Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Napier - for beach bums and architecture buffs


Napier. Art deco capital of the world. 

I have to say, Napier has grown on me. At first I felt that it was a rundown tourist trap on it's last financial legs. But after having spent 2 afternoons there, I've realized the town has more to offer than pastel buildings and opportunity shops. 

First, a crash course on art deco. Think 1930's, geometric, symmetrical patterns, stucco, starbursts and columns.
 It's not just an architectural style, it's also a visual art and "expressed all the vigor and optimism of the roaring twenties plus the idealism and escapism of the grim thirties." (Details)

In 1931, the original town of Napier was leveled by an earthquake and then what little remained was burnt to the ground. Many died. 

Some obviously charismatic and optimistic chap convinced the city to rebuild almost entirely in the popular style of the time. And now, some 80 years later, the town tries to milk it for all it's worth. 



I hear the walking tour is very good, but I didn't take it, so you'll get my own version instead. 

Though the entire city has the art deco feel, they can't seem to fend off the incessant requirements of modern capitalism. 

Below - nothing says 1930's like stationary.


Or better yet, how about a strip mall?


Though time has taken it's toll, the town does have a nice pedestrianized main street with a few statues that will make you think "well now, isn't that nice."


Sadly, the town doesn't seem to have a lot of economic opportunities, so shops really get into the 1930's thing. Even the down town backpackers used an appropriate font.


But there was also a lot of empty retail space, and not a lot of real estate was selling. Generally, you wonder how they are getting by. The correct answer to that question is cruise ships. But my answer is Opportunity Shops. 

An opportunity shop is a thrift shop, second hand store, or the sally ann. And Napier has more than it's fair share. I quite like them, so I thought it was quite cool. And even the thrift stores get in on the 1930's thing.



And where else can you sell tourists on an appropriate hat with which to beat the heat and look a little like a 1930's movie star?


Yep. Napier. 




Cycling D'Vine

Today we hit the roads to visit some of the wineries of the hawkes bay region.

Of course, being consciences citizens, we didn't want to consume alcohol and drive so instead we decided to bike. Cycling the wine routes of this region is very common. There are hundreds of kms of limestone bike pathways that are safe from cars and appropriate even if perhaps you have over indulged a bit.



We rented a bike for SM from a bike shop in North Havelock. And from there we set out! Unfortunately we didn't plan our route very well.

Below is an ad for an upcoming wine cycle on Nov 4th. I can tell you that after our expedition we looked nothing like the two folks below. (Though perhaps "wheely glassy" would be an appropriate description.)


In one area we found three wineries, but to get to more It was about 18 km. Normally 18 kms isn't much, but after a few samplings it seemed like a long way. We did peddle on and visited three more wineries. At least the long cycle gave us time to digest.

Below are photos of a few of the wineries we visited. 

Black Barn. Kinda self explanatory.



Abbey Cellars. This isn't an old abbey of course, it's a purpose built winery made to look like an abbey, but quite nice though. 



Sileni. This is a very large facility, offering tours, a cafe, cheese tastings and olive oils in addition to a large selection of wine. SP found a bottle in just his size.



Sileni was also the official supplier of wine for the Auckland Triathlon. They have three different varietals each with a custom label celebrating NZ triathletes. Here we are getting a "triathletes in the store" pic with the wineries retail manager. Overall Sileni was a very nice visit.



Unfortunately I didn't get many photos of our favorite winery, Alpha Domus. It was probably the smallest one we visited. The wine was wonderful but just as importantly, they have a very cute dog. 



We managed ~ 50 km over 6 hours and 6 stops. It was a long day even for the triathletes on the light bikes, but SuperMom gets serious kudos cycling on a heavy rental bike. (And this is why we call her super.)


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gannets at Cape Kidnappers

It was a very cold grey windy day today, so taking bird pictures was a bit of a challenge. (Also, the tablet I'm posting these from is kinda small, so a few of these photos are fuzzy, but I didn't really notice until I'd uploaded them!)

For reference, Cape Kidnappers is home to nearly 10,000 some odd birds and every single one of them looks exactly the same. Gannets have about a 2 meter wing span, they are quite large - about the size of a small dog (or Milo the cat). The birds mate for life and are amazing fliers. They land directly beside there mates in this enormous colony. They are plunge divers, living on the shoreline and fishing for squid or schooling fish. I think some of these ones are fishing for compliments though.














