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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 16

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The sun was shining as we farewelled Napier on our 09:30 departure. We seated ourselves in one of the wooden train carriages, which afforded us the luxury of having two seats on either side of the carriage so we had the view on both sides covered.  The run behind the diesels was pretty smooth, although slightly slower at the start as we were again on heat speed restrictions ( the temperature was in the low twenties!). As we headed into cloudy skies and a few drops of rain began to fall, it became clear the restrictions wouldn’t last long and we would soon be cleared to travel at top speed.  The very efficient staff came through with the morning tea trolley soon after we got underway and before we knew it, the morning had passed and we were stopped in Waipukurau where our packed lunches were brought on board.  We enjoyed the scenery as we ate and travelled back down the Palmerston North - Napier line that we had journeyed up on only a few short days ago. At Woodville stati...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 15

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  What a fabulous day. We woke to brilliant sunshine and got ready for our vintage car tour of Napier. Wallsy and I were in the first tour group to depart at 08:30 for the Art Deco Trust Centre. Although it was a mere 500m down the street from our hotel, we were loaded on the coach and delivered to the centre. They weren’t taking any risks with today’s tour going wrong!  And after the fourth accident in 9 days, I think the tour leaders are a little nervous. This latest accident - a fall down the staircase in the hotel last night - needed an ambulance response and the gentleman seemingly spent the night in hospital. Today he is sporting a rather large plaster on the back of his head and walking with the aid of a stick.  Anyway, the first group of 15 made it safely to the pick up point, where we watched a video detailing the impact of the 1931 earthquake, which devastated Napier and resulted in it becoming the town it is today, with much well preserved Art Deco architecture...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 14

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  A gannet safari was first on the agenda today, so we assembled outside our hotel at 8:15am, following the usual buffet breakfast, and were met by our coaches (well, most of us were!)  No sooner had we set off for Cape Kidnappers, site of the world’s largest gannet colony, than we got caught up in road diversions created by the Ironmaori triathlon. Our two coaches comically drove around in circles for a while trying to navigate the detours, the drivers and traffic marshalls exchanging angry words and gesticulations.  To add to the angst, one of our tour leaders received a phone call to say we had left one couple behind in Napier. An uber was quickly organised to bring them to the departure point for the safari and we continued on through the melee of cyclists and traffic to the Cape. A 25 minute trip had taken us an hour. To add to the delay, we then had to wait, in the rain for the missing couple to join us.  We were finally underway in 3 4WD safari buses, both the...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 13

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Wallsy and I got out of bed early and went for a brisk walk before breakfast today. One of the problems of a trip such as this is the sedentary nature of it. Pity they don’t offer some more active sightseeing options at the stops - a nice bike ride or a short hike would appeal to some of the participants, I’m sure.  Our train departed Palmerston North on time at 9am and we were positioned throughout the carriages on the right hand side in the direction of travel for the best views of the Manawatu Gorge.  Coming out of Palmerston North, we first crossed the Pohangina River before running down to the Manawatu River gorge, where the rails hugged the side  and we marvelled at the views of the old, now closed road, which ran along the opposite side, often suspended off the rocky edges above the river.  Once we had left the gorge, we stopped at the historic Woodville Railway Station where we had time to explore the station museum displays.  Back on the rails we were s...
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