Napier Prison

A trip to the old historic Napier Prison had been on our “must visit one day” list for some time and can now be ticked off.  This was the first prison to be built in New Zealand, opened in 1906  and held approximately 50 prisoners.   The historic prison is located on Napier’s Bluff Hill, close to the old quarry where the inmates used to work their hard days’ labour to build the walls that would keep them imprisoned.

We were warmly welcomed, paid our money, collected our audio wands, and set out to explore the old prison.  The old rooms were certainly not noted for their comfort, and were double bunked in later years as the prison roll increased.  Inmates put into solitary confinement had no bed in their cells so had to sleep on the floor with just a blanket – which was taken away at 5.00am each morning.

We walked through the Exercise Yard, and into the Mess Hall.  Food was purchased to a budget, and gruel seemed to feature heavily on the menus in the earlier years.  The Hanging Yard reminded us that the death penalty was meted out here.  Executed prisoners were buried standing up, to ensure they got no rest in eternity.

It is believed that there was a Circuit Judge who travelled around the country delivering the hanging judgement to convicted criminals.  He was accompanied by a horse and cart, several workmen and court officials, and the materials to built a kit set gallows at each destination.  The sentence for murder in former times was death by hanging, and several of the hangings at Napier Prison were carried out Irishman Tom Long, a repeat convict.  The last hanging took place in Auckland in 1957, and the death penalty was abolished in 1989.

Interesting facts we discovered on our tour were:

1:  In order to aid escape one prisoner left his boots as a decoy in front of the toilet, and escaped down the drain.  This scheme was attempted later by a particularly fat prisoner who got stuck in the drain for three days.  He had to be rescued by the fire department using copious quantities of detergent to get him out.

2:  Terry Clarke (Mr Big) was sent to this prison after trying to blow up Napier’s Post Office safe.  While in prison he worked that that dealing drugs would be much more lucrative.  By the late 1960s he was the world’s richest drug baron and the master of disguise.

3:  Prisoners would use cigarette ash, pen ink and toothpaste to make their own ink for tattoos.

4:  Prisoners made alcohol using fruit peelings, water and toothpaste, leaving it to ferment.

5:  Sadly, in the early years of the prison, children as young as eight were imprisoned for petty crime.

It certainly was in interesting visit, finding out about New Zealand’s first prison.  Things were certainly tough in the early days.  After it closed down the buildings were used by the army and went on to become a back packers where you paid for the privilege of sleeping in a cell!  Napier Prison is now in private ownership.

Who are those shifty looking characters?

Exploring Napier

After our trip over Gentle Annie we arrived at Erikson Road NZMCA Park together with Geoff and Eileen.  There was plenty of room, so the question was, where shall we park?  Sunny Hawkes Bay was living up to it’s name, blue skies, warm daytime temperatures, and light breezes.  Just right for getting that load of laundry dry.  We were joined by club members in two other vans the following day.

Erikson Road NZMCA Park

We have had a busy few days.  Took a trip along to nearby Silky Oak Chocolates to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate for afternoon tea – so decadent and delicious!  And buy a little chocolate too, of course.  We drove over to Hasting to see my sister Kathleen and her hubby, and catch up with all their news.

Hot chocolate at Silky Oak

Then today we joined Bill and Val for an adventure – they were checking out a site for an upcoming rally at Kairakau Beach and asked us along for the ride.  None of us had been there before  so it was new territory for us all.  Along the way we stopped us at the rather pretty St Stephen’s Church in the tiny community of Elsthorpe.  The little weatherboard church with its corrugated iron roof and lancet windows, is an example of the distinctly Gothic revival architecture found throughout rural New Zealand. It was built around the same time (1907-8) as the Elsthorpe Hall next door.

St Stephen’s Church, Elsthorpe

Continuing down the road we soon spied the sea in the distance, and eventually arrived at Kairakau Beach Motor Camp.  There was a nice sandy beach a stone’s throw away.   Good fishing too, it seems, as we watched a local pull his boat onto the beach.

Kairakau Beach

Bill and Val completed their inquiries with the camp custodian and we had a look around.  A rather splendid piece of mosaic work was glinting in the sun.

The ever important tractors to take boats in and out of the water were waiting at the river mouth.  Piles of driftwood everywhere all over the sand, but no driftwood further around on the beach, we noticed.

