Napier, Art Deco & JJ the Cat!

Well, we are back on the North Island of New Zealand now, after flying over from Nelson (decided not to risk a second ferry crossing in case of rough seas!) Before we left Nelson we were lucky enough to see the futuristic looking "Earthrace" boat come into the harbour on its tour of New Zealand. It became the fastest powerboat to circumnavigate the globe in 2008 - making the journey in only 60 days! Very eco-friendly too as it's powered by 100% renewable biodiesel fuel! Massive stereo system on it too - we could hear it coming a mile off! We are now almost at the end of our week in Napier - the Art Deco capital of New Zealand! Have never seen so much art deco stuff all in one place! The buildings are fabulous - all ornately painted in different colours and designs! Have just posted a few photos here of the Town Centre, Daily Telegraph Building and the colourful row of small houses which are historic buildings known as the Six Sisters! Was even lucky enough to have a genuine 1929 Chrysler car pull up at the traffic lights when I was taking some photos! We've been staying in a lovely little apartment here in Napier - right on the sea front. Thought we had it to ourselves but on our arrival we discovered that there would be a third occupant - JJ the cat! He belongs to the owner of the apartment, who lives here when she is not renting it out, and so JJ comes with the territory! We didn't mind though as he is very friendly and adorable! Just a tad pampered though - as you can probably tell from the contents of 'his' shelf in the fridge which shows the daily smorgasboard that he dines from! He just has a little from each tin of food every day to give him a bit of variety(!) and then the tin is covered up with its own little cloth cover until the next day! Hmmm! I think he eats better than we do! We soon got into his little routine anyway and have managed to keep him alive for the week which is the main thing! And yes ok - we will miss him when we leave Napier - we admit it!!!

Farewell Spit!

Those of you who have seen the film "Muriel's Wedding" might be thinking 'Porpoise Spit' at this point and conjuring up all kinds of images connected with the movie! Forget all that! Farewell Spit is a 35km arc of sand which is the longest natural sand bar in the world! Wow! It's a nature reserve so you can only walk a short way along it. To go further you need to book one of the 4 wheel drive tours that are available - which we did! You can see CK posing by our impressive vehicle! We got to climb up on the huge sand dunes which felt like being in the middle of the desert somewhere rather than New Zealand! It was quite a calm day when we were there but it can be exceptionally windy on the Spit which means the dunes are constantly shifting, moving and changing shape. I lost CK at one point - but all I had to do was follow the footsteps ... there she is! The times of the tours depend on the times of the tides and on the day we went we had to set off at 6.30am! It was worth it though to be there on the beach when the sun came up! Click the photo to see the little oyster catcher admiring his reflection in the sunrise! We loved those little birds with their long orange beaks and earnest poking into the sand. Apparently they can crack open an oyster shell in 15 seconds! They run across the sand with their little legs going like the clappers! We saw a little family of 3 on the sands and our guide pointed out the chick as his beak was not yet bright orange although he was as big as his parents. The parents kept poking him and pushing him away as it was time for him to fend for himself but he didn't seem keen to go and kept following them around only to be pushed away again! How sad is that?! Just look at the photo of him on his own - he just looks so dejected! You just wanted to pick him up and take him home with you! It was a brilliant trip and zooming up and down the beach in the 4 wheel drive bus was fantastic! We ended the tour with a view of Cape Farewell where the little archway is. Our old friend Captain Cook left New Zealand from here after his first visit apparently!

Hokitika to Nelson and beyond!

Oops! It's been a couple of weeks now since our last blog. Sorry about that! Didn't mean to abandon you all in Hokitika! We enjoyed our trip up the West Coast very much. It was good to get behind the wheel of a car again and most of the time we had the road to ourselves! Had a spurt of creativity while we were in Hokitika and created some beach art! Got the idea from the town website and decided to have a go ourselves! Next it was on to Punakaiki, home of the famous Pancake Rocks. So named because the rocks are stacked up on layers upon layers, looking just like a whole plate full of pancakes! Then it was onto Westport on the Buller River where we crossed over the longest swingbridge in New Zealand which was very impressive (if a little scary if someone else was coming the other way and you had to pass them in the middle!) Our next and last stop for awhile was Nelson where we are at the moment. The main reason for staying here for awhile was to do some forward planning for the next part of our trip and enjoy being in one place for a few weeks! Don't think we will ever get bored with the view from our balcony either! Last week we hired a car again and drove right up to the top of South Island to see a bit of the Abel Tasman National Park and Golden Bay. We stayed in Takaka - funky little town with a very arty, hippy, organic, new age, dreadlocks & barefoot kind of feel about it if that makes sense! A highlight was Waikoropupu Springs and yes, the water was just how it looks on the photo! You felt like you could just dive right it! It's reported to be the world's clearest freshwater springs - the only place where there is known to be water of greater clarity is under the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica! We enjoyed having a few days to drive about again - passing rows of cute little mailboxes all lined up in a row, unusually shaped road tunnels carved right out of the rocks, climbing up to view Wainui Falls and walking some of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track after being dropped off by boat! We did all that in 2 days, either side of a day spent at Farewell Spit - the 35km long strip of land and sand dunes right at the tip of South Island - see separate blog for more details and photos!