Napier back to Wellington.

The National Aquarium is in Napier and we saw a Kiwi here. No photos though!

 

 

A seahorse.

 

 

Close up and personal with a big turtle.

 

 

Lots of Fairy Penguins here. They have all been rescued one way or another.

 

 

Gardens in Napier.

 

 

Taking a tour!

 

 

The Napier Port. Many cruise ships dock there now.

 

 

Our favourite visit was to the Mission Estate Winery, in the hills just outside of Napier. It was established in 1851 by pioneering French Missionaries, the Marist Brothers, and is considered to be the birthplace of New Zealand wine.

 

 

It is in a beautifully restored seminary building

 

 

Bill by the fountain in the grounds.

 

 

The Mission wine barrels.

 

 

Like most of the North Island, it is very windy around this area and tall hedges like this are built to protect the crops.

 

 

Heading back towards Wellington, we stopped at Hastings for a while, where we met Chloe and her friends.

 

That that night we stayed at a peppers Resort at Martinborough, a little town in the Wairarapa wine country.

 

Beautiful grounds.

 

 

Even a hedgehog!

 

 

We set off early the next day to pick Jenny and David at the Wellington Airport. It was a lovely drive through the hills. This memorial commemorates the march that 60,000 of New Zealand's First World War troops made over the Rimutakas from Featherston Camp to Upper Hutt.

 

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Napier New Zealand January 9, 10 & 11 2016

We are on the North Island of New Zealand for a couple of weeks, mainly to meet up with Jenny and David, who have flown over from England to visit Josh and Silvina in Christchurch. Somehow we got upgraded to business from Sydney to Auckland on the way over, although it was not too exciting on such a short trip. If only they would do that when we are on our way to Europe! We arrived just after midnight, so spent what was left of the first night near the airport. Next morning we drove to Napier for a few days.

 

First stop was Paraparaumu, the first of many pebble beaches we saw, where we watched the kite surfers.

 

 

Lunch was at Palmerston North. This is a statue of the Ghost of the Hui, a now extinct bird.

 

 

Mauri pouwhenua carved poles in front of the Civic Administration Building.

 

 

The drive through the Manawatu Gorge was pretty.

 

 

Next stop was the heritage village of Norsewood, the home of the trolls. Many hard working Scandinavians settled in this area from 1873.

 

 

Finally we arived in Napier and this was the view of the beach from our room. The sculpture is the Millennium sculpture of the rising sun.

 

 

Napier is renown as New Zealand's Art Decor capital because when an earthquake savaged the city in 1931, it was rebuilt in Art Decor style archecture.

 

 

The water front.

 

 

A typical Art Decor building in the town.

 

 

There are quite a lot of interesting art works around town. Love this 1930's woman and her dog, called A Wave in Time.

 

 

Massive flower pot!

Street seats.

 

 

Another Art Decor building.

 

 

Even the street signs are Art Decor style.

 

 

A mural.

 

 

Another!

 

 

Waiting for the bus.

 

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More of Durham

We took a tour of Durham Castle which has been occupied continuously since the 11th century. Since 1840 it has been part of Durham University. 

The castle was built in 1072 by the Normans. It stands high above the River Wear, on the UNESCO World Herritage Site with the cathedral.

Inside there are two chapels, a Great Hall, student residences and so on.

The beautiful Norman Chapel, built in 1078.

Heraldic shields.

 

Another shield.

 

 

Along the walls.

 

 

 

Don't know what was so fascinating up there, but do know it was cold that day.

The trees by the river were looking quite autumnal.

  

A foot bridge across the River Wear.

  

Hardy fishermen in the River Wear.

We had a lovely time at the 13th century Crook Hall and it's idyllic themed gardens.

 

 

 

Bill lost in the maze.

  

David with tour guild for the maze and gardens of Crook Hall.

 

Beautiful old stone walls.

 

 

This door leads to the Secret Walled Garden, which is over 700 years old. William Wordsworth and John Ruskin visited this garden.

 

 

There were still lots of plants flowering, even though it was half way through Autumn.

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Three garden gnomes. 

The guide introduces us to one of the many sculptures.

 

Inside the house, the oldest part is the 13th century medieval hall.

Ancient stairs to nowhere.

 

 

 

Looking over one of the gardens from upstairs. 

There is a view to the castle and the cathedral from the house.

  

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After visiting Crook Hall, we walked to the Botanical Gardens, which has 25 acres of plants from all over the world. It is part of the University and is used for study, research and education.

 

Next morning we had a last view of Durham from the train as we headed for London and home.