this morning it was nice to try to sleep in. it's pretty cold in the prison. there are drafts by the window and door. this place just seems a little colder too. the wind is a bit colder. the sun is still strong but you have to alternate between being in the shade and being in the sun. you have to regulate your temperature like a reptile. this we learned as we were walking around napier today.

centennial gardens

the first place we went to was the centennial gardens, which is just across the street from the prison. it seems that the prisoners even helped to make the gardens. is that punishment or what? having to be in a dark, depressing place and help to make a bright, cheerful place.

a beautiful day at the marine parade

then we strolled down the marine parade, heading towards marineland. the marine parade looked much nicer today as it was a gorgeous day full of sunshine. only, the grass was brown and dead along one side of the marine parade. also, the marine parade seemed a bit bare. it's such a long strip of land and most of it is empty. not even sculpted nicely with gardens or other things to pretty it up. there is an effort underway to build something to enhance it, but i'm not sure what the scale of the project is.

i'm sure this skate park will make all the kids in santa cruz jealous

along the way we passed by a skate park. it wasn't open for daily business yet but it looked pretty cool. i never had the chance to use ramps when i used to roller skate as a kid and i was never a skateboarder. when i finally came across my first ramp in 6th grade, i was too chickenshit to give it a try. i just tried a few inches and knew it was more than i could handle. if i had grown up near this skate park, imagine what an awesome skater i could have been. heheheee....

notice how cheap parking is! calculated in cents!

we arrived at marineland just before 12 noon. the dolphin show is daily at 2pm. the lady encouraged us to come back at 1:45pm because there is very little to see at marineland. so we walked around and had lunch at the soundshell and colonnade on the marine parade. then we went on back to marineland.

mandatory dolphin trick

i know it isn't very vegan of me to go there but i felt better about it after learning more about the place. they seem like decent people. the animals don't seem to be abused, although tanks cannot compare to life in the wild. (and one tank was really small that i cringed and uh...) the penguins are ones that have been injured and rescued. they have a recovery program and release many back into the wild. their two common dolphins that do the main show are actually pretty old. they are 35 and 37 years old respectively. i'll have to look into this to verify it but marineland noted that the life expectancy in the wild for common dolphins is about 16-18 years of age. so they must be doing something right there at marineland! those 2 dolphins have been there since 1974. goddamn i would hate to be a dolphin doing those same tricks for all those years. must be pretty boring... well, it is new zealand. shhhh... don't tell the dolphins that other possibilities exist in this world.

blue penguin swimming while others hide in their shelters in the background

some of the many examples of art deco in napier

el señor de los anillos

after marineland, we walked around on our own to admire the art deco buildings of napier. there is a self-guided walking guide one can purchase, but this town is small enough and i don't need to know that many details of each building so i didn't buy the guide. i just glossed over postcards and books for sale to get an idea of what buildings i should take a look at. there are other areas, such as homes away from downtown and even other cities with other really cool art deco buildings to check out, but i don't have a car and i'm not going to pay for a tour. i do need to save money for later.

on our walk back to the hostel, i came across a really funny poster in a store windowfront. funny because the poster is for lord of the rings weapons but it's in spanish. god knows why a poster in spanish would be in a store window in new zealand! but there it was.