Napier

On our arrival in Napier we were met by the hostel owner. It was a good sign when i saw that the back of the van was full of paintings. It turned out that he owned a gallery/wine bar next door to the hostel. The hostel itself was a massive rambling old hotel, and when the owner described it as 'a doss house' we thought "what have we let ourselves in for". As it turned out the place was quite nice. To be fair it needed a lick of paint, and because the ceilings we so high and it was massive it was a tad cold. But the kitchen and lounge was cosy (sky tv), there was a roof top dining patio area just over looking the sea in the far distance, and the mother of all greatness; Hells Pizza Place ( a NZ gormet pizza joint). Then the cherubs came down from heaven and serenaded us with sweet violins whilst the sun warmed our shining happy faces. Seriously tho we were so looking foward to the Hells Pizza, it was fate, destiny telling us it was time for us to sample the edible delights. More on that later tho.

After dumping our bags, we left the hostel to investigate. The sun was shining so we were to make the most of it. We walked towards the seafront where we came across a beautiful fountain and gardens. From there we mooched right onto the beach and walked along the shoreline. In stark contrsat to the gardens the beach is not so lovely. I mean it was ok as beaches go. It was made of lots of grey pebbles, and looked so dark with the murky sea lapping at the steep shoreline. Some dog owner also thought it would be a great idea to take their dog for a nice scenic walk, every day for a year, in the same one meter square area, for a crap. After all the excitement and feeling right back at home, we decided to seek some joy by walking along the gardens and on to the information centre and plan more exciting adventures. Walking through the gardens, the Art Deco arcitecture that Napier is so well known for became apparent. We decided that tomorrow we would do an Art Deco Tour. Ww walked through the town back to the hostel and were very glad to see they had an array of coffee shops, Supre and Glassons (like Topshop and New Look) great for xmas shopping!!

Art Deco Tour ( under our own steam)

Here are the options; you either pay $12 for a guided tour with a bunch of other pratish tourists, taking pictures of others body parts in all your snapshots as they are all too tall, pushy and selfish, OR you pay $4 for a booklet and do it yourself, hassle free, stress free and with crowd free photographs. We did the latter and what was ment to be a hour and half walk, took us four. And we only stopped for a quich lunch, no pub, nothing. We were exausted, i cannot begin to emphasise the fact that doing not much really is hard work. 

Anyway the tour itself consisted of walking throught the town looking at the architecture on all public buildings. It was a very modern town for its time because the town was destroyed by an eartquake in 1931. By early 1933 the whole town had been rebuilt in a modern Art Dec style. This is a decorative style which came about  after a Paris exhibition highlighthing the dawning of a new era-  the introduction of science, technology and the machine to modern society. The resulting architecture is very cutting edge; geometric, patterns, bold shapes and symbols of power and speed. The whole town is filled with these intersting buildings. Look above an ordinary shop front and you will find an elaborate top storey. Each building is very different as you will see in the pictures. Some are spanish looking, many are painted in pastel colours, some have intersting leaded glass pannels, motifs, egyptian and maori patterns. We took so long looking at the buildings and photographing we didnt know where the time went!!

The tour also took us alsong the sea front and into the Marine Parade Gardens. The gardens are so long and are built on the old beach. When the earthquake happened the war water receeded permanentlywhich resulted in a much bigger beach. The rubble from the quake was then put on the top part of the beach and the gardens built over it. To the far left of the gardens is a clock made of planted flower beds. Then as you make your way down the lawns you come across the Tom Parker Fountain. It is painted a bright blue and white and really is quite stunning. It was made to be illuminated at night, and given as a donation to the people of Napier as a finishing peice to their modern city. Right next to it is a bronze statue of Pania, a lady from Maori ledgends. She was lured into the sea by the voices of the sea-people, and when she tryed to return to the land she was transformed into the Pania reef -just off the coast. From the statue we walked on down the gardens to where all the architecture is. There is a concrete square, at the far end of which is the sound shell. This is basically a stage set, which was used to amplify sounds whilst performing to the crowds. On one side of that is a wall of arches, decorated in a similar art deco style. On the opposte side of that, facing the sea is the Veronica Sunbay. This is a small garden and seating area made to commerate HMS Veronica, whose sailors helped the people of Napier after the quake. The ships bell used to be hung in the bay but is now only used on commerative occassions such as ringing in the new year. The gardens are sunning as whole and a lovely place to chill out. The view from one end to another over the lawns and out across the bay is lovely.      

We then continued our walk in town...On the way round we saw a lovely little french looking coffee shop with a checked floor (like from alice in wonderland) and we just had to go in and chill out with a cuppa after our long day. The cafe was at the back of this lovely little boutique shop,wjer we sat out in the courtyard. The menu was written on a big orate mirror in lipstick. The cappachino and sweet was just great. Felt like real posh ladies of leisure but looked like tramps. Oh well.

Hells Pizza

Tonight was the night. Armed with a menu and attitude we ordered up or gourmet pizzas;UNDERWORLD - onions, garlic, smoked mussels, calamari, shrimps, lemon pepper and toms, LIMBO- blue cheese, mushrooms, olives, bacon, toms and onion, and side of sweet corn nuggets. We waited in what looked like a goths fancy dress parlour/ bondage place and then headed eagerly up to the counter to collect our long awaited food. We just managed to reach the roof terrace without eating all the food. There we feasted like king and drank wine and generally felt good. This pizza was no junk. I must make a point. IT IS GOURMET, that means no dog food to you and me, and we will def have it again.

