Napier -East coast

We finally got over to the east side since our September trampings. We discovered a funny town called Norsewood on the way to Napier. It had vikings and trolls everywhere. We felt at home! It was settled by Norwegians in the 1800's. In 1888 a bush fire razed the town, where the church burned down but the pub was saved. The Norwegian Government celebrated Norsewood's centenary by sending a fishing boat over called Bindalsfareing.

Cary bought some wool socks from a store called Norsewear. They are supposed to be as tough as a pig's snout. After a picnic lunch we went on to Napier.

This is Hawke's Bay largest port city. This city was flattened in a 7.9  earthquake in 1931. It had over 600 aftershocks in the two weeks that followed the devastating event. They rebuilt the city in what is now known to be the world's finest collection of Art Deco buildings. Telephone lines were run underground, verandas were cantilevered, streets were widened and almost everything was styled in Art Deco.

It was quite Christmassy in Napier.

The town also had a statue called Pania of the Reef.

She has a similar history to Copenhagen's Little Mermaid, in that she was stolen then returned in 2005.

Maori legend states that Pania, a sea-maiden, would swim into shore to drink from the freshwater spring at the base of Bluff Hill, then swim back to the ocean in the morning. A young chief waited for her one evening and convinced her they should marry. So Pania went back to the sea to say good-bye to her family, but they wouldn't let her go and she turned to stone. Fishers and divers say, when they go out to Pania Reef, they can still see her with her arms outstretched towards the shore.

The Hawke's Bay region is known for it's production of grapes for wine, apricots and cherries, apples and pears, chocolates and honey. We didn't get to a winery this time but we did visit the Arataki Honey Farm. It is delicious!

We drove up to the top of Bluff Hill Lookout. You could see the coastline winding it's way towards Gisborne , to the north, and looking south one could see Cape Kidnappers peninsula. This cape is known for its' 5000 pairs of Gannets. They are the world's largest gathering from June - Nov. They are related to the Booby family. In late November they fly 3000 Km to Australia where they spend two years doing whatever gannets do. Then they return to New Zealand for the rest of their lives.

Cape Kidnapper was named after James Cook had anchored here and had an unfortunate encounter with Maori traders. They spied two of Cook's Tahitian interpreters aboard the Endeavour, and captured one of them thinking they were being held against their wishes. I'm not sure about this reasoning. According to history Maori's were cannibals so I'm thinking he just looked tasty. Anyway, he escaped and got back to the ship.

We drove by Napier's Sailing Club and then headed south along the beach to find a camping spot. Certain areas have freedom camping. We found one on this pebble beach and you just stake out a spot and it's all good. The waves were crashing all night and they lulled us to sleep. The next morning I found Cary reading a book about Woodstock that he got from the library. Say no more!

On our way home we drove 35 minutes off the highway to go to Te Angiangi Marine Reserve. We snorkelled and saw Paua shells, little grey fish with a black spot on it's side and other fish I wish I knew their names. It was quite nice because there were families enjoying the beach and the beautiful sunshine. It was a great ending to a great weekend.

Thanks for reading!