If It Was Today...

Napier

Posted on February 3, 2026 by If It Was Today

When we left Palmerston North this morning, it was 17 degrees, with a light drizzle. For the next two hours it rained more often than not, and the temperature struggled to hit 19 degrees. The forecast said Napier would be 28 degrees and mostly sunny but we were beginning to have our doubts. And then, about twenty minutes from Napier, the skies magically cleared and the temperature shot up. Just in the nick of time.

We checked into our hotel early, and after unpacking we went in search of lunch. It didn’t take long – just down the street we found a lovely little cafe with outdoor seating.

We’re planning to eat out tonight, so we wanted something light, and they had just the ticket.

Once we finished lunch we headed down to the aquarium. As usual, we were treated to flowering plants while walking along the city streets.

… and growing wild along the beach.

The National Aquarium in Napier has lovely murals on the outside of the building, which is fairly common in New Zealand. I like the way the art takes advantage of the structure of the building.

As I suspected, the aquarium is more than just an aquarium. Parts of it were more like a natural history museum, telling us about New Zealand during the dinosaur age. But it had the usual aquarium stuff as well. Here is one example.

There’s also a kiwi section and we managed to see another kiwi … sort of. It was hiding in the brush and we caught glimpses of its feet as it was feeding. Zealandia was much more impressive. But we were also in for an unexpected treat – the penguins.

It’s kind of funny. You see so many pictures of penguins walking awkwardly on the land, or swimming under water, that I kind of forget that they are actually seabirds. But here, we saw them swimming on the surface, and they look like ducks with seagull beaks. Not at all what I was expecting.

We also had a chance to see them under water too, and it leaves little doubt as to why they are flightless. The wings look more like fins.

By accident, we timed our visit perfectly, arriving just before feeding time. Once the staff came out with dinner, everything changed.

We learned that the staff know each of the penguins and ensure that they all get at least one small fish, and no more than four or five. Once a month each penguin is weighed and depending on the results, for the next month they will get a little more … or less … food.

We learned lots more – about how they molt, and why the birds came to the sanctuary. But if you want to learn all of that, you will have to visit on your own.

Then it was back to our room to relax, have a drink, and decide where to eat. I tried an unusual beer that I picked up at The Garage Project.

It was … unusual. I know that some people would say “that’s not beer” (I’m looking at you, Stu) but it wasn’t bad. I won’t get more, but I’m glad I tried it.

Tomorrow it’s the Art Deco tour.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Garage Project, Napier, New Zealand, Penguins, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments

On The Road Again

Posted on February 2, 2026 by If It Was Today

We thoroughly enjoyed our five days in Wellington, visiting Zealandia, walking by the shore, eating delicious food, and visiting friends of D&S. There was only one problem. There is so much more to see in Wellington. I suppose there’s always next time.

Last year when we rented our car in Queenstown we wanted to pick up a few extra supplies for the road. Things like folding camp chairs (for sitting near the beach, watching the ocean) and similar bulky items. Nothing too expensive, since we knew we would have to leave everything behind at the end of the trip. We found just the place, called The Warehouse. Turns out they are all over New Zealand, so that was our first stop today in Palmerston North.

We’re spending a night in Palmerston North mainly to break up the drive to Napier, so we had very low expectations. But it’s a pretty little town, and we can imaging staying longer next time. After getting our supplies at The Warehouse, we had lunch at a lovely little Turkish restaurant called Kapadokya. We would highly recommend it.

Kapadokya Mediterranean & Turkish Cuisine

Our hotel was a similar little gem. Jan has a knack for finding places like this.

Nice little touches… the room is great too.

There were periods of light rain all afternoon, so we didn’t walk around town, but on a nicer day it clearly would have been well worth a stroll. I’m always aware of the cold and snow back at home, so it’s so nice to see flowers and green without having to make any extra effort at all. This was on the street in front of the hotel.

And this was just across the street.

Tomorrow we’re off to Napier, where it’s going to be significantly warmer. I love that, though it might be a little warmer than Jan would prefer. I hear the aquarium is well worth a visit, and might offer another chance to see a kiwi. Apparently the “aquarium” in Napier is a little more than just an aquarium. We will have to see.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Palmerston North, Photography, Roses, Travel | Leave a comment

Zealandia Times Two

Posted on January 31, 2026 by If It Was Today

Zealandia is truly a special place. So much so that we had to visit it twice – a twilight tour yesterday, and then again during the day today. The sun was just setting behind the western hills as we started our twilight tour yesterday.

Zealandia is in a valley, with very steep hills on either side. So, even though the sun had set for us, down at the bottom of the valley, the eastern side of the valley was bathed in golden light. Special!

