We last visited Napier five years ago and remember it as being a modern, attractive town with an interesting history. The town was almost totally leveled by a deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake and a resulting fire back in 1931. When it was rebuilt after the disaster, a popular architectural style of the time – Art Deco – was used in many parts of town. Population of Napier is now 58,000 people.
We did a great 5-hour shore excursion today titled, “Clifton Sheep Station & Countryside Drive.” An excellent driver/guide named Ian drove us all around the fertile Heretaunga Plain, which lies west of Napier between Hawke’s Bay and the mountains.
Anyone familiar with the Hawke's Bay name would immediately think about the wine grown, produced and bottled here. Ian told us that this is the second largest wine-producing region in New Zealand, after only Marlborough. We rode by many vineyards along the way, including Beach House, Elephant Hill, Te Mata, Black Barn, Red Barrel, and Clearview. There were more, but these are the names we remember. We saw many fields of peaches and other stone fruits, kiwi (their biggest fruit export) and maize, as well as many sheep and cattle grazing. This is also the largest apple growing region in New Zealand.
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the Clifton Sheep Station, a farm that has been run by the Gordon family for five generations. The farm was large – 2,500 acres – and they have about 4,000 head of Romney Sheep, as well as some cattle. Our host was Tommy Gordon, who started the visit with a demonstration of how his dogs round up a flock of sheep. He showed us three of his dogs – one short-hair border collie (the primary shepherd dog today), one Rottweiler mix (the huntaway), and one small fox terrier (which stayed by Tommy’s side today). All the dogs react to loud, shrill whistles from their owner. The shepherd dog didn’t bark, but gathered the sheep by staring at them, eye to eye. The huntaway dog specializes in barking at other animals to keep them away from the flock, but today he did bark a lot. The dogs did a perfect job finding the flock and herding them back to where we were watching.
Then we moved into a barn to watch a sheep shearing demonstration. Tommy held the large sheep against his body, so that she would relax. He wore special shoes, and the sheep was on his feet. He used an electric shearer that looked something like the electric hair clipper we see when we get a haircut in a barber shop. It looked like a lot of work to hold that sheep somewhat steady during the shearing. He went fairly slow for us, but we were told that an average shearer can do about 250 sheep per day, and the best can get up to 600 – 700 in a day. The sheep are sheared once every eight months, at different lengths, depending on the time of year. They pack the wool in bales that go to auction houses, and they’re paid depending on the winning bids.
After all that hard work while (watching) the shearing, we walked down the road to a rustic building called the Clifton Bay Café, along the waterfront, with views of Cape Kidnappers (so-named by Captain Cook). Here we were treated to fresh-baked scones with raspberry jam and cream, along with tea or coffee.
When leaving the farm, we traveled via Tuki Tuki Valley and up to the summit of Te Mata Peak at about 1,200 feet. It was a steep, narrow ride to the top, but Ian handled it perfectly and views of the valley below were superb. This must be a favorite area for local people, as there were kids here on a school outing, and there were many (challenging) walking trails.
Our final stop was in the countryside near the pretty township of Havelock North, where we stopped at a small roadside cluster of buildings called Birdside Gallery. We enjoyed sampling cups of homemade wild berry ice cream, which were delicious. We also looked through the gallery of art products and handicrafts, and visited another shop with confections.
We returned to Napier and admired the many attractions along the Marine Parade promenade ─ a long swath of green grass, public recreation sites, fountains, playgrounds, etc. ─ along the waters of Hawke's Bay between the highway and the water. We assume this (and the highway) were built on land reclaimed after the earthquake. These days it’s definitely a great place for strolling, relaxing, and other fun activities.
Napier still looks like a wonderful, fun little town. We wish we could have spent more time here, but our excursion today was also a great adventure.
We’ve been extra busy with all the New Zealand port stops coming one right after another and haven’t mentioned everything we’ve been doing onboard Crystal Symphony. The most notable event was a wonderful special function for full-world-cruise passengers only, back on Sunday, Feb 25th at Silk Restaurant on Deck 11. The event was called “Hooray for Hollywood” and included cocktails, dinner, and a show done by the World Cruise Entertainment Team. We greatly enjoyed the entire evening. Each course was tied to a movie and the dancers were dressed like famous actresses. There were songs sung between each course. The food was gourmet quality and unusual; for example, edible gold foil on our Indian dessert. Thanks go to Sarah Hayes, the World Cruise Hostess and Jonathon Hawkins, World Cruise Special Event Coordinator, who not only organized the event but also entertained us with their singing. Both are entertainers from the New York City area.
Jim & Ginny
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