Rafting and Art Deco

Napier, the Art Deco Capital of the World, was next on our trip as we arrived Monday, April 17.  In 1931 a big earthquake destroyed everything, raising the inner harbor and other areas, and leaving more than 7,000 additional acres.  All the new construction was built as art deco.   

We were going river rafting.  I haven’t done that since the 80s in Denali National Park.  What a blast. 

We were all geared up with rain jackets, pants and life jackets.  We were ready to go.

We were rafting the Mohaka River, which means "place for dancing."

There was some white water.  I don't remember what they classify this river, not a big one.

There were some beautiful gorges that we rafted through, rising high on the one side, so we craned our necks to see all the way to the top.

We worked our way around the bends, marveling at the scenery.

It turns out the two who fell out of the one raft were a married couple on their 35^th wedding anniversary.  Their names were Mark and Donna, and what an exciting memory to have on your anniversary.  I had hoped they’d consider it a good one.  I chatted with them later and they seemed to think so.  And this wasn’t the first time.  Great folks and a great sense of humor.

And we rafted around still more bends.

The photographer is standing on the rock to the right taking our pictures.

And he got some good ones.

The river was high due to lots of rain this year, so it was running faster than usual.  There were several rafts of us, and on one a lady fell out, and on another two people fell out. I saw the photos from the fallout.  Wow.

It was a great day filled with sunshine.  Napier has about 2,258 hours of sunshine and a little over 30 inches of rain in a year..  January and February are the warmest months with an average high around 75 degrees.  July and August are the coolest with a high of about 57 degrees.  We had great temperatures. 

The hillsides look like green velvet.  There are about nine sheep to every person in New Zealand.  And there are roughly four million New Zealanders.  That's a lot of sheep, and we can say from experience, they're hard to get a photograph of as they seem to know we want a picture and turn their butts and run from us, even when we're passing through on a bus.

We were done rafting a bit early so our bus driver took us so we could at least get a glimpse of some of the art deco, and what beautiful buildings they were.  Next time I’d opt to wandering around the little town and taking a peek at it all.  And, the guide even entertained us a bit playing a concertina.  It was fun, and different.

The archway along the water was pretty.  No big hotels or buildings here as the beach is for the public since the earthquake took down all the buildings on the waterfront.  That's a great idea.  We wished we'd had time to do some beach walking.  Next time.

Looking out at Hawke's Bay, named by Captain James Cook in 1769 after Sir Edward Hawke, First Lord of the Admiralty.  This work is something of beauty, but I don't remember what it's for.  I like it anyway.

This statue is Pania, a figure from Maori mythology.

Napier is the second-largest settlement in the Hawke's Bay area of New Zealand's north island, with a population of 57,240 (2014)

Napier has 123 art deco buildings, combining linear symmetry of art deco with tribal Maori motifs.

As we were driving back to the ship, we were stopped by the police.  There’s a new one for you … a Princess excursion tour bus being chased by a cop car with the lights running code, siren ablaring.  Haha.  Turns out when our driver was transferring fuel from one tank to another, some was leaking as the valve wasn’t completely closed.  Fixed, and on our way after a wave from the police and some big smiles on their part.  The excitement never ends with us.

Back at the dock there were eight or nine vintage vehicles and folks dressed up in period costumes.  It was great.  This was my favorite.

Every vehicle was as shiny as could be.  They were beautiful.  What a lovely way to end our time on shore.

We had a nice send-off committee of sailboats.  It was great.  And our pilot's boat was coming to get him.

We had two boats to pick up the pilot, one of which was in training and working to pick up the pilot from our ship.  The old hand finally came to get him.  It was like dance choreography.

 It was another great day, with fun, excitement, and most importantly, lots of warmth and sunshine.