Tractors at the river mouth

Kairakau Beach with its dramatic cliffs is a beloved beach in the iconic Kiwi way: camping ground, clapboard baches dotted around.  The first baches were built in the 1920s, but Māori have lived and fished here for centuries.   The cliffs are known as the Twelve Sisters.

Some of the Twelve Sisters

The camp custodian recommended the local pub at Patangata as a good spot to stop for lunch, so we did.

Patangata Tavern

Fish Chowder was on the menu, so three of us decided to have that, and Robin went with the pea, pie and pud option.  Both choices were nice hearty meals, most enjoyable.

Lunch at Patangata Tavern

Lunch over, it was time to make our way back to Napier.  But not before we checked out the Tavern’s Courtesy Coach, real country style, it seems.

Courtesy Coach

We had a great trip, travelling on new roads, discovering new parts of the country, and sharing a nice lunch together.  Thanks to Bill and Val for the invitation.

Gentle Annie

Gentle Annie is one of those roads not often travelled, from Taihape to Napier.  140kms of steep, winding road, up and over several mountain ranges with the scenery changing from steep grassy slopes, pine plantations, and National Parks.

The day started off wet  and misty as we climbed up one hill after another.

After a while we arrived at our stop for the night, free parking at  the Springvale Suspension Bridge.  When the rain eased, we went for a walk to check out the bridge.   Opened in 1925, it was an economic necessity to open up more remote land for farming.  Despite the rough and winding nature of the road, the bridge carried a lot of traffic, and after 45 years the suspension bridge was considered unsafe for heavy traffic.  In 1970 the road was realigned and a new bridge was built alongside the old one.  Saved from demolition by Tony Batley, the bridge is now owned and managed by Heritage New Zealand.

Springvale Suspension Bridge

Looking down from the bridge to our caravan

Geoff and Eileen arrived later in the afternoon and we enjoyed 4zees together.  It was a chilly night indeed out in the middle of nowhere but the day promised to be fine.  We set off along Gentle Annie to complete our journey, up and over even more hills.  What’s this on the road?  A fine lot of black steers being moved along the road.  There was nothing to do but stop and let them walk around us.

Cattle on the road

There was another stop along the way, at the HB (Hawkes Bay) Panorama Lookout.

Panorama of Hawkes Bay

Down from all the hills, our trip over Gentle Annie was almost over.  Next stop, Napier.

Weekend at Lutz Farm

It had been a couple of years since our last visit to Lutz Farm, situated in the hills behind Otaki.  Follow the balloons, we were told, to take us to the area we were camping.  We drove past some small calves, turning corners with balloons tied on posts, almost down to the river, until we reached the correct paddock to find  several vans on site.

Follow the balloons, we were told

Autumn has definitely arrived, and the temperatures are much colder now.  So nippy that we had 4zees outside all rugged up in jackets and a few woolly hats.  It was fairly breezy and the rain didn’t seem too far away.

4zees time

Saturday morning saw us heading off to the Bus Stop Café in Otaki for morning tea.  This is a quirky place, with food and drinks served from the big blue bus on site.  Seating is dotted around the grounds, mostly gazebo style, and the place is dog friends, with plenty of dogs and their owners dropping in.  We managed to get one of the busy staff members to take our photo for us.

Blue Bus Café for morning tea

Over the weekend Lorraine had arranged a Mystery Bag competition.  Little numbered bags were pegged on a small clothesline and we had to carefully feel each bag and try to work out what was hidden inside.  Some of the items were relatively easy to identify, and others we just didn’t have a clue.  We didn’t do very well, guessing only 18 out of 26.  Dennis was the winner with a score of 23.

What’s hiding in the little bags.

We were having a sing-along in the evening and really needed somewhere to gather together out of the wind.  Barry kindly went home to get his gazebo and then had to remember how to put it all together.  Success at last, and it was attached to Geoff’s awning, with various tarpaulins added to the sides wind proof us later in the evening.

Kiwi ingenuity

We had a real treat before our evening entertainment arrived – toasted marshmallows!  And not just any marshmallows, “Flamin Mallows” especially made for BBQs and extra long.  Dennis had made long toasting forks for us all, and we gathered around the fiery brazier toasting our marshmallows.

