Day 13 – National Aquarium of New Zealand

Woke to a beautiful day in Napier; the warmest yet.  We decided to get out and explore the city a little.  First stop was of the day was the National Aquarium of New Zealand, right here in Napier.  I was hoping to let Tegan swim with the sharks, but they wouldn’t let her go alone and I was refusing to pay the cost to swim 15 minutes with them, you get a much better deal in Belize and they are wild there!  There was a school group there and they loved hearing Tegan’s accent and asking us who was going to win the Rugby World Cup, I believe this is a trick question and something awful will happen if you answer incorrectly.  I might just throw Canada out there the next time I am asked.

So, the big features of the aquarium were the sea turtle, sea horses, rays, sharks and the gift shop for Tegan.  We found some earrings in the gift shop for Tegan and checked that off the list.

We went up the street and grabbed some fish and chips, added a prawn to the order and a crab stick.  We took our feed to the park and sat and ate until Tegan declared she was full so she could go play.  The funny thing about ordering at the Fish and Chip place was that the Chinese guy behind the counter was hard to understand and clearly I was to him as well.  When ordering the “prawn” he had no idea what I was saying, then he figured it out and said “You want Pawn”.  Yes “Pawn” it is!  

Tegan thought this was the best park in New Zealand so far.  There were lots of kids and new equipment to play on.  After a good hour of play it was time for ice cream and there is a great ice cream shop located right next to park.  The ice cream and gelato here (New Zealand) is fantastic.  The ice cream is predominantly made with fruit flavours and the gelatos are made with ingredients like Feijoa, a tart but delicious fruit.
 

Tegan and I walked around town a little and decide we would check out the RWC 2011 obstacle coarse and then go to the library to see if we could use the internet there.  Tegan had a great time running the obstacle course and I could barely get her to stop.  We might have to stop at another one of these in Wellington if they have one.

Here is a little video of Tegan running the Rugby World Cup obstacle course

We headed back to the campground, had supper and then headed to the Taradale’s clubhouse to watch the Friday night game between Australia and USA.   Tegan was pretty tired when we arrived but she was given a Buzz bar and after that we couldn’t get her to stop talking.  The chocolate bar lives up to its name, that is for sure.  I was disappointed that the Wallabies didn’t get more than 80 points against USA.   Drove back to Bayview Snapper Holiday Park and that was the night.