Putorino to Napier to Palmerston North
When I woke up on March 29th, I was surprised to see that I was camped next to a lovely river... ah, the things you miss when you arrive in the dark! The morning sunshine was sifting through the trees, and its beauty motivated me to get up and tackle the 2km track down to the beach to see where the river met the ocean.
The track was dry and shouldered by sandstone cliffs in parts.
It also happened to be cattle pasture!
The river fed into the ocean, separated only by the sand left by the low tide.
Impressive sandstone cliffs guarded by Pampas Grass.
A massive piece of driftwood.
A poor attempt at a beach holiday home, haha.
The track back to the campsite.
As I drove back to the main road, I saw this little vista.
About an hour up the road, near Napier, I passed a fruit shop with this sign,
and promptly pulled a U-ey! I got a huge bag of apples for $1.50. :)
Napier is famous for its Art Deco architecture, but I didn't feel like finding parking to take any pictures, so you can look here if you like. The history is quite interesting, so I've yoinked the following paragraph from here.
"Most of the town centre was destroyed on 3 February 1931 by a major earthquake (measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale) and the ensuing fires. The Hawke's Bay earthquake not only destroyed the centre of Napier, but caused radical changes to the surrounding landscape. It was a natural disaster of major proportions. This destruction resulted in a massive reconstruction of the town centre. Napier became New Zealand's (and indeed the world's) newest city with its own Southern Hemisphere version of Art Deco style. Due to the economic climate and the number of casualties caused by falling masonry and decorative features during the earthquake, the scale of the town centre was limited to one or two storeys and the buildings were decorated with low relief ornamentation. Reinforced concrete was used in construction and the use of older materials such as bricks was shunned. Ornamental motifs used on buildings reflect all of the themes prevalent in Art Deco design, and include authentic Maori designs on both exteriors and interiors of some buildings. These motifs are seen not only in exterior low relief stucco but also in interior plasterwork, leaded glass, metal grilles, flooring and joinery."
The National Aquarium of New Zealand is also in Napier, and because I love aquariums and it had a Kiwi [bird] house as well, I decided to stop in. They also had exhibits on dinosaurs in New Zealand, which was really neat because I had never thought of NZ as a place dinosaurs would have been found. The building wasn't busy AT ALL, a nice change from most of the aquariums and such that I've been to... I often feel claustrophobic in those places because the passageways are usually narrow and there are typically hordes of people.
This dinosaur was fitting... many of the forests I have been in have
felt so ancient that I would EXPECT a Pterosaur to fly overhead!
How'd you like to meet one of these while in for a swim?
Or worse yet, one of THESE? Ahhh!
This is what SCUBA divers used to use.
This is a Pacu, found in South America. When young, it looks like a Piranha, and they will live in a school of Piranha where they are protected until they begin changing colour, when they join schools of their own species. They eat neats and fruits that fall into the river from overhanging trees.
A Walrus Catfish, from Africa.
They can spend more time upside down than the right way up!
A Blind Cave Fish from Mexico.
Their habitat of dark caves makes eyes unnecessary... neat!
I've always liked seahorses (probably because of the horse reference, haha), but this was the first time I had ever seen them... and I must say, they are the STRANGEST creatures. They zoom around using pulsating fins on their backs, bobbing around... plus, the MALES are the ones who get pregnant and care for the young!
They are beautifully delicate and intricate, however.
The walkthrough aquarium is my favourite part of visiting these places. This one had a moving walkway so you could just stand and stare at the sharks and rays gliding by overhead...
There was a super-interesting video about Kiwis that I watched before visiting them. It was about half an hour long, and it showed researchers capturing Kiwis (which was odd, because the man just POUNCED on them and they didn't struggle at all once caught -- they just sat like a housecat in his arms!). I also learned that while they are considered wing-less and flight-less, they do have vestigial nubs where their wings once were in evolutionary history.
Since they are nocturnal, their habitat was dark and it was VERY hard to get a decent picture.
Kiwi bum!
From Napier, I continued on to Palmerston North, where erincalnear and her fiance Ben had invited me to stay the night. This sign was enroute and I laughed because really, the government could save a lot of money on all those various signs warning drivers of upcoming curves if they just used this ONE Sign, which represents New Zealand roads quite accurately!
Erin, Ben and I had supper and a nice chat when I arrived. Erin is originally from Michigan and has moved to NZ to be with Ben, who is a Kiwi (they met when they were both working at a summer camp in the US). The next day (the 30th), the two of them convinced me to stay a second night because I felt so exhausted. They went to work and I took it easy for the day, just going into the city to buy some foam sleeping pads at the Salvation Army (yeehaw, $3 each!) so I could stop having to fix my air mattress every other day... really, I should have just gone the foamie route to begin with, because they turned out to be just as comfortable. In the evening, we went to Ben's sister's house for dinner and afterwards, we went for a walk downtown and had some delectable dessert at a coffee shop. The day was a great break from the fast-paced couple of weeks I had just had. :)
This is Erin and Ben with their tiny laptop and giant TV-turned-computer-monitor. :)
The track was dry and shouldered by sandstone cliffs in parts.
