The Gannets

I don't know what gannets are called in Danish even, I suspect they may not have a name, being foreign to Scandinavia. These gannets in speaking are black reef gannets and they live by Cape Kidnapper, that being the largest mainland colony. You get there by the beach - there's a bous tour along a private road and a tractor tour by the beach for the lazy and rich as well. Walking by the beach is by far the better way, it's a beatiful tour, just remember to time it with the tide, it get's all the way up to the rock face. The gannets shriek strangely, but are quite at ease with all the tourists oogling them. In any case, the birds have an easy revenge in case you get to close to their nests. Hats may be recommendable, and not just for the sun. It smells, or rather stinks like guana as well, the birds are nestled so closely together.

the birds

To my pleasure it was actually possible to bike along the beach to the cape itself on the sand with a ligth load of only some sandwiches and bananas and a sleeping bag. All the heavier stuff was left at the hostel in their garage. For those in horror of how I can treat my bike like thar; I did wash it of nicely right after.

The beach bike

The view

Return from Napier it's sixty kilometer and I could have made it back for dinner in case I'd wanted to. It's very nice to have the option of making tours out like that, without a bike, it would have been quite a journey getting there and back again.

I stayed out the night on a beach near Clive with some French backpackers who where camping out in vans. We made a fire and had beer and talked of bicycles and travels and I borrowed a tent to sleep in despite my original plan of just roughing it on the beach in my bag sleeping under the stars. That was not permitted in the presence of the young, bright future lawyers and doctors of France. It strikes me rather often on this tour that Scandinavian men are hideously uncourteous. It's not about being an old-fashioned gentleman and genders and rights and all that, it's just that they tend to be quite frankly rude and impolite. I want them to be polite and nice, not because I'm a female, but because I am a person. Well, that's not really the main subject today.

The tour from Napier out to Cape Kidnapper and the birds goes along the coast, there's a bicycle path most of the way at the grace of banks and rotary clubs and whatnot with hideous commercials of children with artificial smiles and bike helmets disturbing the view. The coast is quite rugged, contrasted by pretty little houses, that obviously belongs to someone with a good income and wife with plenty of time for making chic rural decorations and there's hardly anyone to see on the way at all.