Napier in the wild north-east

Our first day in North Island was in the capital, Wellington.

Just a city, really - though very clean and nice. We stayed in the Holiday Inn on Featherston, right in the city centre. When we arrived we asked where we could park, and were told to pay $25 to have our car valet-parked on the third floor inside the hotel. Didn't seem to have much choice about that. ($40 a day to hire it, and $25 to park it!)

So then on Monday morning we retrieved our little red car and headed north. We chose Highway 2 rather than Highway 1 (through Palmerston North), and experienced the windy-est drive we have ever seen anywhere through the mountain pass. (Not saying the wind was blowing, there were an incredible number of twists and turns!) The mountains in South Island seemed to be mostly rugged and snow-capped, but these in the North Island are more "fluffy" - still huge, but covered in lush vegetation. Once we were past the pass, we were mostly driving on the plain, again with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

And finally we arrived at Napier:



(This is looking down across the town from the Bluff lookout.)



The beach is pretty wild and windy, with spray coming off the ocean. (Of course, this is just the end of winter.)

It's a pebble beach.



We've noticed that New Zealand seems to be made of these flat grey pebbles. In the South Island the Queenstown lakeside beaches were the same, and whenever the mountains burst into landslides these flat grey pebbles seem to come pouring down.

The Nautilus

We are staying in the Nautilus studio apartments this time, rather than a regular hotel.



Room includes kitchenette with all mod cons, bathroom, ... and bedroom with spa.



And a great little balcony with views of the wild windy beach.

Next ... Rotorua.