DAY 5: Drinking Buddies

From NZ - DAY 5

CAPE KIDNAPPERS – Early in the morning I got found my way to the National Aquarium not far from my hostel.

It was decent but for a “national” aquarium I was a wee bit disappointed. After spending about an hour and a half looking at the fishies I wandered along the Marine Parade, a long road along the coastline which has tons of shops, gardens, bars and park area.

I had some Italian ice cream and wandered about. At midday I hoped aboard a Duck tour (like they have in the Dells). It was to get on the water, but there wasn't much to the tour except the last part – a wine and brewery tour.

The first stop was a winery called Church Road. I taste tested four different wines. Two were good and the others were okay. I am not a wine guy, anyways.

The next stop was at the Filter Room, a brewer of cider and ales. I bought a tray of six different brews and proceeded to taste. They were great. The ciders were actually better than the ales. It was a nice afternoon drink.

A couple of hours later I was on the road south out of Napier. I was headed to Cape Kidnappers where I had booked a tour of a Gannet colony.

If you want to know why Cape Kidnappers (locals pronounce it Cape Ka-nippers) is called such click here for an explanation.

I planned on finding a place to stay when I got in the area. I eventually found a motor/holiday park that had cabins. I hired one for $40NZ.

It was glorious. The cabin, which was suitable with a kitchen, overlooked Cape Kidnappers.

While settling in I ran into the camp manager, who told me to have a beer with him. I obliged and was introduced to three other drinking buddies. They were Perry, a local kiwi, and Tommy and Katie, travellers from Finland.

We stayed up most of the night drinking Double Brown Beer. It is a kiwi beer that is on par with Blatz.

Perry couldn't walk straight by 10:30 p.m, or maybe I just couldn't see straight.