Whakatane, New Zealand

We are about a week into our road trip of the North island of New Zealand. We have been living out of suitcases for the past month and I'm looking forward to staying in one place for a little while.
Ann and I have travelled thousands of miles since leaving San Diego for London on January 12th.
After our London trip, I spent a few days on the boat and went down to Auckland to meet the Admiral and we took a look around New Zealand's largest city before taking the train to the capital, Wellington.
The train took almost 12 hours and was a very good way to look at the center of the country. The weather was a little overcast but we were able to see the varied landscapes of the the North.
We spent 2 days in Wellington and unfortunately the weather was windy, cold and wet which precluded any outdoor activities. Wellington was a wonderfully set out city, quite reminiscent of San Diego with a vibrant down town area. We visited the Te Papa National Museum which was excellent and it traced the history and natural history of New Zealand and the South Pacific and we had an excellent overview of all the places we have visited over the past year. On seeing all the exhibits, we had seen many of the places and people depicted which had special meaning for us.
From windy Wellington, we went up the East coast of the North Island to Napier, the Art Deco Capital of New Zealand.
Following a massive earthquake in in 1931 the entire town was rebuilt in Art Deco style and has preserved in that state ever since.
From there, it was on to Gisbourne where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand in the 1760's. Again the weather was rainy and the town itself quite uninteresting, so we took off to Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty.
Whakatane is a small fishing and beach town and we took a boat trip to White Island which is an active volcano. The trip was fascinating and a full reprt and photos will be posted in a day or two.
The weather today is perfect and we are off to Rotorua and Lake Taupo.

Masonic Hotel Napier
Fountain on the beach in Napier

Bed and Breakfast in Napier

Art Deco Rothman Building, Napier

Movie theater, Napier

More Art Deco, Napier

Waterfall , Napier

Queen's Wharf in windy Wellington

Maori carvings in the Te Papa Museum, Wellington

Train ride to the south

Bucolic splendor of central North Island

Camden Lock, London

The London skyline from Primrose Hill on a wintery afternoon

San Diego sunset from our apartment