Zealandia a nature preserve only a kilometer from the center of the city. It was the first urban nature preserve in the world, and it has proven to be immensely popular … even though there were doubters when it was initially proposed in the 90’s. Apparently some people thought a mountain bike trail would be a much better use for the decommissioned water reservoir. Fortunately, reason prevailed, and today Zealandia offers a unique experience for New Zealand natives and for visitors from around the globe.

The original proposal for Zealandia faced two major challenges. The first was eliminating all the invasive species from the preserve – think pigs, rats, mice, possums, rabbits, and stoats to name a few. Once all the predators were gone, the even bigger challenge was keeping them out. This had never been done before, so they had to develop their own system. They designed, and built, a fence that was too high for anything to jump over, had a “cap” to keep anything from climbing over, and a buried “skirt” to keep pests from digging under. The concept was tested, refined, and tested again until it did its job. It looks like this.

After an explanation of the work that went into designing, building, and maintaining the fence, we started the tour. I don’t have a lot of pictures … it was getting dark, and I wanted to be in the moment, and commune with nature. But I did get a few that I wanted to share. The first is the Kereru, or Wood Pigeon.

One of the fascinating things we saw were the Tuataras. They were outside their dens, absorbing the last of the days heat, so I was able to take many excellent pictures. I’ll only bore you with one…

The Tuatara looks like a lizard, but it isn’t. It is a reptile, but not a lizard. In fact, it is closer to dinosaurs and to birds than it is to true lizards. Here is a brief description, for those who like those things.

I also managed to get a reasonably good picture of Titipounamu, known as Rifleman in English. They are feeding on the flowers in the trees, still illuminated by the setting sun.

That’s all the pictures that I took on the twilight tour … it was getting dark. But I’ll tell you what we saw. There were several tui, and many kakas enjoying the feeders provided for them. They like to fly low over people, barely missing their heads … and scaring the daylights out of me. But best of all, we saw two kiwi, feeding in the bush. Apparently fewer than 3% of native New Zealanders have ever seen a kiwi in the wild, so we felt that we were very lucky.

We had such a good time yesterday that we returned today for a daylight visit. The twilight ticket allows you to visit during the day as well, so we gladly accepted. I’ll open with a picture of New Zealand’s iconic silver ferns.

We also saw California quails, with baby chicks. These aren’t native, but they fill the same ecological niche as a New Zealand quail that has gone extinct, so they are welcomed in Zealandia.

We saw chicks when we were here last year as well. They are so cute!

It wasn’t all that crowded, so most of the time we had the paths to ourselves, and enjoyed “forest bathing”. We love that. There are a number of small streams running through Zealandia, so you can usually hear the sound of running water, which is also very soothing.

In the damp areas there were mats of liverwort, a very primitive plant, from the time when plants were moving from the sea to the land.

Everywhere you walk you see climbing vines, but these vines don’t harm the trees they climb on, unlike ivy. They don’t produce leaves, until they get to the top of the canopy, at which point they produce leaves and flowers. This next picture shows the vines twining together to climb higher.

There is also a suspension bridge in Zealandia. Not as high, narrow, or long as the Capilano Suspension Bridge near Vancouver, but it still bounces a bit as you walk across it. Definitely worth a visit.

It was too dark last night to get good pictures of the Kaka, stepping on the feeders to open the top and get a treat. There weren’t as many of them today, but I did manage to get a good picture of one of them. They are very smart, opening the feeder to get a nut. The feeders are here to encourage the Kakas to nest in Zealandia where it is safe, rather than outside the fence where there are still predators.

Then it was time to catch the shuttle back to the Botanic Gardens, and take the cable car down the hill into town.

We will be going to Damascus for dinner tonight, a lovely middle eastern restaurant the kids introduced us to last year. But until it’s time to go, I’m writing this blog and sampling a lovely fresh IPA from Garage Project. The “Jan” just means it was brewed in January this year, so it is very fresh. But Jan claims that the “Jan” refers to her. Whatever … it’s very tasty.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Travel, Photography, New Zealand, Wellington, Zealandia, Cable Car, IPA, Garage Project | 2 Comments

Another Day in Paradise

Posted on January 30, 2026 by If It Was Today

We booked a twilight tour of Zealandia starting at 7:00 pm this evening, so we didn’t want to do anything too strenuous today. But we did want to do something. Ideally something that would let us enjoy the lovely weather. I’ve started using the AllTrails app, so I looked to it for inspiration. One of the easy walks it recommended was the Oriental Parade Path, along the Wellington waterfront and the Oriental Beaches. It sounded perfect. It was surprisingly busy for a Friday. I’m guessing that it will be packed on the weekend.

