Napier is a city located on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand.  I had never heard of it before my trip here, but it turns out that it is well known because it was designed in the style of Art Deco.  What’s art deco, you ask?  It was the popular decorative art style in the 1920s and 1930s.  It is characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes that are seen in architecture.  It turns out that there was a devastating 7.8 earthquake in Napier on February 3, 1931 that killed 256 people.  The earthquake last for two and a half minutes.  Can you imagine?  Two and a half minutes!  Wow!  I’m sure it won’t surprise you that the earthquake destroyed many of the buildings in the city.  Because Art Deco was fashionable at the time and because it was relatively inexpensive to create that look, the city’s buildings were rebuilt in that style.  I went on a walking tour of the city and took some pictures of the Art Deco buildings so that you could get an idea of what they look like.  If you’re interested in reading more about the Napier earthquake, click here.  (One fascinating outcome of the earthquake that I’d quickly like to mention is that 25 square miles of land rose up from the sea bed to become dry land.  This increased Napier’s size and, in fact, the airport there now sits on top of a large portion of this land.)

Have you read any of J.R. Tolkien’s books?  If so, you might be familiar with “The Hobbit” or “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.  Even if you haven’t read the books, I’m sure that you’ve heard of the movies that have been made over the past decade or so.  I was fortunate to be able to visit The Alexanders’ farm where portions of the movies were filmed.  They own a working sheep and beef farm, but a small portion of the farm was turned into a movie set for the filming of some of the scenes.  If you would like to read more about it, you can go to this website.  Below are some of my favorite photos from the day.

The Maori people traveled from Polynesia around the 1300’s and settled in New Zealand. Of course, just like people of any society, they have experienced many changes over the past several hundred years. Fortunately I was able to visit a place called Tamaki Maori Village which was created in order to educate people about the traditions and customs of the Maori people.

We participated in the “Powhiri” (formal welcome) before we were able to enter the village. The Maori warriors came out to meet us. They began by displaying some intimidating gestures to show us their power and strength.

The chief then placed the “Teka” (peace offering) on the ground for the “chief” from our tourist group to pick up as a sign that we came in peace.

The chief of the Maori tribe.

At that point we were able to enter the village where we learned about many different aspects of traditional Maori life. (I videotaped some of this for you to see when I return.)

Games were used to train children the skills that they would need to become strong and valiant warriors.

We also got to see the Maori perform some traditional dances and war chants. The evening concluded when we got to sit down at the table to eat a traditional “Hangi” feast. It was delicious.

The preparations for the Hangi feast include chicken, lamb and kumara (sweet potatoes) being cooked in an underground oven.

I can share more about this with you when I return to school. I really enjoyed learning about the Maori people.

Te Puia is part of the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve.  It is an amazing geothermal area with several geysers.  The biggest one is named Pohutu and  it shoots up to 50 feet in the air many times throughout the day.  In addition, there are sulphurous springs (I wish that you could smell what it’s like here) and glooping pools of boiling mud.  It is quite an impressive place to see in person.  I wish I had more time to tell you about it in this post, but instead, I am going to direct you to this website if you’d like to learn more.

Nature is amazing, isn’t it? I took a 30 minute walk down to the beach to visit a place called Cathedral Cove. There is a beautiful rock archway to pass under to reach one part of the beach. It was stunning to see in person. I only wish it was a little bit warmer here right now!

Cathedral Cove Archway

Sail Rock

The stairs back up to the car.

Today we drove to Coromandel Peninsula on the east side of the North Island.  It is famous for its beautiful beaches.  The view from the top of the hill was spectacular…. and I’m happy to report that there was NO RAIN!!

The main attraction at this beach is that there are natural hot springs that you can access during low tide each day.  So, we rented a shovel and walked down to the beach from our cabin.

We began digging in the sand in order to find a hot spot of warm water.

We dug and dug and dug, but unfortunately we did not find a hot water spot.  Others were more fortunate than us and were able to dig their own hot water spas to enjoy right out on the sand.

If you want to read more about this natural wonder, you can click here.

The weather in Auckland has been unseasonably cold for this time of the year.  Speaking of which, since I am in the southern hemisphere down here, do you know which season it is?

Throughout the day we have been experiencing times of sunshine and times of rain.  The only constant has been the wind, so I’m glad that I packed a good jacket and a windbreaker.

Of course, the wonderful thing about the sunshine following the rain is that you often get to see a rainbow.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that capture your attention when you’re traveling in another country.  We found this McDonald’s in the Auckland airport.

Can you guess which size drinks we ordered?  The one on the left is a size SMALL and the one on the right is a size MEDIUM.  I wonder how many ounces are in an average medium sized drink here in New Zealand compared to the United States.  Something tells me that as Americans we must drink a lot more soda than New Zealanders typically do.  I wonder why that is.

What would you pack in your suitcase if you were going on a 3-week trip?  I have been thinking about that all weekend long as I’ve been preparing to leave for New Zealand.  There are so many things to think about: clothes, travel books, money, travel documents, medicine, electronics, etc.  After a lot of planning and packing, I hope that I have remembered all of the essential items.

Here are my before and after pictures:

What to bring?

Ready to roll!