2 days that feel like 20

Had a great weekend trip that started out 7am Saturday Morning. Took a flight up to Napier, NZ. A quick 40 minutes from Wellington Airport on Air New Zealand. Spend time walking around the Art Deco city of Napier, admiring the architecture. Walked along the beach, which was rather interesting with it's plethora of rounded stones and lack of sand.

Went to Marineland which had Californian Sea Lions, Common Dolphins, and New Zealand fur seals. The were really cool, and the dolphin and sea lion performed some tricks to get the audience interested.

We decided to stay in the Criterion Backpackers Hostel, which was really worth it. It's certainly budget, but for $50NZD you can't beat the location, and to top it off they provided two free drinks from the bar. A cheap NZ tui, and a house white wine.

Later that night we went for dinner at Aqua Seafood Restaurant which is in the Masonic Hotel. It was a good eat; service was a little spotty, but the food was worth the wait.

This morning, did some early morning shopping. Picked up a pair of shoes. Then took a bike ride on some rented mountain bikes. Starting biking to Hastings, but decided instead to veer off to a fruit stand with a good selection of fresh made ciders. Some hard ciders were up to 8% alcohol content; I think too strong for my liking, I instead found the lighter stuff much more palatable.

Picked up a rental from Hertz; a small Nissan 1.8 auto, and drove down to Wellington. The winding hills of the Rimatuka's were a bit intense to navigate in the pitch black night and hair pin turns. I managed.

I am taking tomorrow off, and then Tuesday is Anzac day, a national holiday in New Zealand.

---

Originally published on trumanboyes.blogspot.com. See the archived copy.