This area was once a whaling station, and the art along the walk acknowledges that history.

Further along, we were treated to views like this.

Even the manhole covers have a bit of artistic flair.

There are many Norfolk Island Pines around the city, and this year we noticed that some of them are growing huge pinecones. We had never noticed that on previous visits.

Here is another example of the type of art installation so common in New Zealand. This was part of a wall along Orient Beach. It is meant to highlight environmentally sensitive areas, and the need to protect them. It is also lovely art.

One of the things we enjoy when we travel, believe it or not, is visiting grocery stores to look for interesting new flavors. After our walk, we were craving something sweet … perhaps a chocolate coated biscuit, and I spotted these.

I mentioned at the start of this post that we are going on a twilight tour at Zealandia later today. It’s late now, so I’ll save Zealandia for a separate post tomorrow.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Travel, Wellington | 4 Comments

No Particular Place To Go

Posted on January 29, 2026 by If It Was Today

We woke up early (for us) and for a while we thought we’d get an early start on the day. But then we realized we didn’t have an agenda for today, other than enjoying the lovely New Zealand weather and friendly people. So we slowed down, had a relaxing morning reading the paper, finished our puzzles, and were out the door “at the crack of noon”. First stop was lunch. The special at the restaurant just around the corner (Cafe Neo, if you’re wondering) was a BLAT sandwich – bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato. It was divine, and gave us all the energy we needed for our afternoon walk. Probably a little extra as well, but who’s counting.

This is our third visit to Wellington, and we had yet to ride the iconic cable car. Today, we rectified that oversight by taking the easy route to the Wellington Botanic Garden … in other words, the cable car. And then, after a brief tour of the Cable Car Museum (and gift shop) we enjoyed a brief walk around the gardens. We’ve been to the gardens on our previous visits to Wellington, but we took a different path this time, and came across an unusual “interactive” sundial.

It was spot on, with the shadow of Jan’s hands pointing directly at 2:00 pm. It had another interesting feature as well. The proper place to stand depends on the date, so it shows you exactly where to stand. Very cool.

You won’t be surprised to learn that I took pictures of the vegetation. I do that every trip, but this time we found a new plant. It’s called Kangaroo Paw, and if you look closely it isn’t difficult to see why.

It’s always lovely to see trees in bloom, but it was especially enjoyable today. At home, it is minus 20 C and has been snowing pretty much non-stop since we left. Looks like we got out just in time. But, back to the flowers…

It started out cloudy and cool today, but by the time we were wandering through the Botanic Gardens, the skies were once again clearing. This shot shows one of New Zealand’s iconic ferns opening, with the blue sky as a backdrop.

On some of our past visits, we have spent a full day in the Botanic Gardens. Perhaps if you have taken the time, and effort, to walk all the way up the hill to the gardens, you are damn well going to enjoy them. But if you just ride up in the cable car, it’s okay to have a short walk and then head back down. So that is what we did.

Next stop was the New Zealand parliament building known as The Beehive. This is another landmark that we hadn’t seen before this trip.

We walked around the grounds and then found a quiet bench to relax in the shade, enjoying the weather and the greenery. Wellington is known as “Windy Wellington” and today lived up to that reputation. I caught this picture of the flag on the top of The Beehive, just to prove the point.

And here is a picture of Jan enjoying the day. She’s wearing the sweater that a good friend knitted for her. It is her new favourite. (Thank you Jane!)

And now I have a question for any plant experts who have managed to read this far in this post. Several of the trees around the parliament buildings had these brown “things” hanging down. They kind of look like a broken branch, but they don’t look broken. But they definitely look dead. It’s hard to explain, so here is a picture, that hopefully might help.

If anyone knows what this is, please let me know.

We headed down to the water and walked along the harbour front. It was warm in the sun, but the breeze kept us cool … I know, such problems. We’ve been here enough that we were recognizing things as we walked. Such fun. But it was getting late … it was almost “wine o’clock” for Jan or “beer o’clock” for me. I walked over to a local favourite, the Garage Project, to pick up a beer I’d heard about. On my way back, I passed this unusual street art. The more I looked at it, the stranger it seemed. Look closely at the images around the orc riding a dinosaur. Very strange, but cool. I like it!

Tomorrow we’re visiting Zealandia for an evening tour. If we are very lucky, we might see a Kiwi.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Cable Car, New Zealand, Photography, Travel, Wellington | 2 Comments

This is Really Hard to Take

Posted on January 28, 2026 by If It Was Today

I’m kidding, of course. It’s actually really easy to take, especially when we see the weather at home.

We flew from Auckland to Wellington today and were treated to views of the New Zealand coast.

