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| Margaret, Chuck, Brian, Barb at the Gannet Colony |
A few weeks before our arrival in Napier, we had received
word from the ship that because of tides in Tauranga, we would be unable to
leave as early as planned. This meant
that our already too-short stop in Napier would be shortened by another
hour! Before we had left on the trip, we
heard from our friends Brian and Margaret Amor saying that if we would like,
they could meet us and spend the day with us while we were in Napier. Of course we were very pleased, so losing an
hour really was disappointing for us.
Three years ago, Brian and Margaret had graciously invited
us to their home in Gisborne (“where the day begins” – the first land mass to
receive the light of each day). They
picked us up in Napier, took us home with them where we spent a very enjoyable
evening seeing their fruit orchards as well as their egg industry, and then
returned us to the ship the following day in Tauranga, making several stops
along the way, including one at their chicken farm where all the eggs in the
Gisborne area are produced. We hadn’t seen them since, and of course we hadn’t
anticipated that they might be able to see us again. So we were very pleased that they were able
to take the time to join us in Napier.
Napier is a port town of about 58,000 people located on
Hawke’s Bay. Most of the seaport is
loaded with more logs and log chips than you could ever imagine – all being
prepared to be shipped to various parts of the world. It is also known for its art deco buildings,
but even though we’ve been in Napier twice, we’ve never really had a chance to
tour that part of the town.
As soon as we were able, we exited the ship and hopped the
shuttle past the security gate at the port.
(We were told that passengers are not allowed to walk out of the port
when cargo ships are loading lumber, and they were definitely busy doing that when
we were in port!) Before we were even
off the shuttle, I spotted Margaret waiting for us. Brian had parked the car a little way down,
and in short order we were on our way.
Even though it had been three years since we’d seen them, it felt like
we had seen them yesterday – they are so warm and friendly.
As we drove through the lovely seaside town of Napier we
were absolutely amazed at all the bagpipe bands we saw! We really would have loved to stop and listen
to a few of them, but our time had already been shortened so we didn’t
dare.
We headed out of Napier along the bay to the town of
Clifton, where we were scheduled to do a “safari” to a nearby gannet
colony. I had scheduled that as a shore excursion
before we knew we would be meeting Brian and Margaret, and Margaret had always
wanted to visit Cape Kidnapper’s Gannet Safari, so when we made arrangements to
meet, she called and booked the four of us on an afternoon tour. After locating the office, we found a café
where we could eat lunch. We enjoyed
looking out across the street at the bay and the beautiful azure blue
water. But we most enjoyed the
opportunity to sit and visit after so many years!
As we prepared to head out, we noticed a billboard stating,
“This area closed after 2:00 for cruise ship guests.” So I guess the place we chose to eat was good
enough for the Amsterdam!
Arriving at the safari office, we saw a few small safari
buses and immediately spotted our friends Bob & Nancy, who were on the ship
tour. Although we were about 15 minutes
behind them in leaving, they were stopping for a snack at the café afterward so
we figured our timing was pretty good.
There were about a dozen people on our bus, including the
four of us as well as a few other Americans and a couple more Kiwis. We set off into the nature preserve – a dense
forest. The driver gave a running
commentary, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to take notes and couldn’t always
catch his New Zealand accent! Frustrating! I did pick up that the land was purchased by
an American and that he was working to provide a haven for some of the
endangered animals, including kiwis as well as a few other types of indigenous
birds. They were working to remove all
the animal predators who threatened these birds, including some of the 40
million or so possums that now make New Zealand their home!
Eventually we passed from the forest into the Cape
Kidnappers Station. Station is the Kiwi
word for a very large ranch. Cape Kidnappers
reminded us very much of the shore excursion we took in Christchurch – the land
was quite hilly and had low shrubs and lots and lots of sheep. In that case it was all sheep, but Cape
Kidnappers also boasted a lot of cattle.
We stopped for a spectacular view of the cliffs that
descended down to Hawke’s Bay and the many layers of rocks that were evident
along the cliffs. We wondered why the
stop there was so long, but we soon discovered that had we left sooner, we
would have timed it wrong to pass some other safari vehicles going the other
direction on a one-way road! We did
meet, but we at least could pass at a convenient location.
In 2011 on the Voyage of the Vikings, we took a shore
excursion that visited the place in Iceland where the European and North
American tectonic plates met. (Iceland
is the only country that can honestly say it is located in both Europe and
North America.) This time we discovered
that we were crossing over from the Pacific plate to the Australasian plate,
and the line was very easy to identify! Having
listened to an Explorations speaker who discussed these tectonic plates, it
made our viewing of the geological formations even more interesting! According to our guide, the Pacific plate is
sliding underneath the Australasian plate at the astonishing rate of the growth
of a fingernail a year! (At least I
think I have it right. Maybe the Australasian plate is sliding under the
Pacific plate. I won’t hold my breath
and see if I notice the difference next year!)
Soon after crossing from one plate to another, we arrived at
the gannet colony. Unlike the colony we
visited near Auckland, we were able to walk up to within feet of these
gannets. It was amazing to watch these
animals up close. We were particularly
interested in a pair of gannets who had an extremely rare set of twin
chicks. Since gannets only lay one egg
at a time, this is highly unusual! We
watched the gannets taking off, soaring overhead, and searching for a place to
land, a comical sight to see as they are very clumsy at landing. Chuck saw one crash land on top of another,
and the one who cushioned the landing was not pleased! We watched mates singing to each other and
nuzzling each other. We really got a
kick out of spending the time watching their characteristic moves.
Soon we were on our way again, retracing our steps back to
the office. As promised, the guide got
us back at 4:30. We were relieved
because of the early sail-away. We
hopped in the car for our trip back to Napier.
Margaret had a fresh orange for each of us – organically grown on their
farm in Gisborne. Very juicy and
delicious (and no seeds)!
We had debated how we would return to the ship since we
couldn’t walk through the port, so when we arrived back in Napier and saw the
shuttle, we decided that this would be the most practical way to return to the
ship. We felt bad hopping out of the car
so quickly to jump on the shuttle, but we figured it was a sure thing! Within a few minutes we had said our quick
good-byes and were on the shuttle preparing to head back to the port. We were sorry to have had such a short visit
with Brian and Margaret, but we were really pleased to have had the opportunity
to see them once again! It was a real
treat for us!
BT
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