final part of Napier trip

Our little trip had an interesting last night. We had been out wandering around all day and it was getting dark when we started back to our room. We decided to have a leisurely fish and chips dinner from the park's restaurant, which was across the road from our room, adjacent to the conference room. That way, we could settle in early for our drive home the following day.

Since Kennedy Park is on a quiet side street, we were surprised to see a police car backed into one of the visitor's spaces just outside the gate. Hmmm. We turned into the entrance and it got spookier. There was a BIG guy with a bullet-proof vest standing at the automatic gate, looking inside each car that entered. We decided that somebody had to have been attacked by a gang or something!

As we crept along, we saw an ambulance backed into a parking space and lots of people walking around in uniforms. What was going on???

We looked down the street where we should turn to get to our room and it was filled with vested police wandering about talking to each other and, apparently, people who worked there. So we drove down to the next street and saw that the conference room entrance was also covered by official-looking people. Weird.

Since the restaurant was connected to the conference room, we concluded that fish and chips from there was probably not an option, so we went into the room to get a cup of coffee and make other plans, all the while very curious about the hub-bub outside.

Hubby decided that we were out of milk for our coffee so he could go to the office and ask what was happening. He got the milk but the receptionist wouldn't tell him anything. So he decided to see what the internet had to say (he's clever like that!) and paid $1 for 7 minutes of internet. Yes, you read that right, a dollar for seven minutes on the internet! [Note to self: buy laptop for next trip!]

He found out that the Israeli ambassador was making a speech there. Of course, since the city owned the recreational park, it made perfect sense that it was the venue for a visiting dignitary, but it certainly interrupted our dinner plans!

We went back to town and got fish and chips from a take-away place and headed back to the room. Apparently, the police and the ambulance were not necessary for the night and we headed out the next morning from the quiet of an off-season holiday park.

part 2 of our road trip to Napier

When we travel, we consider accommodations just a place to rest. We don't have to have anything fancy, but then, we don't camp, either, so something in the middle suits us quite well. In Napier, we stayed at Kennedy Park. It's a huge place that has all sorts of accommodations. They have camping spaces, spaces for campers, motel rooms, self-contained units--anything you could want--with swimming pools and play spaces for the kids, a restaurant and a conference room and other stuff and still a nicely-kept and quiet spot to stay. It is owned by the district council and does quite a business all year round.

The first night, we were both asleep early and up early the next morning. After a stroll on the beach, we went to the Napier Aquarium. We watched the little blue penguins being fed then wandered around the exhibits of koi, seahorses, some reptiles and turtles, alligators, eels, and other things. They have a glass tunnel where you can see sharks and eels and other fish swim overhead. Then we watched a diver feed the fish in the big tank. The diver played to the kids at the front but kept the adults' attention, too.

Even on 'aquarium'  setting, my photos didn't come out too well, but here are a few I took.

After the aquarium, we found this wonderful bakery to have some breakfast. I had never heard of this chain of bakeries--but then, I live in Taranaki where there isn't much of anything except cow paddocks, but I digress. They had so many choices from sandwiches to cakes to custard squares. If you get a chance to visit Heaven's Bakery, by all means, do!

part 1 of our road trip to Napier

I think I prefer short trips of a couple of days better than a week-long vacation holiday most of the time. Hubby is awesome at planning the basics of our trips. He makes sure we get there on time and have a place to sleep. And he always has some places to visit up his sleeve along with some alternatives in case of bad weather. He's a good planner :)

Since it's winter here in our hemisphere, things are a bit slower than usual and that's fine with us, since we don't like to deal with crowds or lots of traffic. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to see!

We stopped at Owlcatraz Bird and Wildlife Park in Shannon on our way to Napier. There wasn't much going on but we were greeted by Joey who is 17 years old. He took quite a shine to Hubby!

We also got to see 6 of our only native owls--called Ruru in Maori and generally called Moreporks because somebody said that's what their call sounded like they were saying.  These are their names. They are 3 pairs of owls that mate for life.

After seeing the captive birds in their enclosure, the owner told us that a wild ruru had been hanging around and she found it sleeping in a tree! Hubby took some great photos of him/her and I will post them on my photoblog sometime soon.

More to come....


Click here if you want to find out more about rurus. 

The last leg of our holiday

 The last morning of our trip, the kids got to go fishing one last time. We dropped Hubby's Mum off at the train station to visit her sister in Christchurch and we headed to the ferry terminal. Hubby took these photos while I napped.

I enjoyed watching the rainbows in the splatters of water outside my window.

And then we were on our way home. It was a long day and we'd be home late, so we figured the kids would listen to their ipods and maybe nap before we got home. We were wrong. So wrong. 

Hubby and I put in a compilation CD he had made for our wedding and we began to quietly (at first) just relax in the front seat and enjoy the drive as the sun set. But when familiar songs came around the kids perked up in the back seat and started singing along.  So we sang. Loud! We rolled the windows down and sang at the top of our lungs for about 2 hours, replaying the 'favorites' over and over and over!

