Napier- A Refreshing Walk

Real-time

We've had a busy time in Napier although if you asked 'doing what?', it would be hard to answer. We've both been busy catching up on lots of small jobs on our computers and the vehicles... ours and Mum & Dads'! It's a great feeling when you cross items off your 'to do' list, although it seems I have been adding jobs to the top as fast as they're dropping off the bottom because the list looks just as long as when we arrived.

Snow still on the Kawekas this past week

It's been typical sunny and warm Hawke's Bay weather this past week or so but the big storm hit us not long after we arrived in Napier, with snow, rain and power cuts. I had a chuckle though, it was bucketing down outside, the wind was atrocious, snow had closed the Taihape & Taupo roads (a rare event, especially the Napier-Taupo) and the power was off for the second time in a few hours. 

My sister Gae & brother-in-law David, were visiting from Whangarei and we were having a small family gathering later in the evening. I went inside (we're parked beside the house) to see how they were all going- to be greeted by a miserable lot sitting in the dark, wrapped up in extra clothing, with no heating, no coffee, no breakfast, no TV and no way to cook for the party. I returned to my diesel heated van, to drink my coffee and eat my bacon & eggs while listening to my favourite music. Just another day for us, don't know what the fuss was about! Luckily the power did come back on later in the morning.

It rained solid for a good few days and by the time it stopped some of us were suffering from a dose of cabin fever, so Gae, David(BIL) & I headed to Ahuriri for a walk to blow away the cobwebs. While we were waiting for a friend to join us, I wandered down to Perfume Point to take some photos of the murals painted on the side of the lighthouse.

'Marine Protected Areas' by Aaron Glasson

The 'Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans' street art festival was held back in March. Over 30 large murals have been painted on walls around Napier. Their aim is to highlight marine environmental issues relevant to the local community. It was my intention to photograph them all before we left Napier, and I have managed to do just that later in the week. But I'm only going to show a few here, the ones we passed on the walk. I'll do another blog with the others later on.

We headed off down the boardwalk past East Pier Hotel...

...along the front of The Boardwalk Restaurant where waves from the weekend storm has left sand, seaweed and driftwood across the path.

Some hardy paddle boarders were riding the waves a little further along Hardinge Road.

And we passed another mural- Endangered Maui's Dolphins- on a wall at Napier Port.

It was very cold with a bitter wind blowing as we turned onto Marine Parade but it was lovely to breathe in the fresh sea air. It was lucky Gae borrowed Mum's big thick jacket even though it nearly swallowed her up. While these Northlanders are well used to rain, they'd forgotten how cold it can get in the Bay. 

Well, it's not quite New Brighton Pier but Napier's new viewing platform looks pretty cool against a brooding sky and rough ocean.

It's probably just as well it doesn't reach any further than the high tide mark because I can imagine the problems it would have caused with people using it as a launching platform to swim from. The waters off Marine Parade are dangerous enough at the best of times, let alone when there's a storm a brewing.

And at least the view back over the beach and along Marine Parade is one we've never seen before. 

We make our way back to the road passing two old favourites along the way; the Tom Parker Fountain and Pania of the Reef.

We head towards Shakespeare Road to walk back over Bluff Hill. The 1909 old County Council building is now a luxury boutique hotel, this was one of just two significant buildings that survived the devastating 1931 earthquake.

I spot another mural tucked beside a nearby carpark- Plastic Pollution Affecting Sea Turtles

We stop beside a familiar building, the old Cabana Hotel at the bottom of Shakespeare Road. Gae, Jill and I all went to Napier Girls High School which is just up the hill. The Cabana Hotel had a very rough reputation in it's day and any girls walking into town at lunch time or after school had to walk the gauntlet past the public bar which was usually full of drunken dropouts and sailors from the boats in port.

We carried on up Shakespeare Road, a walk we would have done dozens of times during our teenage years, even though Gae & I caught a school bus from the farm to school in our early years, and then later, rode our motorbikes or drove our own cars. We were the lucky ones, you were only allowed your own transport if you lived out of town. But we often had a pass to walk into town for various appointments or shopping.

We passed the Naked Witch, which, according to Jill, in 'famous in Napier'. I wonder if it has anything to do with a certain notorious lady who lived her final years in Napier, loved purple and was a self-proclaimed witch.

We head down the other side of hill back towards Ahuriri, and I catch a quick glimpse of Napier Girls over the top of the old dairy, a shop I saw the inside of a few too many times.

We pass this unusual tiny little house tucked into the cliff at the bottom of Shakespeare Road. Its been there for a long while but none of us know it's history.  

