"I'am back!!"
Hi all.
I am finally back home and a little more rested. As in no longer feeling zombie like from the long trip and many stops back yesterday.
It is ANZAC day here and so a holiday. Which is great as I was able to lie in this morning before going for a walk in the rain, yes rain after 5 days of beautiful, hot, fine sunny days!
I have seriously taken a lot of photos as in over 300!! It takes about half an hour to view them via a slide show. I did this so my elderly Auntie , 91 could see what we had been up to as she would have loved to go. She can no longer walk much and has too many health problems unfortunately. So I don't plan on posting all!!! But will share some over the next few posts. I will start up with the trip up and the motel we stayed in plus one of the reasons Mum wanted to go.
First up, here is Mum all packed and ready to go. She was so excited, and had a great time. And no she seemed quite relaxed about my driving!!
We did strike a bit of traffic as mentioned in the last post. This was one of the stops we had. It was taken in the Manawatu gorge. This gorge was closed for several months after heavy rain had nearly washed the road out. They were working on the wall put up to prevent washouts.
I did make up some time but was a little delayed in getting to Napier. As a result I didn't make it to the airport to pick up our room mate for the stay. So met at the motel instead. A very flash one at that. We had a very comfortable stay. Not a lot of cooking was done tho!! :) But a lot of talking and a small bit of knitting.
Here's the Motel.
And here's the visitor we had most days! Him and his sister were only about five months old and looked identical. We saw him most days as he stopped in for a nose about and a cuddle!
I think in the last post I mentioned that we had a big festive opening? Well this is one of the acts. As the theme was the Art deco period they are "The Andrew sisters". They did a really good job but as the pics weren't coming up well didn't take any more pics.
Now one of the reasons for Mum wanting to go to Napier. Well she was born there in 1929. In 1931 her Mum had her baby brother called David. Unfortuntely as her Mum required an operation straight after the birth they were in hospital for 6 weeks. My Mum was sent down to a place called Upper Hutt to stay with cousins for this time. Just before her Dad was to collect his wife and baby, in fact when he was at the gate of the hospital a major earthquake hit the area. It caused major damage and lost of life. Including Mum's Mum and brother. It is all very sad but was 75 years ago now on the 3rd Feb 1931.
So Mum wanted to visit the grave and memorials. On the Saturday morning ,the day after the fashion parade we went up and went to the museum and saw the earthquake display plus watched a 30 min movie about it. It was a good chance for Mum to talk about her family and life. Not something that she gets to do much these days.
This picture shows one of the displays in the museum with some of the rubble from the earthquake.
We then headed out to see the graves and memorial. It took a bit of finding as since the last time I went they had built new roads and roundabouts. Only got lost once or twice but eventually located it. [ It did mean I was too late back to attend the internet meeting, sorry Lorraine!!]
Here is the big memorial to all who died, and here is Mum's Mother and brother's grave.
It is sad but a long time ago. Mum was only 16 months old so has no memory of it. But it is the reason that Napier is a bit of a tourist spot. A fire swept through after the quake so the city had to be rebuilt. Of course when they rebuilt they built in the style of the times, that is Art deco. As a result most of the buildings etc are in this style and also the reason the festival had this theme. More pics on this in a later post.
Anyway after this headed back to the centre that the festival was held in. I was too late for a meeting I had wanted to attend but never mind as I might not get the chance to do this with Mum again. We had a bit of lunch and then another look around the trades as well as the tutors and area displays. [ More pics later]. I finally convinced Mum she needed a bit of a rest. As in I could see her wilting!!! Took a bit of convincing tho!! But while she had a sleep went back and caught up with friends and had a bit of a shop!!! Sorry you will have to wait for those pics too!
Ayway that is enough for today. I suppose I better go pick some tomatoes, sign! even in the rain it has been nearly a week so quite a few ripe ones. And then????!!! Well some knitting and sitting around is looking good. Will post more later on the trip and more pics if you are lucky!!
Knit on all, it is good to be home. >^..^<
I am finally back home and a little more rested. As in no longer feeling zombie like from the long trip and many stops back yesterday.
