Napier, New Zealand (Day 45)

February 6, 2024

We had a late arrival into Napier this am. We arrived at noon and we had a tour set up for 12:15. We were greeted at the dock by a Maori tribesman who did a ritual dance to welcome us. Napier is known for its art deco houses and businesses and they really play up that theme including dressing in 1920s attire and driving classic cars. They are also the only place in New Zealand to have black sand beaches.

The Maori tribesman greeting us Classic car in period outfits

You can see a little of the black sand beaches

Black sand beaches

Some of the art deco buildings in Napier

Todays excursion was to go to Cape Kidnappers and see the gannet colonies. The only way you can get there is a tour because it is on private land. First we stopped by their office for a potty break and they had a cute bathroom sign.

Cute way to tell you no facilities for 3 hours.

You are going up into the cliffs along the water and the roads are gravel and very winding and 1 lane. We had a bus that holds 18 and there were times, going up hill, that I thought we were all going to have to get out and push.

The first stop was on a cliff overlooking the ocean with some dramatic sea scapes.

After the view we headed towards the gannet colonies and when we rounded the bend at the top of the cliff we were all stunned at how many birds there were and of course the smell. This colony has about 4000 birds and they have been nesting here since about 1870.

Gannet colony

I tried a panoramic shot with the iPhone.

There are 4 colonies and we could only see 2.

Looking out to sea you can see one of the other colonies on top of the rocks.The colony in the saddle of the rock has about 4700.

A molting chick a juvenile gannet

selfie time

Gannets mate for life A Gannet out at sea

Parent and Juvenile

We spent about 30 minutes up with the gannets and then headed back to the safari office for a snack. Then we headed back to the port. When we arrived at the port several more classic cars had shown up with their drivers in period costumes. There was also a band playing.