Tag Archives: travel photography

Circumnavigating New Zealand — Arriving into Napier


Napier, North Island, New Zealand

Wellington, on New Zealand’s South Island, is where our two cruises diverged. Our 2020 cruise departed South Island and headed back to Sydney, Australia. But our 2019 voyage aboard Majestic Princess headed to North Island, with our first stop being Napier.

Pretty Birdie

So, for the rest of this series on New Zealand, I’ll be concentrating solely upon our 2019 voyage aboard Majestic Princess. And as for today’s article, most of the photos you see today were taken along a stretch of beach extending from the National Aquarium of New Zealand, through the Napier Reef Garden, past the Sunken Gardens, and into town.

Forlorn Branches

First up is some of the statuary found outside the National Aquarium of New Zealand:

National Aquarium of New Zealand statuary

Heading north from the aquarium takes you first to a rather picturesque water feature replete with birds, at least on this occasion:

Water feature by the National Aquarium

We continued northward on foot, taking in the sights along the beach. And there were a lot of sights along this stretch:

Resting upon the driftwood

There was a lot of driftwood in this area, including some bizarrely shaped intrigue such as this “duck”:

The “Duck”
A pirate seagull — one leg

As we made our way toward the Sunken Gardens, which we’re going to save for next Monday, we came across a wooden “whale skeleton” structure of impressive size:

Whale Skeleton

We’ll head back and cover the Sunken Garden next week. On Wednesday we’re going look at some interesting Victorian architecture known as the Six Sisters:

The Six Sisters

Then head into town. But for now I’ll leave you with a preview of what to expect in downtown Napier:

“A Wave in Time” — half of a set

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Fun Photo Friday — Circumnavigating New Zealand; Te Papa Tongarewa Favorites


Portrait Panorama

Today’s Fun Photo Friday selection is of the more artsy aspects inside Te Papa. Next week I’ll be rerunning some of my Christmas photography blogs, and we’ll return to circumnavigating New Zealand the week after that. Until then, have a wonderful Holiday Season and an absolutely great New Year.

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Circumnavigating New Zealand — Te Papa Tongarewa Museum; Browsing


Ursula outside the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Today it’s going to be mostly photographs of the Te Papa, and the area around it, such as this different view of Circa Theatre next door to the museum:

Circa Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street

During our visit inside the Gallipoli exhibit, the museum fire alarm sounded, which prompted a rather lengthy wait outside before we could resume our tour:

Waiting outside after the fire alarm sounds

A word of caution about visiting Te Papa if you’re pressed for time. We checked bags as required, but were unable to retrieve those bags once the call was made to evacuate the building. If we had been pressed for time, it would have gotten rather ugly.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Don’t forget to go outside onto the observation deck of the museum. On this day it was rather gray and damp, but the views are definitely worth a look:

View from atop Te Papa

Now for some images of the many exhibits which await you in Te Papa:

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Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation