Today Mariel and I rented bicycles from our hostel and cycled over 30km (~18 miles) around Napier. Therefore I am too exhausted to go into much detail. We had a great time and visited Mission Estate Winery (used to be a seminary until the 1990s), the Filter Room Ale and Cider House (delicious ciders in the afternoon heat), the Silky Oak Chocolate Company (the air smelled of chocolate and it was impossible to resist buying some), and an orchard to buy fresh apples and peaches. When we got back into Napier we ducked inside a little possum fur clothing shop (they are everywhere here) to have a look...little did we know there was an entire museum dedicated to New Zealander's hatred of the possum. Now these possums are marsupials, descended from Australia and are only distantly related to the opossums we have in the US. There was a sign titled "Bridge of Remembrance" stating the statistic, "70,000,000 opossums consuming 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per night." I guess these little creatures are overtaking the native species here. So much, in fact, that they used a chemical called "1080" to poison them to bring their numbers down. I understand the situation is dire, but some of the following pictures illustrate the ridiculousness of the NZ hatred for possums. I guess the only consolation is that they are not wasted and are made into hats, scarves, gloves, socks, sweaters, shirts, and even nipple and belly button warmers (whatever they are needed for). Enjoy!
Mission Estate Winery, Hawke's Bay
Mission Estate Winery, Hawke's Bay
Mission Estate Winery started out as a vineyard for the church
Mission Estate vineyards view
We had some delicious truffles at Silky Oak
Great ciders at the Filter Room
We biked back along the beach
Art Deco buildings, Napier
"Squashed variety" possum
They made a moa out of possum pelts
They made their little dead bodies into possum musicians
Here's another one...are you sensing the NZ hatred for possums?
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