This morning, we had a later arrival in port at Napier and Hawke's Bay and consequently a chance for a later breakfast.
When it was time for our excursion, we were pleased to find that we were in a smaller safari bus to Cape Kidnapper. Our experience has been that we have a much better and more personalized experience on the smaller groups. There were about 10 or 12 in our group. Our guide/driver was a local and had lots of stories along the way out. Our destination was all the way back out to the end of the bay that we had come into, and took about an hour.
The area has good soil and climate conditions for lots of apples and fruit production. We passed many apple orchards and learned that most of New Zealand's apples are produced here.
Finally we arrived at Cape Kidnapper Station. This was a large sheep station (ranch) that was purchased by an American billionaire after visiting the area. He had a portion set aside to develop a world-class golf course and resort...costing about $1500 a night for a stay and a round. The views as we passed through the area were magnificent, but losing a ball down the many sheer cliff faces would take any fun out of being there.
Another part of the station has been set aside as a wildlife sanctuary. Our guide volunteers there, serving on the 'mice and rats' team. He told us that rats, feral cats, stoats and weasels were major problems, and traps were prevalent to control the situation. New Zealand originally did not have 4-legged mammals, so an extensive bird culture developed, including a number of large wingless birds, which didn't have much competition until these other predators were introduced.
Rabbits were brought by the Europeans as a food source, which got out of control. So stoats were introduced to control the rabbits, which didn't work either. To protect the habitats of some of these rare and extinction-prone avian species, these large sanctuaries are being developed, some of them complete with fences.
We passed several amazing overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, and made a couple of photo stops, in addition to some brief stops to open and close gates (it's still an active sheep and cattle station as well).
Cape Kidnappers is a dramatic promontory at the southern end of the sweep of Hawke's Bay and is the largest and most accessible mainland nesting place of gannets in the world. There are 15,000 gannets that make their home here. We were about 25 kilometers from the cruise pier by the time we reached the point, which rose about 328 feet above the beach below.
There were many stages of development represented in the nesting area, from an egg in a nest (there was some serious doubt if that egg would ever hatch), to young chicks decked out in fuzzy white feathers, to young birds with speckled grey feathers and fuzzy heads, to mature gannets with yellow heads and black-trimmed wings.
The male and female gannets mate for life, as do so many of the birds here. They take turns at the nest while the other goes out to sea to fish and bring food home for the voracious youngsters. When mom or dad gets back with dinner, the little one does a dance for their parent, begging for the food, and when the parent relents, the baby dives down the throat of the parent to get a pre-digested meal.
Alan's first pass at making a video of our visit to Cape Kidnapper's can be found at this page on YouTube.
We had a chance to see exactly how the lumber industry works as well. The growing period to a mature pine tree, ready for harvest, is about 20 to 25 years here, as opposed to about 40 years in the rest of the world. This makes growing pine trees an agricultural crop. The trees have been planted in areas that might have originally been cleared by the early settlers, especially those from Europe. Trees are planted back in areas after harvest, providing some cover and habitat for the native birds that have been pushed out of their original stomping grounds.
We reluctantly got back on the bus and made our way back through the farm area of the station, eventually getting back to Gannet Safaris home base at Te Awanga. We were provided with that they called "tea", but it really was a 'heavy tea', with sandwiches, cakes, lemingtons, cheeses, crackers, fruit, and vegetables. We got our food and drinks and found a nice table outside to enjoy the food and the experience. We were to take a different bus back to Napier, which wasn't there yet, so we looked in the office/shop area, and had a nice chat with the manager.
Once we were back in Napier, we wandered around for a while, taking in the scenery and doing a little shopping. We started at the visitor's center, where there was a nice beach and a sunken garden to commemorate those that were killed in the massive 1931 earthquake. The garden was put into an area that was raised out of the sea during that earthquake, and is at the level of the sea floor at that time. We had a chance to walk the streets and see the architectural style up close.
We walked through the village and visited a number of shops, including the Chemist's shop (Pharmacy) to look for some remedies for Alan's continuing allergy issues. We chatted with the chemist (pharmacist) and he gave us some good suggestions, especially with what medication Alan already takes.
We made our way back to the shuttle point, and then to the ship . We had reservations for dinner at Jacques, the French restaurant on the ship. We had heard very nice things from other passengers, but French cuisine isn't usually our favorite. We were very pleasantly surprised at the menu, the service, and especially the food. We had the best yeast rolls of the entire trip (with a Pain de Jacques label baked right onto the rolls!), tasty scallop appetizers, great French Onion Soup, exquisite Filet Steak with Seared Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce, and Maine Lobster Baked in Shell with Mushroom Cream Sauce Served with Crispy Parmesan. The desserts were just as wonderful, and our waitress made sure to bring us extra when we were having difficulty making a choice.
When it was time for our excursion, we were pleased to find that we were in a smaller safari bus to Cape Kidnapper. Our experience has been that we have a much better and more personalized experience on the smaller groups. There were about 10 or 12 in our group. Our guide/driver was a local and had lots of stories along the way out. Our destination was all the way back out to the end of the bay that we had come into, and took about an hour.
We did a quick run through the town of Napier, which had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1931, and rebuilt in the popular architecture of the time, Art Decco. They have a number of period festivals, and our guide has a re-manufactured Jaguar that he displays there.
