Onwards we went from Wellington to Palmerston North and Napier, where we gave lectures for Massey University/Palmerston North City library, a Ryman’s retirement village and participated in a shark-themed day with Napier’s Earth Guardians. Whilst the events all went well, our week didn’t go especially smoothly as we were both struck down with a dreadful case of the New Zealand winter cold and a back injury on my part as well. Being from England, we thought we’d we well prepared for colds but we discovered there is nothing quite like a Kiwi winter cold.

During the week we were ill, we had four events to complete and we were a tag team of very ill and injured Friends for Sharks. It was not pleasant to be honest, one of our hardest weeks to date, and I am proud to say we completed each event with enthusiasm despite being ill, without our voices at times and whilst I was hobbling like an elderly person. It was especially amusing that Nicholas wore a surgical mask to the retirement village event so he didn’t infect those around us! I wonder what the audience thought of Nicholas in his mask and unable to speak.

 

 

Our Earth Guardians event was a great day and we really enjoyed presenting to the adults and children about sharks. We were joined by staff from the Napier Aquarium, who also gave a talk on sharks and shared their exhibits – which included a Mako shark fin, a pickled juvenile shark and a beautiful Megalodon tooth. A very talented graffiti artist, Cinzah Seekayem, produced a stunning piece of shark art, which is going to be auctioned to raise money for shark conservation.

 

We have completed our 57th event and have now presented to 5197 people!

 

Thank you to everyone that attended our events and tolerated us being unwell. Your enthusiasm and interest in our work pulled us through when the paracetamol and ibuprofen wore off mid-talk!

There was one other particular highlight of our time in Palmerston North and that was when we visited some Russian Black Terrier puppies in the area. This is one of our favourite dog breeds and we intend to have one or two of these gorgeous giant dogs in our future home. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the local breeder and were smitten by the adorable (and enormous) puppies with their laid-back parents. It was puppy heaven for us and I had to sit on my hands when the owners offered to loan us a puppy for the remainder of our tour to raise awareness of the breed.

 

 

By the time we completed our events and puppy cuddling, we were on our knees with tiredness and my back was worsening daily, so we took a long weekend to recover at a cosy campsite called Bay View Hotel at Bay View, Napier. It is not often we treat ourselves to a campsite with electricity (every penny counts for us) but we were in desperate need of some heat, routine, food and sleep to recharge our batteries. The campsite was peaceful, had great facilities with our heated Wendekreisen Travel Ltd campervan Bertha and a very friendly host named Bill. We highly recommend this site to anyone traveling New Zealand. Whilst we were staying there we found a tree in someone’s front garden that had enormous Pomelo Fruit and the owner gave us some fruit to try. We were so excited by these giant fruits but sadly they are 90% pith and the centre tastes a little like a dried grapefruit. Ah well, it was fun giving it a try.

 

 

By the time we left camp we were in better shape than when we arrived. We drove off in Bertha whilst looking forward to our next stops in the thermally active region of New Zealand: Lake Taupo and Rotorua.