Cape kidnappers is very pretty too. 



The peninsula is being turned into a sanctuary for native plants and birds. We took the tour with Cape Kidnapper Safaris and though it was a little pricey, having a warm bus and a good guide to explain the conservation efforts was worth it. (Thanks Adrian!) 



Monday, October 29, 2012

Mario Kart - it's real!


It's our last day in Rotorua. If ever you come here and are looking for an adrenaline rush, you should go try Mario Cart.



I guess because Nintendo has a copyright on the name, the folks in Rotoru call it a mountain luge, but the premise is the same. Picture from the website:




It's a lot like the video game, but of course, there are no free lives and you could easily do bodily harm. However, we thought it was a blast. (Not cheap, but then nothing here is.)

Don't mistake the smiling parents above though, i'm sure it causes heart attacks just as frequently as road rash.

In fact, if you're in need of toughening your kids up, this could be a great way to do that. Just stuff them in the sled and give it a kick. The sound of their screams will soon fade into the distance.


Above is the tracks and below is SP trying on the helmet of some unfortunate child who needed toughening up:


We didn't manage to get any pictures of us actually on the sleds (two hands requires for driving), but here we are on our way back up the mountain for a subsequent ride.

(That's PDA, not me holding on for dear life.)

Again, highly recommended, health insurance required. As for other Rotorua attractions:

1) The Saturday morning market was the best value for souvenirs.

2) We visited wai-o-tapu, it's a bit out of town, but has everything from large geysers to very smelly mud pools. We didn't go to any of the ones closer to town. Frankly, visiting one thermal park was enough.

3) Bike around the lake. This is a cycling friendly town both for road and mountain bikers. But the wind and pavement can be challenging.

4) Cook Hangi. SP cooked an awesome lamb stew last night using a giant geothermal oven. Where else can you do that?


Hangi. It's like crockpot, only the jokes are better.


Hey, SP, how's your hangi?


Tomorrow we're visiting the Gannets in Cape Kidnappers.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Rotorua - This house is not on fire (yet)

Let's build a rather large city on one of the most active volcanic zones in the world, literally, where the earth beneath your feet is boiling. 

We'll call it Rotorua. The houses look like this (those are geothermal vents of various types):

And then after some number of decades we'll realize that we can't really keep up with all the moving venting action, so we'll just give up. 


And those tourist that came to visit will burn their vibram emblazoned tootsies. (Seriously, that's boiling water and steam seeping through the street.)


But your missing out on the best part. The smell. Rotorua takes that sulfur rotten egg smell to a new level. 


The geothermal venting results in the ground caving in and pools to form. This one was onsite at our motel, the "cozy cottage". In case you didn't know what it was, they added a sign for you. 



Rotorua does have some neat things though. The Thursday night market had a great selection of food - the port wine and blue cheese meat pies were very tasty.


And I think having to live in a smelly volcanic zone gives people a bit of creativity. These pillow cases were awesome. 


Rotorua is also famous for zorbing. Though we didn't go zorbing, we did do something arguably more dangerous, more on that in tomorrow's post. 




Friday, October 26, 2012

Kitschy Cambridge, NZ

Cambridge NZ is as tacky as you can get. Depending on the guidebook you're reading, it might be described as an "affluent English village" or as a the "town of trees". Regardless of what you might read, the town is a bit of a snooze.

It's such a snooze that I'm a day late in this posting, having favored geesers over garish yesterday. Thankfully I've spared you from too many pictures.

The closest you get to an English feel are the faux Tudor facades on the otherwise boring architecture. Town council did name almost every street after a notable English author, one of the main streets of course, is Shakespeare.


The nicest building in town is the tiny museum. This used to be city hall, and is at most 2k sq ft. 


One of the other touted attractions in town are the thoroughbreds. I didn't actually see any, but I did take a pic of this lovely non-thoroughbred at the side of the road. 


The city does have some nice gardens.



But the only really redeeming quality to this town is the amazing gorge that runs through its center. Of course, its nothing like the river cam, but we'll forgive it for that.



And tomorrow we'll be back to Rotorua...