views and rivers in such a short space of time, the beach is beautiful and as soon as find a computer with a usb port I will put them on the net. Across the road aswell right along the beach is a spa, it has loadsa pools to just swim in, jaquzzis, hot pools, water massagers and saunas all out side, it costs 6 bucks to go in for the day which is about 2 pounds, this is a favorite spot of mine becasue you can sit in the jacuzzi and look out to sea!

Let me see what else, oh yeah, one day we headed into town and stumbled across this Marineland so for about 7 bucks each we headed in, it was full of dolphins, penguins, seals and sealions. It was so good, the dophin was 37 years (there only ment to live until 15!) so we watched a few shows with the dolphins and a cute baby seal. You can swim with the dolphin for 55 bucks so I will be doing that before I go (I am gonna try and swim with wild dolphins in the south islad but the sea scares me!).

I think the most bizzare day I have experienced here is the bank holiday day, the day was Waitangi day to celebrate the day the Moari's and the British signed a treaty to allow the British to help them, we thought great some traditional Moari dances etc' so we went along into Clive. We did see one traditional Maori dance and show on the Waka (i think thats how you spell it!) which was great becasue we got to go on it and row, its the only one in New Zealand you can go on. The rest was the more modern Moari way of living so we had to watch and listen to some very, very dodgy rappig and body popping! There were also pleny of gangs about that day and a very famous one (I wont mention the name) but I made no objections when one of 'em pushed infront of me in the ice cream queue to get a Mr whippy chocolate dipped flake cone! Although I was with this german girl who had come with us for the day and she proceded in saying ' have you seen all these stupid gangs, they think they are so hard and cool but really they look so stupid' this was while they were stood next to us, these guys mean business and was terrified the stupid women! There was also some rugby that day and the tribal dances they do at the start, it was very interesting.

I think thats all but I'm sure I will have more to update you on soon.

Bye for now

XX

We stayed in Napier for quire some time mainly becasue we found some very satisfying jobs fruit picking, really they were. We moved from our robbing employers to some other people who were really nice and paid us a heck of alot better and as an added bonus the bins we had to fill were smaller! We finally decided to leave when we picked all the fruit on our orchard and picked our way out of our jobs. Before we left though we decided to see some of the sights and walked along the coast edge between the sea and the mountains for two hours seeing some great views. We then hiked up the hill to be greeted by hundreds of Gannets, they absolutely stank and made a whole lot of noise but it was worth it. You could walk within feet of the birds and their chicks then as they flew in with their 2 metre wing span they would miss your head by inches.

We were lucky to be there when they had the Art Deco festival on (the city prides its self on the Art Deco buildings), for a few days people would dress up in the 50's gear and walk around the city even they were just popping to the shops, they drove around in their old 50's cars and the open air stage by the beach would hold performances it was like being in another world. We also took the prison tour on our last day, am I glad it was on the last day. They decided to tell me about the prisoners who are buried within the prison, standing up so their souls won't rest, why did I never notice the cemetry? We also found out that the prison only closed in 1993 and the prisoners would go into town on a night and come back after a good few bevies becasue the walls were only iron fences, I know the Kiwis are laid back but these people were killers!

On a bit of a rubbish day I ventured to the Aquarium to view the kiwi, also strange as they don't live anywhere near the sea. Crazy little things they are, there was one in particular which would shriek, jump, run and try and jump up walls when a bush or tree branch touched it, trouble was it's whole habitat was made up of trees and bushes, I don't think the poor thing got a minutes peace.

Lets see, what else did I do? Oh yes I went swimming with a dolphin, it was amazing, you could hardly believe how close to it you were. Me and Pete had a personal swim with her and she took great pleasure in swimming towards us then just as you reached out to touch her she would swim off really fast, then I'm sure she would laugh at the two of us trying to swim after her in our wet suit, snorkel and flipper get up. She took quite a liking to Pete aswel and threw out a couple of mating moves but Pete managed to resist that little hussy!