Another rainy start, we hit the pedal and fly to Napier, where, drizzle or not, we go mural hunting. First encounter with the most significant project PangeaSeed Foundation runs: Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans, a groundbreaking public art programme that brings the oceans into the streets around the world. They collaborate with many renowned contemporary artists to create large-scale public murals that address the oceans’ pressing environmental problems.
Second stop: Wairoa. Wanted to see the coarse black sand beach again where we had so much fun 10 years ago… but the sands shifted, there’s a tidal floodzone between the beach and the “real” ocean.
Third stop: Gisborne. Where we got the last room in the last motel that wasn’t booked out! And all because after two years hiatus, the A&P Show is back in Gisborne and everyone wants to go :D
Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans – Mural addressing New Zealand endangered Sea Birds by Celeste Byers“Dedicated to all fjordland crested penguins and all of New Zealand’s 17 penguin species. Long may you live.”Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans – Mural addressing New Zealand endangered Sea Birds by Amanda LynnSea Walls: Murals for Oceans – Mural addressing plastic pollution by Christie WrightPart of a mural by Hawke’s Bay artist CinzahMural by T-Wei. Also a Seawall installation, addressing poisoned waterways.Mural by James Bullough. The most significant project PangeaSeed Foundation runs is Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans, a groundbreaking public art programme that brings the oceans into the streets around the world. They collaborate with many renowned contemporary artists to create large-scale public murals that address the oceans’ pressing environmental problems.Seawall mural “Industrialisation & Exploitation of the Ocean” by Seth which pays homage to Paikea, a whale riderA need to see exhibit!Blythe fountain, Napier.St Patricks Catholic Church, Napier. The site is restructured, a building added. And all the sheds, fences and stuff are in the same creamy yellow, eerie.Zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Green Goddess’. a vigorous weed in parts of the North Island. Seeds prolifically, with them being dispersed by birds and other animals, water movement. Clumps grow to clusters which further spread by rizome. When introduced garden plants go wild!Everything in order at the Napier quai. Foxgloves and other flowering beauties are eye candy at the Marine Parade.And the sea … Haven’t had many beach walks this holiday. Will try again tomorrow when it’s dryer ;)This is a stockless anchor which has been modified by welding closed the pivot between flukes and shank to enable it to be set up as a feature on the Napier Pathway near the Sunken Gardens off Marine Parade.Time to move on to Wairoa and further to Gisborne if we want to get there today!The road is much curvier than we remember, little C can’t help but sleep (a good thing for everyone).Somewhere on the way to Gisborne.So picturesque, but no real shoulder or driveway or vista point to stop.A very winding road, over saddles, through valleys, lots of trucks!Still mesmerized by the lush green.Old church with rustic charm.Orange farm, that looks so good.“Car meals” sounds really interesting, we think about stopping there, but then the light turns green.And this is how we learn English: “No bum steers here!” A bum steer is bad advice, wrong or misleading information, incorrect directions. The expression bum steer may also refer to an item that is not as good as promised.Gisborne also has murals! :D We will never run out!A small taste of Dad’s lunch.After which I put on his shoes neatly, then we joked a bit and I took him out of his seat … just to put a baby in socks on the sidewalk.Bus stop in central Gisborne.That’s their motto, and they’re not wrong. There are just a few more settlements on the East Cape that might get flashed earlier.Kelvin Park fountain and museums.The boys on a tree.We sat under this palm tree for some time. It’s even taller than all the other surrounding trees yet super slim. My guess is around 30 m (that would be only half the possible height of some palm species!)