It also happened to be cattle pasture!
The river fed into the ocean, separated only by the sand left by the low tide.
Impressive sandstone cliffs guarded by Pampas Grass.
A massive piece of driftwood.
A poor attempt at a beach holiday home, haha.
The track back to the campsite.
As I drove back to the main road, I saw this little vista.
About an hour up the road, near Napier, I passed a fruit shop with this sign,
and promptly pulled a U-ey! I got a huge bag of apples for $1.50. :)
Napier is famous for its Art Deco architecture, but I didn't feel like finding parking to take any pictures, so you can look here if you like. The history is quite interesting, so I've yoinked the following paragraph from here.
"Most of the town centre was destroyed on 3 February 1931 by a major earthquake (measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale) and the ensuing fires. The Hawke's Bay earthquake not only destroyed the centre of Napier, but caused radical changes to the surrounding landscape. It was a natural disaster of major proportions. This destruction resulted in a massive reconstruction of the town centre. Napier became New Zealand's (and indeed the world's) newest city with its own Southern Hemisphere version of Art Deco style. Due to the economic climate and the number of casualties caused by falling masonry and decorative features during the earthquake, the scale of the town centre was limited to one or two storeys and the buildings were decorated with low relief ornamentation. Reinforced concrete was used in construction and the use of older materials such as bricks was shunned. Ornamental motifs used on buildings reflect all of the themes prevalent in Art Deco design, and include authentic Maori designs on both exteriors and interiors of some buildings. These motifs are seen not only in exterior low relief stucco but also in interior plasterwork, leaded glass, metal grilles, flooring and joinery."
The National Aquarium of New Zealand is also in Napier, and because I love aquariums and it had a Kiwi [bird] house as well, I decided to stop in. They also had exhibits on dinosaurs in New Zealand, which was really neat because I had never thought of NZ as a place dinosaurs would have been found. The building wasn't busy AT ALL, a nice change from most of the aquariums and such that I've been to... I often feel claustrophobic in those places because the passageways are usually narrow and there are typically hordes of people.
This dinosaur was fitting... many of the forests I have been in have
felt so ancient that I would EXPECT a Pterosaur to fly overhead!
How'd you like to meet one of these while in for a swim?
Or worse yet, one of THESE? Ahhh!
This is what SCUBA divers used to use.
This is a Pacu, found in South America. When young, it looks like a Piranha, and they will live in a school of Piranha where they are protected until they begin changing colour, when they join schools of their own species. They eat neats and fruits that fall into the river from overhanging trees.
A Walrus Catfish, from Africa.
They can spend more time upside down than the right way up!
A Blind Cave Fish from Mexico.
Their habitat of dark caves makes eyes unnecessary... neat!
I've always liked seahorses (probably because of the horse reference, haha), but this was the first time I had ever seen them... and I must say, they are the STRANGEST creatures. They zoom around using pulsating fins on their backs, bobbing around... plus, the MALES are the ones who get pregnant and care for the young!
They are beautifully delicate and intricate, however.
The walkthrough aquarium is my favourite part of visiting these places. This one had a moving walkway so you could just stand and stare at the sharks and rays gliding by overhead...
There was a super-interesting video about Kiwis that I watched before visiting them. It was about half an hour long, and it showed researchers capturing Kiwis (which was odd, because the man just POUNCED on them and they didn't struggle at all once caught -- they just sat like a housecat in his arms!). I also learned that while they are considered wing-less and flight-less, they do have vestigial nubs where their wings once were in evolutionary history.
Since they are nocturnal, their habitat was dark and it was VERY hard to get a decent picture.
Kiwi bum!
From Napier, I continued on to Palmerston North, where erincalnear and her fiance Ben had invited me to stay the night. This sign was enroute and I laughed because really, the government could save a lot of money on all those various signs warning drivers of upcoming curves if they just used this ONE Sign, which represents New Zealand roads quite accurately!
Erin, Ben and I had supper and a nice chat when I arrived. Erin is originally from Michigan and has moved to NZ to be with Ben, who is a Kiwi (they met when they were both working at a summer camp in the US). The next day (the 30th), the two of them convinced me to stay a second night because I felt so exhausted. They went to work and I took it easy for the day, just going into the city to buy some foam sleeping pads at the Salvation Army (yeehaw, $3 each!) so I could stop having to fix my air mattress every other day... really, I should have just gone the foamie route to begin with, because they turned out to be just as comfortable. In the evening, we went to Ben's sister's house for dinner and afterwards, we went for a walk downtown and had some delectable dessert at a coffee shop. The day was a great break from the fast-paced couple of weeks I had just had. :)
This is Erin and Ben with their tiny laptop and giant TV-turned-computer-monitor. :)