Blogs from Napier, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

As usual we set off early and without breakfast in order to make a good start with the driving. The trip up to Paihia was due to take about 3.5 hours, but Nick had given us a number of suggestion of places to stop on the way. We first stopped at the historic village of Puhoi, which was founded by Bohemians in 1863. There we found a delightful little tea room in Puhoi Cottage where the owner made us very welcome and explained the history of the place. He specialised in cream teas, so even thought it was breakfast time, a number of had a huge scone, strawberry jam and thick cream. Pressing on we next stopped at a Dutch Cheese Shop “the last cheese shop for miles”! The shop was stuffed with all sorts of ... read more

STILL HERE!!! lol... I'm sick of the sight of fruit!! Well.... Actually, it's not so bad. It's kind of become like a little community. Everyone is in the same boat, so we're all trying to save money to move on. The weather has been really good, and most evenings we get together for a bbq and a few beers. I'm really enjoying it. Most of the time it doesn't feel like work. ... read more

Nos narines ayant fait le plein d’odeur d’œufs pourris durant presqu’une semaine, nous quittons la sulfureuse Rotorua pour la côte EST. Les œufs au petit déjeuner vont vite être remplacés par des toasts et du miel ! L’excellente route, le soleil de plomb et les merveilleux paysages traversés font de cette journée « trace » un vrai bonheur. Les roches volcaniques et denses forêts laissent peu à peu place à de verts pâturages, puis à de très belles plaines et collines légèrement arides, signe que ça tape par ici ! Nous entrons donc dans l’Hawke’s Bay, région réputée pour son terroir d’exception ! En tant que fidèles adeptes des produits du terroir valaisan, cette escale est naturellement un passage obligé et également l’occasion de changer d’odeur. Napier : ville de l’Art Déco Notre point de chute ... read more

I've settled comfortably in to YHA Napier, as I did into Tailor-Made Tekapo and YHA Te Anau and the Kiwi's Nest. I still have moments of acute distress when I think ahead to Rotorua and Gisborne, but overall I'm a lot calmer. I really like this YHA; it's been quiet well before midnight, and the staff is friendly. They've also, as I found this morning, got a really great laundry room. I've said so much about laundry disasters in this blog that I think I ought to mention that YHA Napier's washers and dryers are clean, fully functional, and effective. I breezed through my wash with no trouble at all. When the laundry was finished, I went out for a walk along the path beside the beach. (Walking on the beach itself is not practical; it ... read more

It was exhausting but simple to drag my luggage the four or five blocks to the Criterion. My first impression was cautiously favorable. It was certainly a lovely old building, right in the Art Deco district of Napier. The lounge was decorated in that style, as were the bathrooms. And the manager was kind enough to carry my bags upstairs for me. My bed was hard, but my room was rather nice, with a washbasin and a lovely small-paned window with a pretty view of the art-deco district. It looked out over a pedestrian mall, so for once automobile traffic was not a problem. I thought, hesitantly, that I might be happy here once I had settled down a bit. I went shopping; the supermarket was closer than I'd feared, too. Things began to go downhill ... read more