The area has good soil and climate conditions for lots of apples and fruit production. We passed many apple orchards and learned that most of New Zealand's apples are produced here. Finally we arrived at Cape Kidnapper Station. This was a large sheep station (ranch) that was purchased by an American billionaire after visiting the area. He had a portion set aside to develop a world-class golf course and resort...costing about $1500 a night for a stay and a round. The views as we passed through the area were magnificent, but losing a ball down the many sheer cliff faces would take any fun out of being there. Another part of the station has been set aside as a wildlife sanctuary. Our guide volunteers there, serving on the 'mice and rats' team. He told us that rats, feral cats, stoats and weasels were major problems, and traps were prevalent to control the situation. New Zealand originally did not have 4-legged mammals, so an extensive bird culture developed, including a number of large wingless birds, which didn't have much competition until these other predators were introduced. Rabbits were brought by the Europeans as a food source, which got out of control. So stoats were introduced to control the rabbits, which didn't work either. To protect the habitats of some of these rare and extinction-prone avian species, these large sanctuaries are being developed, some of them complete with fences. We passed several amazing overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, and made a couple of photo stops, in addition to some brief stops to open and close gates (it's still an active sheep and cattle station as well).
As we neared the summit of another overlook, we were overwhelmed at the sight of thousands of birds. Gannets! Here at the end of the cape, there were at least 3 protected nesting areas. The one right in front of us was basically roped off so that the visitors knew where to stand, and the gannets were just a few feet on the other side of the low rope barrier.
We were probably at this nesting area for 45 short minutes, with each minute filled with watching landing, feeding, floating, and lots and lots of squawking. We videoed and snapped pictures of a lot of birds. Here are just a very few of them:
We were probably at this nesting area for 45 short minutes, with each minute filled with watching landing, feeding, floating, and lots and lots of squawking. We videoed and snapped pictures of a lot of birds. Here are just a very few of them:
Cape Kidnappers is a dramatic promontory at the southern end of the sweep of Hawke's Bay and is the largest and most accessible mainland nesting place of gannets in the world. There are 15,000 gannets that make their home here. We were about 25 kilometers from the cruise pier by the time we reached the point, which rose about 328 feet above the beach below.There were many stages of development represented in the nesting area, from an egg in a nest (there was some serious doubt if that egg would ever hatch), to young chicks decked out in fuzzy white feathers, to young birds with speckled grey feathers and fuzzy heads, to mature gannets with yellow heads and black-trimmed wings. The male and female gannets mate for life, as do so many of the birds here. They take turns at the nest while the other goes out to sea to fish and bring food home for the voracious youngsters. When mom or dad gets back with dinner, the little one does a dance for their parent, begging for the food, and when the parent relents, the baby dives down the throat of the parent to get a pre-digested meal.
Alan's first pass at making a video of our visit to Cape Kidnapper's can be found at this page on YouTube.
We had a chance to see exactly how the lumber industry works as well. The growing period to a mature pine tree, ready for harvest, is about 20 to 25 years here, as opposed to about 40 years in the rest of the world. This makes growing pine trees an agricultural crop. The trees have been planted in areas that might have originally been cleared by the early settlers, especially those from Europe. Trees are planted back in areas after harvest, providing some cover and habitat for the native birds that have been pushed out of their original stomping grounds.We reluctantly got back on the bus and made our way back through the farm area of the station, eventually getting back to Gannet Safaris home base at Te Awanga. We were provided with that they called "tea", but it really was a 'heavy tea', with sandwiches, cakes, lemingtons, cheeses, crackers, fruit, and vegetables. We got our food and drinks and found a nice table outside to enjoy the food and the experience. We were to take a different bus back to Napier, which wasn't there yet, so we looked in the office/shop area, and had a nice chat with the manager.Once we were back in Napier, we wandered around for a while, taking in the scenery and doing a little shopping. We started at the visitor's center, where there was a nice beach and a sunken garden to commemorate those that were killed in the massive 1931 earthquake. The garden was put into an area that was raised out of the sea during that earthquake, and is at the level of the sea floor at that time. We had a chance to walk the streets and see the architectural style up close. We walked through the village and visited a number of shops, including the Chemist's shop (Pharmacy) to look for some remedies for Alan's continuing allergy issues. We chatted with the chemist (pharmacist) and he gave us some good suggestions, especially with what medication Alan already takes. We made our way back to the shuttle point, and then to the ship . We had reservations for dinner at Jacques, the French restaurant on the ship. We had heard very nice things from other passengers, but French cuisine isn't usually our favorite. We were very pleasantly surprised at the menu, the service, and especially the food. We had the best yeast rolls of the entire trip (with a Pain de Jacques label baked right onto the rolls!), tasty scallop appetizers, great French Onion Soup, exquisite Filet Steak with Seared Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce, and Maine Lobster Baked in Shell with Mushroom Cream Sauce Served with Crispy Parmesan. The desserts were just as wonderful, and our waitress made sure to bring us extra when we were having difficulty making a choice.
Steve Teague, an accomplished opera singer from the US, joined the ship yesterday and gave a surprisingly nice program of music, ranging from classical to contemporary. He had a booming baritone/bass voice, and while we expected to hear more of an operatic repertoire, he did a nice job of relating to the clientele on the ship.
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