Toasting our marshmallows

Dennis’s friend brought his guitar along and entertained us in our cozy cobbled together awning.  At my request, he played my favourite, Ten Guitars, and we all sang along.  In fact, the group was I fine voice all evening, singing along to all those songs from years gone by.  It’s amazing what we remembered, and with a few chords, most of the words came tumbling out. 

Sing-along time

We had a great time at Lutz Farm, and no wonder the weather was chilly.  During the weekend, many places have recorded their coldest temperatures so far this year, we heard on the news.  No wonder we needed the quilt on the bed, instead of lying just under a sheet, as we had done last week at home!

Some Vintage Beauties

I had a girls day out yesterday, meeting in the Vintage Car Club rooms, for a day of stitching.  These walls of these very macho surroundings were covered in all sorts of motoring memorabilia.  Such as this hub cap collection, donated by one of the members.

Hub Cap collection

While my group of ladies were stitching away, there seemed to be all sorts of things happening out in the car park.  Cars were arriving, motors were revving, and a crowd of excited people were gathering.  The Vintage Car Club members were assembling before heading off on an outing.   Being nosy, I wandered outside to have a look.

I don’t know too much about cars, and this one didn’t look nearly as vintage as some of the others.  But rather glamorous with the white wall tyres and gleaming paintwork.

These two looked decidedly vintage. and like all the cars, beautifully presented.

While I was walking around admiring all the cars, this delightful car rumbled up.  What a beauty, for a not very interested car person, I was most impressed.  A Model T Ford, he told me.  But he didn’t offer to whisk me away on a vintage car jaunt, (he probably had his wife with him) so I went back inside to get on with my stitching.  I could just imagine me sitting there like someone really important,  with the wind blowing  in my hair.  Never mind, dreams are free!

Model T Ford

Nga Manu Nature Reserve

Last week we took our SLG friends to visit Nga Manu Nature Reserve in Waikanae – it was my turn to organise our outing this month.  It had been many years  since we had last been here, so it was certainly time for a return visit.  The reserve was the long held dream of zoo keeper Peter McKenzie, he used part of his inheritance from grandfather  (Sir John McKenzie, founder of the McKenzie’s chain stores and one of New Zealand’s early philanthropists), he decided to gift one-third of it for the establishment of Nga Manu, and the dream became a possibility.

A charitable trust, Nga Manu Nature Reserve has become a sanctuary for up to 60 different bird species, many free to come and go as they please. It plays an important role in wildlife breeding programmes, working alongside DOC and the SPCA to provide recovery care for injured native birds.

Just as well we are all OAPs as the entry price for seniors was quite reduced.  Our lot couldn’t possible start their day before they all had a cup of coffee (self service).  The only trouble was that some of them had trouble opening the little packets to put in the mugs and held up the queue!

Who is having trouble making their cuppa?

Walking through the aviaries we came face to face with a Kaka enjoying his breakfast.  The kaka is a large forest parrot and feeds on a wide range of fruit, insects and nectar.  His neighbour, the Kakariki,  a small parrot with  bright green plumage and the red pattern on its head was also enjoying the morning sun shine.

 

Kaka and Kakariki

Then we played “spot the tuatara” as we peered into an enclosure, and found one sitting still, as they do, basking in the sunshine.  There were several young ones in another enclosure, but they we too small for us to spot as they hid amongst the greenery.  Tuatara are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontia, which was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species except the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago.

 

Tuatara, a modern day dinosaur

Yvonne was surrounded with ducks and a couple of pukekos when she started to share the duck food around. 

Yvonne feeding the ducks

Three of us walked up the hill to the Lookout.  From here we had great views over the reserve, and waving back at us were our friends down on the flat ground.  The reserve is set in the remains of lowland swamp forest and is full of native birds flying free.

View from the Lookout

We couldn’t leave without a group photo, and arranged ourselves around the swan sculpture.  Many thanks to Trish for doing the honours – we couldn't find a passing stranger to take our photo for us.

 

From here we drove to Harrisons Garden Centre to have lunch at their café.  I had a moment of panic when I found out they didn’t have our lunch booking for a table for eight, despite having made a booking earlier.  Luckily, the staff soon pushed some tables together for our group, and we settled down for a leisurely lunch. 

Lunch at Harrisons Garden Centre

We had a lovely day out with our SLG friends, the weather was excellent, the food and company were great, and it was fun to catch up again with everyone.