Parkview Apartment Napier

... in town and told them that she was untrustworthy, a liar and a thief. Incredible. Lat** that day, he kicked out anoth** French girl pretty much for being French, and he also kicked out me and the lads for no reason whatsoev**, though by the time the lads had gotten to the office to debate the m**its of his decision he had reneged and wanted us to forget he'd ev** said it. I hadn't both**ed going ov** to argue because I had wanted to walk since ...

... for taking it easy and people watching. Plus the town has great food – we went to one bakery twice. First we had excellent sandwiches – great bread and then came back for dessert. As far as food - we haven't had a bad meal in NZ – everything is good from simple pub food and sandwiches to lamb dinners.
The weather for tomorrow looks good – so we're planning some mountaineering!

... a big sigh of relief and off we head to security... Called back to check - in and told our suitcase was 2 kg over weight! Had to open it and dig out our personals in public and chuck them in a clear plastic bag! I thought I would never see those things again...thankfully we did. At last off the security and passport control - more massive queues, no chance of even a coffee now! At last on our way to Aukland and ...

... cloud as the sun illuminate them as she make her way up to greet us. How great will it be to just walk along the coast while nature display its best art exhibition. I will capture that scene someday and show you its magic. 06 March Rainy day as I predicted yesterday, SPOT ON!! It was actually just a slight drizzle but it is real cold out there. Now is officially Autumn and will last through from May to June before winter set in and ...

... I stayed at the top of the cliffs with the birds as long as time allowed and then went back down to the tractors to begin the trip home. This time I was sitting on the cliff side of the truck, but still got wet a couple of times when the driver decided we were too quiet on that side of the truck. On the way back, we stopped at the beach colony of gannets and since the tide was much better than the way in, we made it back in only 45 minutes.

... and still has many of the original gadgets and rooms, such as "the hole" ( small cut-out inside the wall of the prison, no bigger than a modern wahing machine. They still have the hanging yard, rope and gallery in a courtyard beside the "cemetry". The entire tour was great and was realy creepy from the stories that we were told...one of the couples in our group had booked the prison to stay in and by the end of the tour it wasn't looking to good for them ...

... Island. Flew in from Thailand via Malaysia about 10 days ago and have so far been relaxing at a beachouse belonging to some wonderful friends at a place called Snell's beach about an hour's drive from Auckland. Currently have the company of the lovely Jo, (one of the girls on the Thailand trip -she had some time to kill b4 starting an organised 21 day tour of both islands) for 8 days and have taken a road trip to Napier about 300 miles drive ...

... Napier was the newest city on the globe. Nowhere else can you see such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century. Napier's Art Deco is unique, with Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay, admirer of the great Frank Lloyd Wright. Napier is enhanced by palms and the angular Norfolk Island pines and bounded by fertile fruit and grape growing plains, dramatic hills and ...

... en een tas met... tja, alles wat niet in de koffer ging omdat het simpelweg te zwaar was. Al deze bagage was geen probleem. Stickertje met " Heavy" op de koffer, een vriendelijke glimlach en een uurtje vliegen later stronden we (met alle bagage op de luchthaven van Napier). Een heel kleine luchthaven met niet meer dan: een deur waardoor je naar binnen komt als je het vliegtuig bent uigestapt, een koffieshop en alle autoverhuurbedrijven die je maar kent ...

... Zo alles weer op schema? Dan nu naar het strand!!

Dit hostel zit direct achter de boulevard, dus ik was er zo. Maar dat was jammer: in plaats van een mooi, glad zandstrand, overal zwarte kiezelstenen! Grote kleine, maar zwart en steen! Ach ja: het is hier toch niet warm genoeg om te zwemmen, dus maar een sigaretje gerookt en
weer terug naar het hostel gegaan.

Dag 2 was het beter weer, maar had ik totaal geen puf om wat te gaan doen. Voelde me wat leeg, maar tegelijk ...