Blogs from Napier, East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

Updated 19 MAR 07 USB Problem fixed. New Updated entry following: Checked out of Novotel. :- ( Sad face for this was a lovely Hotel. 5 star and worth it. We breakfasted at a place called Relish also on Tutanekai Street, Wendy had a wonderful meal of poached eggs on herded mash with hollandaise sauce and smoked salmon, while I had roasted field mushrooms, shaved parmesan and rocket. These meals could have been served in any really good café in Melbourne for the quality of cuisine and presentation offered here. Well done to them. Then we headed off to Napier, the Art Deco capital of NZ. We took Motorway 2 south out of Rotorua down to Taupo on the most massive lake in NZ. We stopped there and bought a few CDs. Why you ask. ... read more

The East Cape is the Eastern most spot on the mainland New Zealand's and after various stops along the way to take more picture of the amazing coast line, we arrived at the Eastender Backpackers in the early afternoon. We were greeted by Rich, the one-armed Maori who runs the backpacker with his wife, and who is the proud owner of 24 beautiful horses. (btw, he lost his arm in a shark attack!!!) After a short introduction into horsemanship, we set out to ride along the beach, through the crashing waves, (which was just simply amazing,... imagine a beach, for miles not a single other person in sight, a bit of driftwood, waves splashing and crashing, and then you on a horse... a dream, really) after about 20 min of riding along the water, we turned ... read more

Nicki and graeme went back to Auckland to say bye to Nic yesterday. I went on a walk with some girls from the hosteland then we went to the beach as the weather has finally got hotter!... read more

I have been on the road, moving from hostel to hostel, now for five weeks and I’m getting grumpy. I didn’t really enjoy Napier that much, which is a pity because it’s a very pretty city filled with pastel hued Art-Deco buildings. There are so many of these “style-moderne” structures that Napier could be called the Art-Deco capitol of the world (though Miami also claims this crown). This was all down to the big quake in ’31 which at 7.9 on the Richter scale and lasting over two minutes, destroyed the town centre in conjunction with the fires that broke out immediately afterwards. The regeneration started immediately and was almost wholeheartedly constructed in the then popular Art-Deco style: all ziggurats, lightening bolts and sunbeams. It all makes for a beautiful city but somehow it didn’t lift ... read more

Now back in Napier on my way to first tramp..... Please don't allow me to go to an auction on my own again! Although it probably would be easier a second time..... For a start the independent mechanical checks were not available as they'd closed for the Christmas break (uuntil an 9th!!) - I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised after Mum, Dad and I drove around Wellington trying to find a restuarant open on Tue evening - after 10 attempts we finally found one. So, back to the auction - meant I had less info than I would have liked. That peturbed me, tried to get help from sales assistants, one of whom did try is best, also said he would help me bid (unfortunately he was busy at the time).Now, I have got ... read more