The many houses of Scinde Island (Bluff Hill) and Ahuriri, most built before the 1931 'quake and when water surrounded the hill, and Ahuriri was a busy port.

Gae does her best impression of a 1930's flapper beside the historic Tram Shelter near Battery Road in Ahuriri.

In 1911, the council installed an electric tram system that linked Ahuriri to downtown Napier, the service ended after the earthquake but the well-preserved tram shelter still stands and murals in keeping with Napier's Art Deco theme have been painted on the walls of the building.

We carry on along Waghorne Street, an area steeped in history, where new apartments sit alongside tiny old fisherman's cottages and industrial warehouses. Ahuriri was one of earliest settled areas of Napier when the harbour at Iron Pot was the site of Hawke's Bays main port.

We say hello to Dulcie's owner as we pass, she's having a few battery problems, poor girl.

The things you see along the backstreets...

One of the old fishing cottages...

Another Sea Wall on the side of the Navigate Hotel & Apartments- Bryde Whales & Fishing Ships

And a final wall for now, in amongst the shops and cafes of Ahuriri village- NZ Endangered Marine Animals

We cut back up Barry Street to the waterfront and the cars, passing the restored facade of the Ellison & Duncan building with it's quirky window murals.

The original building was designed by Louis Hay as part of the reconstruction of Napier following the 1931 earthquake. Louis Hay also designed the nearby iconic National Tobacco Company building.

Back at the carpark we say goodbye to Jill and head home, happy with our walk and feeling very refreshed.

Wild Weather at the Mount

How many people do you think walk around the Mount base track every day? For those that don’t know there is a very popular 3.5km walk around the bottom of the Mount along with a number of tracks up to the top of the Mount, an extinct volcano cone. You can read more about the Mount here when we stayed at the Mt Maunganui Holiday Park last May.

There is a discreet counter located at the top of the stairs just along the way from where we are parked & I took a reading off it last Thursday evening. I should have taken it the weekend before last when it was gorgeous weather & the school holidays. But I was more than surprised with my count considering what the weather has been like.

 

I don’t know what it is, but there was a significant weather event the last time we visited (see the link above) and now after having one glorious week of summer like weather not only have we had one storm we’ve had two in five days! Horrendous gale force winds arrived on Friday night buffeting the van so much during the night that we had to pull in the side for safety. The wind didn’t let up all day Saturday and along with it came torrential rain.

We felt very sorry for the first cruise ship of the season which was due into port on Saturday but couldn’t make it through the entrance and was forced to cruise up and down far out in the bay all day & night in the heaving sea. I bet then 3000 odd passengers were very pleased to reach terra-firma on Sunday even though it was still blowing hard most of the day. But at least the sun was shining.

We had a break in the weather yesterday but then in the early hours of this morning the wind started up again. We once again brought in the side and had a restless sleep being rocked & knocked about as the wind increased in velocity. The camp ground has emptied out now & there are just four vans & campers down on our level & I’m sure they were all worried as the wind gained strength. We had nobody to provide shelter like we had back in May. It was just us on our lonesome fighting the elements!

Thankfully there was a lull again mid-morning which gave us just enough time to hitch up & do a circuit of the camp ground via the dump station. All of our tanks; two grey water & one black were full to capacity, there was no way we’d have been able to leave it a moment longer. Just as we pulled back onto the site down came the rain and back came the wind at tenfold the strength we’d had before. All I can say is it was very scary; we were copping the full force of a gale strength wind that was coming directly off the sea just a few metres away. Not only was the rain horizontal but we were getting the van sandblasted for free too!

There were a couple of times when the noise & thumping got so bad I thought something was about to let go off the roof or underneath the van. It passed through my mind that we could even get blown over. David had gone out earlier for a couple of hours & I had visions of him coming home & having to climb in through the emergency window to rescue me. And I know it was bad because at one stage there was a horrendous thumping & clanging when a caravan up on the level behind us had its awning blown to smithereens.

Then the wind changed mid afternoon & we got battered from the otherside! We were a little more sheltered this time but still it was a couple of hours of rock ‘n roll before the wind finally died down. Needless to say the ute & van are now covered in salt & sand and both need a darn good clean.

The rain stopped mid-afternoon  so I took a walk around the Base track to take some photos of  the waves crashing over the rocky coastline.

And then later took more photos of the 30 or so surfers that arrived to ride the waves that were breaking out in front of our van. With the off shore wind whipping up the spray the surfers were getting some great rides. All I got was caught in a wave & stung by the sand.

And right through both these storms there was still a steady stream of dedicated people doing their daily exercise walking or running up & around the Mount. There is a constant parade of people from every walk of life passing by our kitchen window & I’ve found it fascinating watching the world go by. There was even a fashion shoot for Caroline Eves happening right beside our van. They came twice to shoot but got beaten by the wind both times.