We then retired to the lounge where we slobbed out and watched sky movies. Step Mom starring Julia Roberts was great and then we watched The GOURGEOUSNESS that is Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett. It was fantastic. We just got to the good bit (where one guy dies and his best mate sleeps with his bird, then it turns out the dead guy is not dead afterall), when this TO BE CONTINUED... sign pops up. Ok, so they stop for the news i think. Oh no, not here. No, the kiwis think it is a goo idea to show have a film one night and the other half the next. What moron would do that. I mean i was beside myself with rage, shouting at the tv, asking what was wrong with these people?? Can anyone tell me?? So  we went to bed with a full stomach and holding a grudge against the NZ TV schedulers. Well they had to get summat wrong over here!! 

National Aquarium Of NZ

When we walked along the sea front the flollowing day in the pouring rain, the size of the aquarium shocked me. Id say it was the size of the community centre. And this place is ment ot be the national aquarium! God help us. Unfortunatly it had a lot to live up to as i have spent a lot of time on projects in the Plymouth one, and that is amazing. I tryed to leave the negative thought behind at the door. 

The first things we saw were pirahanas and amazon fish. There were some really odd looking things. There were dispalys on koi carp (pests here) and oriental fish. We saw eels which are from nz, a croc, and some tropical fish. There was also turtles, a giant turtle which was about my size and the Tuatara, an iguana type creature only found in nz. We could only see this on blurry black and white camera, hid in its burrow. We did get to see kiwis in the dark house rooting round for food. We enjoyed the quite and watched the animals bumbling around in the dark. They are so wierd looking. They are basically a small head, massive bum and chicken legs with long beak. Then a bunch of loud and selfish auzzies came and make loads of noise and scared the birds off, despite the signs saying "shut the hell up". The last exhibit was a big walk through tank, where you travel along a convayor belt (very fun) and through a tube under the tank. It was not amazing but we saw a shark and massive lobsters and feeding time. What i didnt get about the place, is whey when you have some of the most amazing fish and dive sights in the world, do you then show us introduced creatures more than the ones here. 

In my opinion if you are feeling a bit jealous of us right now, dont be. Go the Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and see exactly what you have on you doorstep.

Whilst back in town we sat down and had a cappachino and sweet each (possibly addicted to the life of leisure) and watched the rain and people go by outside. We made the most of the bad weather that eve and sat being cosy back at the hostel watching films ( Forgotten thriller, i screamed loudly, and some other winona ryder & rich geere film). We managed to hoik ourselves out of our chairs to go and have look at the fountain at night. The lights shine through and colour the jets of water, changing and revealing a blue light in the water below. It was stunning. The lights around the city at night were lovely and bright, but passing all the bars they all looked as if they only had a few people in each. We headed back to the hostel and hit the sack.

Napier Museum

When you see the museum and adjoing cinema from the sea front it is really modern. There is a wicked coregated iron sculpture of King Kong holding a ice cream, just peeping over the top of the building. From behind it is the origional Art deco exterior and interior. Inside there were several displays on Maori culture, Black Dress & White vase ( odd, but exactly what is says), art deco, suitcases ana bags, dinosours, and the best bit the Earthquake. I listened to some recordings of peoples experiences of the quake and found some tales to be quite intersting. One guy recollected when he was a young boy and the quake happened; when the sea went out, it never came back in, and it left lots of crayfish exposed on the new beach. I went and collected as many as i could. Another lady told us of how when she worked in an opticians at the time, and they had lots of glass eyes stored in boxes on the shelves. When the quake came all the boxed spilled and the floor was covered in these glass eye-balls. Now that seems like a very humerous picture to me!

We then had to catch the Bus to Palmerston North where we were staying for the next night.

Palmerston North

This is basically a student city, drinking and shopping high on the agenda. We decided to stop here as the trip south was one hell of a long way and we had to do xmas shopping. The hostel was one hell of a walk from town, and we arrived crippled. it was lovely tho, really homely with only a few people there. We cooked a stunning tea of honey and ginger crumbed chicken and veg. Lush. We then wanted to watch a video so we went and sat in the lounge with this old guy. We asked him where the video list was ( we had just had it earlier and put it back) but he didnt know. So we chatted to him for a bit and searched high and low for the damn thing. Eventually he said 'you are warm'. We just looked at each other and thought what?? Then he said it again. I thought he didnt know where it was!! Turns out he had hid it underneath the sofa. We said you must have hid it but he said 'i could see it'. What an odd man. He was funny tho, and we decided he hates all the travellers deciding what to watch on the tv (hes living ther at the mo) so he hid it. He then thought we were nice girls so told us where it was. Nutter. We sat down with him and some aussie girls (rude like us ) and watched some films. Blokey kept telling us about all these films he had seen, i guess he was a cinema addict. It turns out he he had been sailing round auz for an few years and wrecked his boat on rocks. He now never wants to go on a boat again, and in his spare time hides the video list and watches girly films. We do seem to meet some funny people- mind you i bet some people say the same about us! The next day we split up and went shopping in town (lovely mall), walked miles to a closed internet cafe and had the crappest toasted sarnie ever. We started to feel xmassy as there were crowds around doing last minute shopping. It was nice for somewher to be busy for a change. We then caught the bus to Wellington...