It was a fabulous way to end a great holiday. And it certainly wasn't like anything I'd ever done with my parents! That was one for the record books!

various photos from our holiday

We rented a 'cabin' (it was an actual house that was as big as ours back home!) for 5 days that had this fella and one of his siblings (or him again) inside every day!

This kid was just happily digging his little heart out on the beach. When I inquired as to his intentions, he just shrugged and said, 'I'm just digging.'

The flax growing beside the outside terrace of the coffee shop had been braided and woven.

I have a 'thing' for clouds.

It was icky, but I held the starfish Hubby scooped from the ocean and plopped into my hand upside down as the kids were fishing. Holding it wasn't so bad, but watching all those tiny tentacles wiggling around on his underside was the icky part.

Farewell Spit

Click map for larger view to follow our virtual holiday tour.

 Farewell Spit is a scenic reserve and bird sanctuary. The only way to get to the end to see this lighthouse, without a special permit, is by tour bus.

A Maori carving is erected there.

Even though the spit is mostly shifting sands that are very dangerous to boats and animals (it's where most of  the whale beachings occur) there is a wetland in the middle with marsh plants and animals.

The sands are forever blown around by the wind, making ghostly shodows.

These are tiny sand images made by the wind.

I learned that it is illegal to get within 20 meters of a fur seal in NZ. We saw this one as we crossed the water from a 'pan' (a lagoon that fills with the tide then drains as the tide recedes). I can't imagine how far down the wet sand went, so it was a good thing the guide knew where he was driving.

The whole family enjoyed the tour and the tour guide was very knowledgeable and fun.  I have posted a few more photos on my photoblog. Click here.

Pupu Springs

Click map for larger view to follow our virtual holiday tour.

Waikoropupu Springs is the clearest water I have ever seen. It's of significance to the Maori people with the following legend:

 Waikoropupu is the legendary home of the female taniwha, Huriawa, one of the three main taniwha of Aotearoa. She is a diver of land and sea, travelling deep beneath the earth to clear blocked waterways. She is brave and wise and believed to still rest in the waters of Waikoropupu, when she is not away attending to business.

Touch the Sea, Mapua

Click on the map for larger view to follow our virtual holiday tour.

Touch the Sea in Mapua  was a lot of fun for everybody. You can touch many of the creatures of the sea, including a huge manta ray, huge eels, baby sharks, many fish, starfish, anemones.

These baby rays were more interested in peeking at us than being touched, but they did venture up occasionally.

There were also displays that you couldn't touch, like this octopus...

and these flounders.

The restroom was appropriately decorated, too!

This is a great place to take the family if you are in the area. 

Great holiday, as usual!

We had a really great holiday, as we always do. Hubby is the best planner in New Zealand and we were all amazed at the great things and places he found.


Hubby's Mum (HM) came in from England and we picked her up at the airport in New Plymouth on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning, we were heading out to Wellington with a slight detour to Palmerston North so HM could catch up with some friends. While they were having lunch, we took the kids go-carting.

Then we were off to Wellington for a quick meal, a stroll along the beach.

Hubby found a great motel that had two bedrooms upstairs. We were all glad for the rest, but we had started this joke from a comedian we saw on tv. Apparently, it was a tradition in her family to do a silly take-off of OilCan Harry (if you don't remember it, you can google him). It went something like this:


"Pay the rent."
"But, I can't pay the rent."
"Pay the rent."
"But, I can't pay the rent."


Then the hero shows up:
"I'll pay the rent."
"My hero!"
"Curses, foiled again!"


Well, our crew wasn't about to waste this silliness and we did the sketch at every opportunity, all giggling ourselves silly each time. 


Finally, it was bedtime and when we wanted the kids to settle down, we chided up the stairs, "Go to sleep." 


We should have known better because the next thing we heard was a squeaky, "But, I can't go to sleep." And we all giggled from being tired all over again for another 20 minutes. A great start to the holiday!


The next morning we were off to the ferry for a trip across the Cook Strait. 

And our holiday was on it's way to other wonderful things to see and do in the South Island. 


Sadly, cameras (no matter how good they are suppose to be) don't come close to capturing the real beauty of our trip, but we will cheerfully settle for the reminders our cameras provide. We have about 850 shots from this trip and it's hard to decide what to share with you. I will be taking you on a virtual tour on this blog and posting favorite shots on my other blog. So feel free to check out both blogs.

Glenbrook Vintage Railway (holiday part9)

I'm sure you know by now that we are train enthusiasts. Not as enthusiastic as these great folks at Glenbrook Vintage Railway, but we do enjoy trains. The ride on the train takes you to their workshop where they are restoring other cars and engines.

This conductor  guard could talk trains all day long! Apparently, there are plans to extend the rails.

I didn't expect to find seating like this for our ride.

The authentic costumes were such a wonderful touch!

If you are in the Auckland area, be sure to stop by and have a ride!