After our huge night out at Hobbiton, we really needed the
next sea day to recover. It was good to relax and take the day as it came. We
listened to our favorite speaker, Ken Rees, talk about the next ports on our
schedule throughout New Zealand. He had to squeeze them all in at once since this
would be the only sea day for a while.
It was Academy Awards day and we got to watch them in the
afternoon instead of the late hour we normally would have at home. Our evening
show highlighted movies of the past and ended our day with the anticipation of
one of our favorite ports in the morning, Napier.
Napier is a town that suffered a devastating earthquake in
1931 that literally leveled the whole place. Perhaps leveled isn’t a good
description since the way the fault line shifted the earth actually rose seven
feet and created 9,000 new acres of dry land. When the rebuilding was planned,
the committee decided to do it in an art deco style that was popular in Europe
in the 1920s. What resulted was a unique town with a passion for the style of
the 20s and 30s.
Vintage cars lined the dock as we came down the gangway.
We’d been to Napier just a little over a year ago but by car not by ship and
not during the summer season when all the activities were in full swing for the
tourists.
We took an early morning walk and looked to see if the
dolphins were in. The last time we’d walked here we had watched them in an
early morning feeding swimming back and forth near the beach. We passed the
yellow bed and breakfast where we’d stayed and noticed the no vacancy sign. “Someone
is sleeping in our room,” my husband said with a sigh.
We continued on and found one of those sculptures that makes
you ask, “What is it?” My app for walking was talking to me so we thought it
best to turn around before we ventured so far we’d need a taxi ride back.
Coffee sounded good and we headed for the little coffee shop
on the corner of the square where we’d stopped before. Nostalgia was strong,
the coffee almost as strong. Who knew though that we would be in time for all
the end of summer sales? The prices here were so much better than in Auckland.
There was even a department store where we finally found pants that Bob
liked—as close to Dockers as you could get. And I managed to find a top and a
necklace. Me, a shopper? What is the world coming to?
It was a great day and I didn’t take my camera on purpose
(the few pictures I took are from my iPhone). Some days are just made to enjoy
and remember without the bother of a camera. If you’d like to see more of Napier,
check out my blog post from our last visit in 2013. It’s still as beautiful and the gannets are still there.
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