Hawkes Bay

We traveled across the North Island to Hawkes Bay the first weekend in February
and spent three days touring around Hastings and Napier.  Our South African
friends went over as well and we all stayed in the same motel.  It was great
having them with us as the kiddos had built-in playmates in the evenings.  The
kids were the rowdy cut-ups of the motel parking lot and the management was
probably glad to see the back of us.

It was a fun weekend and we got a good look at Hawkes Bay, the bread basket of
New Zealand.  We left a rainy Hawera on Friday and retraced our route to
Masterton, except we turned after north crossing through the Manawutu Gorge.
Friday was a national holiday, Waitangi Day, and we spent several hours taking in
the National Aquarium in Napier.  The stars of the show were the cute little Blue
Penguins, most of which are rescued birds with injuries.  We also saw our first
Kiwis!  Kiwis are nocturnal birds, native to New Zealand, and they only survive
in zoos and fenced enclosures.

Robinson helo slinging a fertilizer bucket

Taking a bite of the pre-historic

An American gator

Riegardt and David

Kids at the penguin feeding

Cute little birds

Enhanced photo since the enclosure is really dim

Studying the water wheel

The rocky beaches of Napier

The kids play...

...while tea is prepared

Day two had us at Splash Planet in Napier.  The park has both dry and wet rides
and the kids loved driving the go-carts.  The boys and I rode all the slides,
but New Zealand isn't the greatest location for a water park.  Even in
mid-summer the water was really chilly.

Jack Foyt

Bumper boats

On Sunday, we went to the Silky Oak Chocolate company for a tour of their
museum.  This was the first of several chocolate factory tours we have planned.
We're planning to see Cadbury on the South Island next.  After chocolate
overload, we went for a tractor tour of Cape Kidnappers to see the sights and
the Gannet colony that roosts at the far end of the cape.  The cape tour was
like a long hayride without the hay.  Old tractors pull trailers along the beach
and through the surf out to the end of the cape.

Chocolate souvenirs

The geology of the cape is really interesting.  The end of the cape is being
pushed up by tectonic activity and the sandstone layers are very clearly tilted.
In a couple of spots along the cape, slip faults are visible in the layers,
another witness to the geologic activity of the region.

The hike up to the Gannet colony took about 45 minutes and the views were
spectacular.

Waiting on tractors

On the trailer

Our tractor driver, Collin

Tilted layers

Slip fault

The view toward Napier

The end of the cape

Marching to the birds

And they stink

Pano of the colony

Down the hill

Playing in the surf

Waiting on a ride home

Tractor through the surf

Another view of layering

Sign on the shack reads, "Topless bathing permitted"