Hi All.

This is just an update to say that I'm still alive and still traveling.  I'm very tired at the moment.  I am also tired of keeping track of everything I do.  So I've kind of slowed down on keeping a travel diary for now.

Napier was great.  Beautiful, art deco town.  My hostel was great and comfy and cheap.  It had free veggie soup at night that reminded me of my mom's cooking.

The first day I went on an art deco tour of the town.  In the afternoon I went wine tasting.  We visited a winery that was started by Marist monks and still owned by the Catholic Church.  We visited a couple other wineries and I discovered that I really like sweet, dessert wines.  And I also tried viognier for the first time and I really liked that too.

I decided to extend my stay in Napier because I liked it so much.  So the next day I slept in and took it easy.  I went on a long walk to get another look at the town and I walked up Bluff Hill to see the gorgeous views from there.

This morning I went to the National Aquarium.  I saw a real live kiwi bird for the first time.  Wow they are strange birds!  But I'm really glad I finally saw them.  They were incredibly entertaining to watch.  I also saw tuatara, a native lizard.  There were sharks and sting rays too.

I've just returned to Wellington on the bus, but I leave again early in the morning to take the train to Auckland and spend some time with my friends up there.  I'm very much looking forward to that!

See ya all soon!