Thursday, August 10, 2017

Road trip in North Island - Day 12

3 January 2017

Another beautiful day in Napier!!

The sky was more clear this morning. I wanted to go easy today, nothing elaborate. Cooked breakfast, read and leisurely spent the morning in the Youth Hostel lounge. I booked in for another night in Napier than driving any further.

Injured penguins at the National Aquarium
 Visited the penguin feeding session at the aquarium. The little penguins were rescued from their habitats because of some injuries and are fed regularly by the staff. They were extremely cute creatures. Few too shy to come out of their nest and few others grabbing the food from your hands.

 Penguins are the National Aquarium 
It was so humid outside and I could go out in a T-shirt, finally felt like summer in New Zealand. I drove further south to Te Mata peak. It is a decent walk if you want to but I preferred driving all the way up and walked around from one hill to the other. The landscape was so unique with breathtaking views all around. On a clear day, one can see Mount Ruapehu towards West and Ruahine ranges down South. Not today though.

View from Te Mata peak
My next stop was at Cape Kidnappers, sounded interesting. It is a good idea to do this walk on a low tide day. The walk can get very risky and challenges when the waves get stronger. I preferred, once again to drive and walked to the beach. It wasn't an ideal day for the walk.

View from Te Mata peak
From hear I went searching for Tuki Tuki river, according to google maps it was 13 kms further South from Te Mata peak. When I actually reached the spot, I found myself stuck in a narrow road with no clue of any river what-so-ever. I couldn't even reverse the car, with some struggle I reached the paved road again and gave up the idea of locating Tuki Tuki river. Some misadventures!

View from Te Mata peak
I was back in Napier for another relaxed evening. Took a stroll in the city enjoying the warm breeze. Back in the room socialising with co-travellers, sharing stories across the table. Tomorrow I was heading back to Turangi.

View from Te Mata peak

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