First, we walked through the main area. This town was devastated by an earthquake in 1931. When rebuilt, many of the buildings were in art deco style. Recently, the city seized on this fact and is promoting itself as a tourist destination. Supposedly the weather in Napier is sunny for over 300 days per year. We ran into a few sprinkles but it did not matter that we left the umbrellas in the stateroom.
We also walked down the extensively upgraded waterfront to the New Zealand National Aquarium. We paid $NZ 21 each. The facilities did include a nice room-sized tank with the glass corridors so viewers can walk right through the marine environment with fish swimming over one's head. We also saw the mini New Zealand only penguins. Several were in a large pool area and I think may have been rescued animals.
Interestingly, we were most interested in the live exhibit that wasn't from the sea at all. We wanted to see kiwi birds before leaving this country. They are flightless birds who forage at night. Therefore, the area where they were is kept dark during the daytime. There was special sound-proof glass as kiwis are very sensitive and skittish. These birds have long beaks with the nostrils at near the tip. They are one of the only bird species which can use a sense of smell.
We must have spent at least an hour and a half in the Aquarium. We waited for the shuttle bus, rather than walk the kilometer or so back into town. We spend a bit of time enjoying the day which had warmed up to around 22C. We got back at 12:45 before the 1:30 deadline. The ship sailed out at 2:00 PM.
This was the last Gala Night on the MS Noordam. We've been here long enough to have had seven.