Napier - Hawkes Bay wines and Little Blue Penguins

Hawkes Bay Wines

Napier was definitely one of my favourite places in New Zealand. It isn't somewhere that I think I could live - it is too quiet - but it allowed me to indulge in a few of my favourite things. I've mentioned the Art Deco being one of them, but there were also the wine and the penguins.

Wine was always one of our reasons for visiting Napier. And I am so glad we did, as it turned out that these were our favourite wines of New Zealand. The plan initially was to hire bikes and cycle around the wineries, but the wet weather quickly put paid to that idea.

Hawkes Bay Wines

Of course that meant that I was driving, so had to do the unthinkable and spit out the wines. Swallowing the little tasters of wine might have been OK were we just doing one winery, but we did between four and six a day, and there were lots of wines to sample, so I would have been well over the limit.

Craggy Range Winery

Now I am not a fan of very dry wines, like Sauvignon Blanc, but I have found that the exception to that can be those from the Marlborough region of NZ. As it turns out, the one here are actually much better for me.

Craggy Range Winery

Needless to say, we ended up buying quite a few bottles, with me then having to do lots of maths to make sure that the previous night's alcohol would have fully left my system before setting out again in the car. That meant no early morning starts, but that suited us just fine!

We visited lots wineries around the area, with some of our favourites being Moana Park, Craggy Range, Black Barn and Vidal. And if you are in the area, we also found a really nice tapas and wine bar in Havelock North, called Deliciosa.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

So on to the last of my favourite things - the penguins. This one wasn't part of the reason for going to Napier, but we were very happy to discover it when we read up on the place. Napier is home to National Aquarium of New Zealand. It isn't especially large, but it is well worth a visit.

Somewhat unexpectedly for an aquarium, they also have a couple of other famous NZ creatures - the kiwi and the tuatara. But of course the main focus is on the marine life, which is plentiful and
interesting.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

They have one of those 'glass' tunnels that goes through the main aquarium, so that you can see the fish swimming over you. And this one is excellent for the tired or immobile, as you go through on a travelator, so you don't even have to worry about walking. It is a good way of keeping people moving when it's busy and making sure that one group doesn't get to hog a particularly good area too, which I suspect is more the intention.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

There are also various animal encounter options available, including going in with the sharks, but of course the one we went for was the penguin. The aquarium has a small colony of Little Blue Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins in South Australia. They are all rescue birds, that have been saved and treated, but lack the ability to be released back into the wild.

Some have lost a flipper or an eye, and one has lost half of its beak. They are well cared for here, in a safe environment, where they don't have to fend entirely for themselves.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

The encounter is really well priced at NZD65 each, which when we went in 2015 was about £27, though it will be a bit more now. You get to go behind the scenes, find out about the penguins and help prepare their food - I left that bit to Nic, as I really dislike even the smell of fish.

Then you go inside with the keepers, and can help feed the penguins. They gave me a glove, to keep the smell off my skin, and tried to give me the easier ones to feed so that I didn't have to hold the fish for long.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

Some penguin take the fish and gulp it down easily, but others struggle, and need you to give it a push. The one with only half a beak needs extra help, as the keepers have to mimic the action of the missing part.

After the feeding, some of the bids are happy to let you give them a little stroke, so you can feel what their feathers are like and the strength of their flippers. Depending on the mood of the penguins, there can be an option to hold one on your lap. One in particular is very friendly, actively seeking out attention like this, and as she will never be released, they are content to allow it within limits. Obviously the keepers only allow this if they are satisfied that the penguins are happy though, so it is not guaranteed at all.

If you do get to hold one, do take up the offer of the towel on your knee, and do put it up your body a bit too. On this occasion, we were lucky, no excrement was expelled, but when we have seen penguins before, we have seen the frequency - and projectile nature - of their poo.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

What we hadn't realised beforehand was that we would have an audience for this. Feeding time attracts quite a few people to come and watch at the enclosure; later on, as we walked around, a lad came up to us and asked us what it was like feeding the penguins.

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

Little Blue Penguins, Napier

Little Blue Penguins, Napier