Day 28 - January 31 - Friday - Napier, NZ

Napier, on the east coast as have all the ports we have visited, is a beachside city known for its sunny climate, beautiful Norfolk pines and extensive Art Deco architecture.  Napier has a population of about 67,500.  It's twin city of Hastings is about 11 miles south of Napier.  Along with the surroundings towns of Havelock North and Clive the combined population of the area is about 137,000.  We were fortunate to visit all of these towns on our excursion today.

Napier is unique in it's architecture due to it's history.  In 1931 the city was razed by the Hawke's Bay earthquake.  The positive side effect of this disaster was that the lagoon adjacent to the town was elevated about 8 feet.  This allowed the reconstruction of a larger city.  It was decided they wanted something "modern" .  At the time, the most modern architecture trend was Art Deco.  Thus the city of Napier was born.

This is a stock photo.  I took a similar one, but it was full of cars, trucks and people!  

When we arrived this morning it was cloudy,  so I have no sunrise photo.  Fortunately the skies cleared by the time of our arrival around noon.

Watching the gangway being placed from our veranda.

Today we had a private tour we had booked prior to leaving home.  It was for a 4 hour tour.  Since we were expected to be able to deboard the ship at 1:00 PM and the last shuttle from town was 5:30, we were cutting it pretty close.

We met our driver, Ray, at the information center in town.  We learned there would be only 6 of us on the tour so that was nice.  Our first stop after a brief drive thru town was on the hill side overlooking the city.  Here we saw many of the older homes which were beautifully maintained.

View from the hill side

.

Our comfortable 8 passenger Toyota van

This notice was on the back of the front seat.  I hope Ray doesn't practice this while driving!

After leaving town, we proceeded to Hastings and then into the countryside.

The tallest peak in this photo is our destination, the highest mountain in the region, Te Mata Peak.

I am posting several photos from the summit since it is so beautiful.

A panorama from the summit of Te Mata Peak at 399 meters, or 1310 feet.

The peak is a popular spot for hang gliders, anyone interested?

Ray, along with Janet, Kay and Carl.

Along our route, we passed many different crops and orchards.  Unlike our previous ports, kiwi was not their major export.  Wine, apples and pine logs make a large portion of the exports from Napier.  We went by many vineyards and apple orchards and there were thousands of logs in the port ready for shipment.

We did arrive back in port in time to not miss the ship.  At the pier there was a display of vintage cars and trucks along with the drivers also dressed in vintage outfits.  I believe these were preparing for the annual Art Deco festival which will be held in 2 weeks.  This festival celebrates the rebuilding of Napier after the 1931 earthquake.

Tomorrow is another port and another excursion.  We will arrive in Wellington, the capital  New Zealand at around 9:00 AM.

Day 27 - January 30, 2025 - Thursday - Tauranga, NZ

Our ship docked in Tauranga, NZ this morning.  Tauranga is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty and is the 5th most populous city of New Zealand with population of about 162,000.  Rotorua, the "advertised destination" is about 40 miles inland, about an hours drive away.

One thing I would have loved to do while here was to visit the geothermal region, about an hour inland.  Unfortunately, the only tours which did this included the geothermal area as an afterthought.  EVERYTHING is focused on the Morea culture and traditions.  I certainly have nothing against the Morea, it is an interesting culture, but I can take only so much.  I wasn't willing to pay a substantial fee for a 6 hour tour where I only got 45 minutes of what I wanted to see.

Anyway, this morning brought another beautiful dawn.

And about 15 minutes later, the sky was lite up like I have never seen before!

As we came into port, this was the most prominent feature, Mount Maunganul, or the Mount as referred to by locals.  I immediately thought I would love to hike this, but I doubt there will be time.

Kay, enjoying the view as we sailed in.

Today we are doing the included tour of the "Bay of Plenty".  During sail in and after we boarded our small bus to start the tour, it was obvious that this was a prosperous area.  We saw golf courses, well maintained roads and infrastructure, and the beach was beautiful.

We saw this rural church several miles outside of Tauranga.

Part of our tour was to visit a kiwi orchard and learn about the kiwi industry.

Close up of the hanging kiwi fruit

After driving through several orchards, we stopped at the Paenogaroa Community Hall.  

Here we were greeted by locals which served us coffee, tea and cookies - as well as two varieties of fresh kiwi.  Below is just a few of the many products manufactured from the kiwi fruit.  We were even able to taste kiwi liquor.

On stage we had a brief performance of the traditional Mauri greeting.

Part of this greeting consists of the Haka, a ceremonial dance in the Mauri culture.  You may have seen this performed by The Black, the New Zealand rugby team.  Part of the purpose is to intimidate through feet stomping, tongue rolling and wide eyes.

On returning to Tauranga, our driver took us along the beachfront properties.  There were some really nice houses.  The one shown below is quite modest, but had a price tag of $6 million NZD or about $4.2 million USD - location, location, location...d

After arrival back at the port, we realized that perhaps we did have time to hike the Mount.  It was about a mile to the base of the volcanic cone.  

Once it was reached and we started the climb, Kay quickly decided she wasn't up for it.  Carl then dropped back due to the heat.  Janet and I continued, but she eventually decided to return as well.  

I am not as smart as they are so I continued alone.  I will share photos as I go along to the top of the 760 ft mountain.

I finally reached the top.  At one point I almost turned back, but couldn't quite bring myself to call it quits.

This map was displayed at the top.

This is my Geo Tracker app which shows my route.  I went up one way and came down another in order to see the entire 360 degree views.

The first ship is an Oceana, the second is our Viking Sky

This is one of the town's water towers.  I thought it was quite imaginative. 

We had dinner at the Chef's table last night.   That is the alternative dinning venue which features a fixed menu which is changed every 3 days.  Tonight was Mexican.  I have never had a 5 course Mexican meal with a different wine with each course.  Interesting, our first course was octopus ceviche on a tostado.  

Sorry for the abrupt  finish to todays blog, but time is short and I have to go.  We are in Napier and getting ready for a private excursion we booked before we left.

I'll report back later..

Day 26 - January 29, 2025 - Wednesday - Auckland, NZ

We arrived in Auckland around 8:00 AM.  The weather looks like it is going to be nice with temperatures in the low 70's.  Auckland is the most populous city in New Zealand with a population of just over 1.5 million people.  

We opted for the Viking included tour today since this was a fairly brief port day, only from 8AM to 5PM.  We were here on our previous trip for an overnight stay and had a more extensive visit. 

For those interested, you may view my Auckland blog of 2015 at 

https://worldvoyage2015.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/day-31-february-5-2015-thursday-auckland-new-zealand/

You will want to continue to the next day's post of Feb 6, 2015 for the full story!

The first siting of the city, just before daybreak

I loved the sunbeams coming thru the clouds onto the working dock.

Our first stop was Takaparawhau, Michael Joseph Savage Memorial

We visited here in 2015, but I don't remember the gardens being as extensive.

This is  view of the town of Davenport, across the bay.  On our previous trip we took a ferry from Auckland to Davenport.  It is a really neat little town.

I spotted this guy.  He had really interesting color.  I used the Merlin Bird App to identify him as an Australasian Swamphen.  He apparently is a pretty common urban bird in Australia and New Zealand.

After our scenic ride we were dropped off at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Although the museum's 3 levels covered many aspects of New Zealand, it's primary focus was as a war memorial. 

A Spitfire flown in WWII

 

Kiwi's are difficult to see in the wild, but they are cute little birds.  It is easy to see why the fruit was renamed from  Chinese Gooseberry to Kiwi.

The port entrance building.  It looks like they are setup for large crowds.  The building was a mixture of old and new.  The floors looked to be 100 years old.  Thick worn boards with pegs.  If only they could talk, I bet they would have stories to tell.

This is the driving route we took this morning.  It did give a pretty good overview of downtown Auckland.

Following dinner, and prior to tonight's entertainment, the new group of guest lecturers were introduced.  It is an eclectic group covering a wide area of expertise.  I can only hope they provide to be as engaging as the ones we had on the LA to Auckland leg of our journey.

Today's post was fairly brief, we are in a section of having a port every day for 5 days.  If I am not careful, I will get behind on my posting and it is so difficult to catch up.

Until tomorrow.