Napier came highly recommended by many people including Iain so I was excited for the chance to wander around and take photos of all the old buildings. Iain went to work in one of the Internet cafes and I explored the downtown and waterfront areas of the city. The buildings really are fantastic, all the old 1930's styles mixed in with more modern architecture. I decided to forgo the costly city tour offered from the I-site office and poke about on my own. There are signs and placards all over giving the history of the earthquake and rebuilding of Napier. Apparently there is a huge festival in March where the whole city decks itself out in 1920's clothes and people bring classic cars from all over the country for a parade. I don't think we'll get back for it, but I managed to get a taste of it in the day we spent there.
I ended up chatting with an older guy who worked for the city, he had been really helpful earlier in the day when Iain and I were looking for a good place to park the van. He offered some suggestions for other places on the North Island to visit (which we followed with great success later on) and gave us his brothers name and phone number for when we were thinking of selling the van. Kiwi's really are the most helpful people I've met while travelling!
After four or five hours of playing avid tourist Iain and I headed out of town and ended up outside Clive (a suburb of Napier) in a free rest spot. I LOVE free camping! We pulled up on a beautiful stretch of pebble beach, pulled out the camping chairs and watched the sun set while making dinner. There were a number of other caravans scattered around the area, each one with a tree or shrub for privacy/shade.
All in all we were getting used to the lifestyle!
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