It is ANZAC day here and so a holiday. Which is great as I was able to lie in this morning before going for a walk in the rain, yes rain after 5 days of beautiful, hot, fine sunny days!
I have seriously taken a lot of photos as in over 300!! It takes about half an hour to view them via a slide show. I did this so my elderly Auntie , 91 could see what we had been up to as she would have loved to go. She can no longer walk much and has too many health problems unfortunately. So I don't plan on posting all!!! But will share some over the next few posts. I will start up with the trip up and the motel we stayed in plus one of the reasons Mum wanted to go.
First up, here is Mum all packed and ready to go. She was so excited, and had a great time. And no she seemed quite relaxed about my driving!!
We did strike a bit of traffic as mentioned in the last post. This was one of the stops we had. It was taken in the Manawatu gorge. This gorge was closed for several months after heavy rain had nearly washed the road out. They were working on the wall put up to prevent washouts.
I did make up some time but was a little delayed in getting to Napier. As a result I didn't make it to the airport to pick up our room mate for the stay. So met at the motel instead. A very flash one at that. We had a very comfortable stay. Not a lot of cooking was done tho!! :) But a lot of talking and a small bit of knitting.
Here's the Motel.
And here's the visitor we had most days! Him and his sister were only about five months old and looked identical. We saw him most days as he stopped in for a nose about and a cuddle!
I think in the last post I mentioned that we had a big festive opening? Well this is one of the acts. As the theme was the Art deco period they are "The Andrew sisters". They did a really good job but as the pics weren't coming up well didn't take any more pics.
Now one of the reasons for Mum wanting to go to Napier. Well she was born there in 1929. In 1931 her Mum had her baby brother called David. Unfortuntely as her Mum required an operation straight after the birth they were in hospital for 6 weeks. My Mum was sent down to a place called Upper Hutt to stay with cousins for this time. Just before her Dad was to collect his wife and baby, in fact when he was at the gate of the hospital a major earthquake hit the area. It caused major damage and lost of life. Including Mum's Mum and brother. It is all very sad but was 75 years ago now on the 3rd Feb 1931.
So Mum wanted to visit the grave and memorials. On the Saturday morning ,the day after the fashion parade we went up and went to the museum and saw the earthquake display plus watched a 30 min movie about it. It was a good chance for Mum to talk about her family and life. Not something that she gets to do much these days.
This picture shows one of the displays in the museum with some of the rubble from the earthquake.
We then headed out to see the graves and memorial. It took a bit of finding as since the last time I went they had built new roads and roundabouts. Only got lost once or twice but eventually located it. [ It did mean I was too late back to attend the internet meeting, sorry Lorraine!!]
Here is the big memorial to all who died, and here is Mum's Mother and brother's grave.
It is sad but a long time ago. Mum was only 16 months old so has no memory of it. But it is the reason that Napier is a bit of a tourist spot. A fire swept through after the quake so the city had to be rebuilt. Of course when they rebuilt they built in the style of the times, that is Art deco. As a result most of the buildings etc are in this style and also the reason the festival had this theme. More pics on this in a later post.
Anyway after this headed back to the centre that the festival was held in. I was too late for a meeting I had wanted to attend but never mind as I might not get the chance to do this with Mum again. We had a bit of lunch and then another look around the trades as well as the tutors and area displays. [ More pics later]. I finally convinced Mum she needed a bit of a rest. As in I could see her wilting!!! Took a bit of convincing tho!! But while she had a sleep went back and caught up with friends and had a bit of a shop!!! Sorry you will have to wait for those pics too!
Ayway that is enough for today. I suppose I better go pick some tomatoes, sign! even in the rain it has been nearly a week so quite a few ripe ones. And then????!!! Well some knitting and sitting around is looking good. Will post more later on the trip and more pics if you are lucky!!
Knit on all, it is good to be home. >^..^<
posted by Beverley at 3:37 pm
1 Comments:
I wish I had known that before I visited Napier last year. I knew about the earthquake and the re-building in Art Deco style but I completely missed the human tragedy because I was so busy being a tourist. I shall have to go back one day and see it with new eyes.
Glad you are home safe and well and look forward to hearing more,
Cheers Gillian
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