So back to my question, I know you're dying to know. How many people have passed by our little home in the last five days? Keep in mind the weather will have deterred quite a few no doubt, but then again the cruise ship was in on Sunday & I know there were a few that did the walk. You can spot them by their white sandshoes (trainers), various cameras slung around their necks & carrying handbags & day packs;

The count at
Thursday 5pm was 12446
Friday 5pm 14176=  1730
Saturday 5pm 16941=  2765
Sunday 5pm 20873=  3932
Monday 5pm  23277=  2404
Tuesday 5pm 25620= 2343

 

That is a grand total of 13,174 people in five days. I find that amazing. 13,000 people in just five days when the weather has been mostly miserable. Imagine what it would be like at the height of the summer holidays. No wonder this walk is the most popular one in NZ. And based on 13,000 that would mean at least 1 million per year, but of course you would probably double the daily numbers in summer. I know a lot of those would be repeat people but still that is a lot of foot traffic.

Main Beach, Mt Maunganui

Stop Press: ETA (edited to add)- I'm still tracking the numbers passing by and I know you'll be as amazed as I am that at 5pm Friday the total was 35,000 (actually it was 35,001, it counted me as I leant over to take a look!) That means that 9,380 people have passed in three days! Absolutely incredible don't you think.

Back to Napier in the Fifth-Wheeler

Once Dad was well on the road to recovery I returned to Tauranga with the promise that both David & I would return in the fifth-wheeler in a couple of weeks time so we could help with some of the outside chores that Dad wouldn't be able to do over winter.

We stayed once again at the NZMCA park over property in Taupo on the first night, cutting the four hour trip to Napier in two. There were only another four RVs parked up so we had the pick of positions to park, not that we got to see much as it was cold & bleak outdoors. As yet we have no heating in the fifth-wheeler unless we are plugged into power so this was going to be our first winter's night with no warmth. It wasn't too bad once we were all  rugged up in bed & we took our time getting up the next morning, waiting for the sun to reach our little spot. A hearty cooked breakfast also warmed the cockles.

We had an uneventful trip over the Napier-Taupo road stopping of at the Tarawera Café for coffee which was pleasant enough. I must have passed the café (or hotel as it used to be) at least 300 or 400 times in my lifetime & I don't ever recall stopping. The parking area of the café is also a NZMCA POP (Park Over Property) & would be a great place to stop if you weren't wanting to travel the road all in one go. Apparently there is great trout fishing in the stream close by & the owner (who wasn't there that day) is happy to show fishermen the rights spots.

We arrived in Napier in good time and set the fifth-wheeler up on the concrete pad next to Mum & Dads once again. We spent the next week on & off water blasting the house & paths, cleaning the windows, planting out the vege garden along with some flower plants & spaying weeds & moss along with a few other bits & pieces.  Dad was still progressing well but was getting a little frustrated that he couldn't help out.

I managed to get some more photography in, this time I had heard that there was a Royal Spoonbill & a White Heron feeding in a creek that ran alongside a suburban street. Both these birds are quite rare in NZ but small numbers tend to winter over in Hawkes Bay each year. There is a resident population of about 20 spoonbills that usually feed on the Ahuriri salt flats & estuary but this one obviously though dinner was better served from the creek in town. And sure enough I found them both there, the spoonbill was very obliging & allowed me to get quite close. Unfortunately it was a very dark & overcast late afternoon so the lighting wasn't that great.


Royal Spoonbill, Maori name Kotuku-nutupapa

White Heron, Maori name Kotuku

Once the house chores were finished we spent a bit of time tiki-touring around the Bay. We met family for lunch at the Puketapu Hotel which was very pleasant, the restaurant is very busy especially on the weekends as the hotel is at the turn around point of one of the local cycle trails. After lunch we took the back roads through to Paki Paki which is south of Hastings, I wanted to check out the Pekapeka Wetlands which I'd passed with Mum on our way to Wellington a few weeks ago. We passed these cute bee hives along the way.

Pekapeka is a relatively small swamp, it has a rail line along one border & a major state highway on another. It has slowly been restored to it's former glory after years of neglect & abuse. The wetland had been used as an illegal dump over the years; the remains of a hotel are buried under the swamp somewhere and willows once infested & dried out the wetland where now raupo(bulrush) grows. There wasn't much birdlife to be seen other than a few swans and a couple of ducks but this is probably because it's duck shooting season & even though there's no shooting they've probably been scared away. It was a beautiful sunny day & a lovely walk around the boardwalks.