July 20th
Trip Start
Jun 27, 2008
1
22
33
Trip End
Aug 30, 2008
Napier,
North Island,
New Zealand
Saturday, August 9, 2008
This morning we ( mom and me ) woke up early (7:30) so that we could drive down to Napier and Catch one of the morning church services. We went to St. Paul's Presbeterian church and met up with Colin and Barbra Engliah, Colin being the minister of the church, Barbra being his wife. The congragation was very nice and welcomed us with open arms. After service we were invited to tea by two other couples but we had alredy accepted to lunchion with Colin and Barbra. We went for tea and coffe first at a little cafe called Cafe Rosso. It was really nice and sunny, with a blue sky over head and the tea pot we got gave us each three cups of tea!
After our afternoon tea we went to go look for a bank machine and saw that the people were dressed up in the a la mode or the art deco time period. Aparently in Napier all the buildings were reconstructed after a massive earth quake in the art decco style and so the natives dress up ocationaly to match their surroundings. Lots of fur coats and some people even brought out their old automobiles! Nice cars I must say. After this the Englishes drove us to their home, which has the nicest pair of doors I've ever seen! They have dear on the grass. We had a non formal lunch of soup and toasted bread and there son, Greg, his wife and there two children; Eden and Jacob. They drink their soup out of cups without spoons here in New Zeland. For desert we had apple crisp and custard. I got to eat the custard right out of the jug :) Then we took the dogs for a walk. They have two dogs, molly and chester and they take them for a walk along the beach. the beach is unusual because it doesn't have any sand, it is still lined with pebbles and small stones. It's a really long beach and there's a walking path that runs from one end to the other. On one half of the beach you arn't allowed to walk your dogs without a leash but on the other your dog may have free raign.
The Englishes drove us around town so that we could see what the town had to offer, we went up to a lookout and I was surprised to see that both dogs could fit in the front seat of the car between Barbra's legs! You can see the port from the look out and have a fantastic view of the bay. We then went to see some public gardens wich includes a waterfall. Before heading back to their house we stopped by the local ice cream parlor and had some Tip Top ice cream. We took another walk along the beach and then we went back to their house for it was getting close to supper time and Collin has an extra service on Sundays at Seven O'Clock. We had a small supper and Barb showed me how to do Code Crackers wich is a New Zealand game similar to a combination of a cross word puzzle and sudoku. It was a chalenge! It took both me and mom to get the first one and then I tried one on my own and was able to compleat the puzzle.
We stayed in their guest bedroom and were very warm and comfortable. The Englishes are very nice and are great company.
HugZ
Sabine Ng
