Tui Brewery

We left Palmerston North about ten and headed for Wellington. We would pass the Tui Brewery on the way, so we thought that we would call in.

Good choice.  It was great fun.  Rather sexist in many ways I suppose, but we both found it amusing.  You could choose to have a tour if you wanted,  or just have a look around on your own (but you didn't get to see inside the brewery). We did the latter and spent an hour wandering around.  One of their ad slogans is "Yeah right" - which takes the form of a  statement such as "Another month and I'll have my summer body back" - "Yeah right".

There are lots of these statements,  and they even have a board where you can make your own up - see the pictures for the one that we did. 

Palmerston North

We rose fairly late from the crisp white sheets of our king size bed and had a leisurely breakfast,  knowing that the highlights of Palmerston North would not take a great deal of time to reveal themselves to us.  K had found a brochure for a sculpture trail through the town,  and that would form the basis for our wanderings. 

The motel is less than 10 minutes walk from the town's Central Square, with it's War Memorial. The day was turning out to be very warm indeed.  We found the sculptures,  one by one,  then had time to have lunch at Cafe Cuba and visit the museum and art gallery.  It was still only three thirty.  This is a very clean and arts aware place.  The ''Cafe Culture' was much in evidence. Enjoyable to walk around.  The attendant at the museum was a joy,  and very informative. 

We decided that we would eat in this evening,  as we ate out last night - so we did some shopping on the way back to the motel.  Now I am sitting on a bench in the sun at 6.30pm writing this!

From Napier to Palmerston North

This is not a long drive if you don't stop.  We stopped a few times.  The first was at the Arataki Honey Producers in Havelock North. Good place.  They have lots of information, free tastings and even some bee costumes to try on (if you're small enough)  :)

Next stop was a place named Dannevirke - so named because it was founded by a group of  Scandinavian families in the early 1900s. As we drove into town we saw lots of references to vikings.  There was even a children's playground with a (play) viking boat in it.  We stopped for some food and a coffee,  then found the information place and asked "Why?". It was  basically because the aforementioned families had colonized the area. 

The last stop was at Manawatu Gorge - which is, apparently, one of the few places in the world where a River cuts through a mountain range forming a natural gorge. It had roadworks on it which made it a little slower to get through than normal I suppose. 

We arrived at Palmerston North at about 4.15pm, registered at our motel (which is a bit like a Castle), then went for an explore.  We are very close to the town centre. 

Pania of the Reef

A statue on the Napier seafront

Mission Vineyards

This morning we went to see the oldest winery in New Zealand - Mission,  dating from 1851.  Interestingly, it is still owned by the Catholic Church. 

Napier Port and Bluff Hill Domain

After the visit to the aquarium the weather seemed a little better and so we headed for Bluff Hill, which overlooks Napier and the port. At one time,  before the quake of 1931, this had been a virtual islet at the end of an isthmus.  Then the quake caused the ground to rise by four metres,  and the sea receded.  The land was reclaimed,  and now it sits at the edge of the main part of Napier. There were some great views from the top. 

National Aquarium of New Zealand

A rather cloudy and wild day led us to visit the above.  Very interesting.  Also curious in that as well as fish and such,  there were also a fair number of other creatures represented.  Lizards, turtles,  penguins and even some Kiwis.  These were in a nocturnal section and we could see the two of them quite clearly rooting about in the earth with their long beaks. 

They were clearly male and female because the smaller male was obviously being amorous in trying to groom the female.  Then, in clear view,  he mounted her!  I'm sure that's  something that we will never see again in our lives!

The walk under tank with sharks and rays in was great - and we could see some divers who had paid to 'swim with the sharks'. It was a clear glass tunnel of thick glass,  with fish swimming all about. We spent about two hours in there, and had a snack lunch in their cafe.