A nice stop in Hawkes Bay

The next day I didn't feel like doing any more walking.
In Nelson is the World of Wearable Arts and Classic Cars museum so I went there, it had been on my list of things to see for a while. On the way to Nelson I picked up another couple of hitch hikers from the Czech Republic who wanted to go to Nelson, they were buying a car. I dropped them of in the centre and then went to the nice grassy hill next to the Cathedral to have some lunch, I had a wonder round the Cathedral which had lots of Christmas trees inside from different community groups, some were quite inventive.
I was enjoying my lunch when a familiar pair of trousers came up the hill, they belonged to Lucy, one of the hitch hikers I had just dropped off. Lucy and Thomas had done what they needed to do and had to wait around a bit to meet someone about the car and had had the same idea about lunch by the Cathedral, it was a nice surprise to see them again, they came over and we had lunch on the lawns together.



Lucy and Thomas

'The Missing Piece'

After a pleasant start to the day I went to the WOW museum, it was amazing. The devil really is in the details - the costume ideas are brilliant, cleverly made and detailed to a high standard, even up close the quality of finish is superb. I inspected them with great interest. My entry  a few years back 'The Missing Piece' looked good from a distance, but up close it wasn't up to it, I didn't have long enough to make it. I think I need to start with a less ambitious section next time, like the 'bizarre bras' and experiment more with construction techniques.

http://www.wowcars.co.nz/



The ferry was at 2.15am, yawn, so I boggled about down the Queen Charlotte Sound for a while sorting out the luggage in the back and generally faffing around for as long as possible. Little Quail birds came out in pairs onto the road and pecked around, I had some muesli bars I didn't like because they had cheap chocolate on them so I broke them up and fed them to the Quails.

The sun was setting and I still had a number of hours till the ferry, so I parked up in a quiet spot about 10kms from Picton and slept in the car. I didn't get any sleep on the ferry because seating was either low back café seats or the cinema room with comfy seats, as least I could rest my head back in the cinema and it wasn't too crowded. They were showing Terminator Genesis, so I didn't mind too much. It's got Arnie in it so you can't go wrong there. In Wellington I went to the coast to sleep until the library was open to exchange some books before driving on to Hastings, where I was going to catch up with a friend. It made for a good break in the journey to Auckland and also a chance to see Cape Kidnappers, plus after 7 years I am most completely bored with the SH1 route.

I found a nice campsite near Cape Kidnappers on the coast, I backtracked into Hastings to catch up with Pablo who I hadn't seen for a few months since he left to start fruit picking up north, it was great to catch up. He still thinks his English needs improving, I think it's very good. Back at the camp site I had a very good sleep after scattered naps the previous night, it really felt like one long 48 hour day. Long slump....

In the morning I walked to Cape Kidnappers:

Just one photo makes it seem like a short walk, it was actually 14km there and back, but people have short attention spans these days so here is one photo.

Aqui ya!

These birds are not Gannets. I thought they were going to steal my hat.

Gannets

It smelt of guano which isn't surprising, I observed the Gannets for a bit and then I was aware I hadn't checked the tide times and most people had been walking in the other direction. Duh! I headed back, it was a nice walk, but I'm glad I didn't leave it any later as the tide was coming in. The sun was reducing the shade my tent had been in but there was still a bit left by the picnic bench, I decamped quickly and had a quick cold shower to cool myself after the hot walk then drove the short distance to Napier, where as it happened Dolf and Francesca were staying for a few days. I didn't have time to hang about much as I needed to drive on to Hamilton where I was going to stay with Lorraine for the night.
But I had time for a wonder around Napier, Francesca mentioned they had had lunch at the Masonic Lodge so I thought I'd do the same, it's right in the centre and most splendid. It has burnt down twice during it's history and is now apparently one of the best pubs in the world.

The most splendid Masonic Lodge

I had a poke about in the hotel upstairs, it was still splendid.

 

Across the road on the lawns, the sun dial read:

..Serene I stand
Amongst the flowers
To tell the passing
Of the hours...

I went onto the stony beach, it reminded me of Brighton and West Worthing where there are no buildings on the beach side of the road, and where the stones fade into grass. The architecture is also reminiscent of Sussex, partly because it's one of the few places in NZ with nice architecture, there's also two structures jutting into the sea that if you imagined just a bit, they could be the Palace Pier and West Pier, and behind them are the cliffs in one direction which could lead to Beachy Head and in the other the land arcs around to where the Isle of White would be. It was Brighton from another time, another place.

As I was leaving town, I saw a familiar sedan drive by with a familiar driver, it was Dolf and Francesca. I drove out of Napier stopping to pick up some cherries and stone fruits from farms on the way, on to Hamilton.