Napier

The babes in this photo, Julia, Jane, Margaret and Sheila are looking over the Port of Napier out into the South Pacific. It sure is a beautiful colour compared to the North Atlantic.

Napier is the Art Deco capital of NZ and what a great city. The architecture is mainly Art Deco and this came about after an earthquake in 1931. the whole city was devastated and when the city fathers decided to rebuild they did so in the Modernistic style. It is world-class and a pleasure to visit. I have taken some photos but really couldn't do justice to the place. This one is of the ampitheatre and some young people were having a impromptu concert.





The fountain was really lovely.





This photo shows Cape Kidnappers in the distance, it was beautiful with the setting sun shining on it.



We also visited the Mission winery for a lovely lunch and a couple of samples of their product. Definitely nothing the matter with their NZ reds.

The scenery on the route there was lovely and lots of sheep were grazing. Julia, who went with us told us mostly they were pregnant ewes, and sure enough we started to see the tiny lambs in some of the paddocks.
This little fellow appeared to be ill and spent most of the time bleating at Mom, who was ignoring him. We wondered what his final outcome was going to be?





Today I head to Christchurch to visit with family for several days and then unto Greymouth and the West Coast until the 19th. I plan on taking the shuttle to the West Coast so I can see the sights from the highway instead of the rail-line or the air. I will fly back from Westport on the 19th.

I will post more later on about my trip.

Canada Day in NZ

Pretty much a non-celebration here, but I did wear a red sweater and my socks had some Maple Leafs on the top of them.
I called the Canadian High Commission to see if there was going to be any sort of a celebration but the Commissioner was away so no go....
Too bad, it might have been fun to celebrate it in a foreign land.

We had a roaring Southerly storm on Sunday and part of Monday. Lots of high winds, rain and crashing waves on the rocks. These storms come straight from Antartica and NZ is the first land they hit.

The flights were cancelled, as well as ferry service across the Cook Strait most of the day but by 2100 the planes were taking off again and a ferry crossing was made.

We went out with some of Viv and John's friends and they took us around the bays to see the full fury of the wind and waves. Actually it didn't seem any worse to me than some of those lovely storms we get , minus the snow.



We were invited to their home for supper and had a lovely meal, roast lamb again I love it. It is so tasty.

The weather finally cleared late Monday and today it was beautifully sunny. We had another trip on the buses to the shopping center away on the other side of Wellington. But the gods were with us and we made good connections.
The trees and flowers didn't seem to suffer too much and they are blooming furiously and the leaves look so shiny on some of the trees you would think someone was polishing them.
We thought we might get to the Botanical Gardens but time will tell.


I haven't managed to find any sewing/quilt shops but the fabric is so expensive I really don't feel the need to try and find one.

I have gotten my ticket changed when I leave so I won't have to go to Wellington/ Christchurch/Auckland. It was like the tour of the cities. And the gal who fixed my ticket (Viv's friend who works at Air NZ) is the person who handles complaints, like torn luggage etc. so she said she'll replace my suitcase. So that is a good thing!!
It isn't who you are but who you know.