Last year when we visited New Plymouth, we only caught fleeting glimpses of Mount Egmont (now changed back to the original Māori name, which is Taranaki Maunga). Today we had a perfect view as we flew over.

After checking into our hotel, unpacking, and freshening up, we headed out for a walk around Wellington. This is our third visit here, and things are starting to feel familiar. One of our favourite spots is Cuba street.

Note the beautiful blue skies. It was “only” 20 degrees C today, so we were worried we might find it a little cool. Not a problem. I’m not sure why this is, but we’ve found in the past that in New Zealand it feels far warmer than the thermometer suggests. Maybe it’s knowing what the temperature is at home? But whatever the reason, we were very comfortable in shorts, t-shirt and sandals.

There is an impressive church right across from our hotel, so I had to take a picture, because … that is what I do. Once again, note the perfect blue skies.

National Shrine for St Mary of the Angels

Last year we stayed at a place on The Terrace. It was close to downtown, and on the map it looked like an easy walk. That’s because everything looks flat on the map. Unfortunately, in real life it was all uphill. So this year Jan made sure to find a place closer to the same elevation as downtown. It worked, and we even have a view of the hill that we had to climb last year … several times a day.

Surprisingly, the view is much more interesting from down here than it was last year when we were on top of the hill. This picture zooms in on one of the houses on the side of the hill that fascinates me.

We’re on the sixth floor with a balcony, giving us a perfect view.

Here is another interesting house, nestled in among the lush vegetation on the side of the hill.

We’re still a little tired from the long flight, and from jet lag, so we weren’t all that enthusiastic about going out for dinner. Fortunately we found a lovely pizza place that would deliver. Add in some New Zealand beer and wine, and you have a wonderful meal.

The pizza was very good. It says it is “Neapolitan” pizza, but having just been to Italy, I have to say that it wasn’t as good as the pizza in Naples. But, to be fair, that is a very high bar.

Tomorrow … who knows. A week ago, the forecast was for cool, wet weather, but now it looks like it will be sunny and in the low 20’s. We might just wander around Wellington for the day. We’ll see…

Posted in Travel | Tagged Craft beer, New Zealand, New Zealand IPA, Photography, Pizza, Travel, Wellington | 2 Comments

We Made It!

Posted on January 26, 2026 by If It Was Today

We made it out of Ottawa before the heavy snow hit, left Vancouver ahead of schedule, and arrived in Auckland over half an hour early. All of that is good, but … after more than 24 hours traveling, even after getting some sleep on the flight, we’re still beat.

Last week we were watching the weather forecasts and we were concerned the weather wasn’t looking all that “summery”. No need to worry. Even though the temperature is around 20 C, it still feels wonderful walking outside in shirtsleeves and enjoying all the green.

We’re spending one night in Auckland to break up the trip and then flying to Wellington tomorrow. We walked over to the domestic terminal to check things out, and had a chance to get a few more ideas for later in the trip.

Tomorrow (or maybe the day after) I should start having more interesting pictures. Until then, we’re just enjoying hanging out in summer weather.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Auckland, New Zealand | 9 Comments

And We’re Off…

Posted on January 25, 2026 by If It Was Today

At the airport now, about an hour from boarding. The good news is that our plane is on the ground and at the gate, getting ready to go. If it was coming in from Toronto, Montreal, or almost anywhere in the U.S., I’d be worried. There have been hundreds of cancellations so far this weekend.

I snapped a picture of our plane as it was landing.

As you can see, the snow has already started. It will be getting much worse in a few hours, but we should be on our way by then. Fortunately they’re equipped to deal with snow here, so this shouldn’t cause any problems.

Next stop, Vancouver, and then Auckland.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, New Zealand, Photography, Snow, Travel | Leave a comment

Before The Storm

Posted on January 24, 2026 by If It Was Today

A storm’s coming… and we’re leaving. We’re scheduled to fly out tomorrow evening, just about the time the snow starts. Needless to say, we’re hoping to get away before things get nasty. Fingers crossed!

Today was cold, and tomorrow promises more of the same.

We’re headed to New Zealand, where the temperature will be about the same … except for the “minus sign”. We’re definitely looking forward to the change.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Canada, New Zealand, Snow, Travel | 5 Comments

Getting Ready

Posted on January 18, 2026 by If It Was Today

One week left before we head back to New Zealand for our third visit in four years. We’re staying for six weeks this time. It really is a wonderful place to visit, especially in the middle of a Canadian winter. Speaking of which, we had over 50 cm of snow in December, and another 50 so far in January. That adds up to … a lot.

Last summer we added a “secret garden” in our yard. It was a wonderful oasis in the heat of the summer. Right now, it isn’t much of a garden nor an oasis.