Napier and Wellington, NZ

Remember to click the the picture to get the full view.  I’m working the problem.

We arrived in Napier early in the morning of February 9th.  On February 3, 1931 the area suffered a major earthquake.  It was devastating for the local area but had two unforeseeable outcomes.  Almost 40 square KM of land was raised and added to todays Napier landmass.  The second result was that the town was rebuilt using the Art Deco style that was popular at that time.  The Art Deco buildings have been recognized as architecturally unique and Napier is known as one of only two restored Art Deco towns in the world.  The other being South Miami Beach, FL.  Here is a picture of an Art Deco style in Napier.

We haven’t shown you a New Zealand trademark yet.  Here we are with a Kiwi.  Yes, It is stuffed.  The bird, not us!

For some reason the ship was greeted by the local antique car club.

This picture shows the type of terrain around Napier.

We spent a quiet day in Napier wandering through the town.  Then on to Wellington.

This is the entrance to Wellington harbor and surrounding country side.  You can see the rocks in some of the pictures making staying in the narrow channel very important.

This is an island ferry that goes between the various NZ ports and islands.

Wellington is the capital of NZ.  It is a modern and active city.  We had a very nice lunch in an English type pub and then headed over to the NZ National Museum.  This is a picture of the building.  The floating crane in the picture is an early model steam engine that is being restored.

At the entrance note the two languages.  NZ has two primary languages, English and Maori.  Most signage and such are in both languages.

The museum has a number of exhibits and information on the formation of the land and earthquakes.  NZ  is known among the locals as “Shaky Islands” due to the number of earthquakes that occur.

We haven’t taken any pictures of monuments so here is one.  We’re not sure what it is for, there was no marker.

 

One of the chief exports from NZ is lumber.  This picture from Wellington can be seen in every port we stopped.  All this lumber will be shipped in one day and replaced.  It is a 24/7 operation.

 

Panoramic view of the harbor from our docked ship.

As you can see we had a couple of quiet days in NZ.   We’re stopping at a lot of ports and it’s nice to just relax and wander around.  Everyone we have met are very friendly and helpful.  They are proud of their country and love to share stories of the history and accomplishments,  Now on to Christchurch.