Day 45 - 11/16/22 - Napier, NZ

 Napier is a very quaint and charming city that is renown as the art deco capital of the world.  It isn't the biggest collection of art deco, but it is the most compact and varied collection in the world.  It was created after a devastating earthquake in 1931 and following fire.  We were here in 2014 and it was pleasant to return.  One major thing that changed is that passengers can no longer walk from the ship to town and back.  One must take the shuttle bus.  But there were many buses with courteous and helpful drivers.

We had booked a vintage car tour with another couple and had the car from 10:30am until noon.  Tony was our driver in a '38 Packard 4 Door sedan with right hand drive.  Tony drove us around town with a stop at the main theatre and a former tobacco company located in an adjoining area.  He was full of history and antidotes and was dressed in period 1930's apparel.  It was fun.

After the tour the two couples separated and we headed down the Main Street in search of a barber for me as my hair was getting shaggy.  We encountered our Tukwila friends.  The wife had lost her phone, credit cards, and ID in Dunedin.  It was turned in intact to the Police Department across the street and they'll be able to pick it up when the ship returns there in a few weeks.  All of the credit cards and ID were intact.  That's really good and unexpected news. We finally found a barber shop with an Indian barber and for $35NZ or $21US I got my ears lowered.  Angela inquired if my Indian barber would cut her hair and he said yes.  So she got hers cut as well for the same price which was 50% of what a beautician would charge.  And she looks cute in her new haircut.  Both of us now have very short hair.  

We resumed our stroll through the Tin Park and found McDonald's but it was closed for remodeling.  So our second choice was Burger King and the Whopper with cheese meal tasted so good.  We then continued our stroll through the downtown area checking out thrift stores and doing some general shopping.  We ended up back at the info center where Angela rested and I strolled some more down to look at a nearby flower garden where I took some pictures.  When I returned I found her engaged in a chat with a Canadian couple who rented a small motorhome and were touring NZ.  They commented on how inexpensive it was to stay in the free or nominal cost camping spots with the motorhome.  At home they have a Sprinter van and totally recently enjoyed a major trip in the US.  Earlier we had met an English couple who were traveling around NZ in a rented car and were also having a great time.  I had helped the lady bring her rented bicycle up a flight of stairs.

We caught a small shuttle back to the port and were greeted by a small vintage car show on the pier. Even our Captain was enjoying it.  I had the chance to confirm with him that we were in fact going to dock at Circular Quay instead of White Bay.  This is tremendous news as Circular Quay is a far superior docking location with much better access to all of the tourist and transportation services.  

Back onboard the Westerdam, we listened to the Captain's departure announcement that we now have 31 reported cases of Covid on board (30 guests & 1 crew).  He also commented that the Staff Captain (2nd in Command) would be taking the ship away from the berth and that it was a particularly difficult departure as the ship has to move slowly forward until the ship is about 1/2 way down the pier and then rotate counter clockwise 90º and sail out into the open seas.  We had two tugs on standby and the Staff Captain executed the maneuver with ease.  As we left port a rain squall moved in and the city was engulfed in a pretty significant rain shower.  There was even a rainbow over our ship.  The captain also commented that the tendering operation tomorrow might be challenging due to weather and the length of the tender ride and that there will be cargo ship movements which will halt all tender operations.  We have an excursion around noon, so we'll see if that really will happen.  For Tauranga on Friday I booked a Hobbit tour with Viator which another couple is also on.

After dinner with Erik & Marilyn, we all watched the Blue Planet II BBC Earth video on the Main Stage before retiring to the stateroom where I caught up on my blog before retiring for the evening.  It was another good day.