Hello from Napier

Friday, March 25

We left Wellington early after picking up another rental car. Traveling north, our destination for the day, Napier. Reading in the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet, we hope to find a place to stop and explore before we arrive. That spot turns out to be the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre and we're just in time for the naturalist walk. The first stop is feeding of the long-fin eels, in a frenzy as pellets hit the water. A single large trout hangs about. Then we walk by spacious pens where native endangered birds are raised until they're big enough to defend themselves from imported predators and then released into the surrounding forests. There is a kiwi house where one might observe kiwis. Active only at night, the kiwis are difficult to find and watch. The naturalist disturbs a resting young kiwi to weigh and evaluate its progress. She brings it close to the fence for us to see up close and photograph.

Napier is a phoenix town. On February 3, 1931, for two to three minutes, Napier was rocked by an 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Much of the downtown was destroyed by the earth's wrenching upward 6 meters and the ensuing fires. Land appeared, where there was none before, enough for an airport. The town was rebuilt immediately in the style of the time—Art Deco. We stayed in the County Hotel (a former government building), one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake, beautifully redecorated, with few patrons. We had our first lamb shanks and kumara mash (sweet potato) in the neighborhood Irish pub across the street, complete with a bar imported from Belfast and lively Celtic music. The next morning we walked the broad streets to find breakfast at a sidewalk table and then returned to the hotel along Marine Parade shoreline park. Heading north to volcano country. Bye, bye to Napier.