If there are no pictures, did anything happen? We took a inflatable boat river ride today. I always try to travel light, but this time I went “overboard”. My phone, my multi tool, my eye glasses, and even my hearing aids stayed behind in the cabin. One man took a huge bag — way too big qualify as an airplane carry-on. I can’t imagine what he thought he needed. It was a 5 hour tour, 90 minutes of which were in the water, in a class 2 section of the river. Enough to have a little fun, not enough to cause serious anxiety. The weather was perfect — sunny and warm. Nobody fell overboard. Everybody had a great time. The countryside was absolutely beautiful. Danita and I got up early this morning and earned ourselves a bonus. We had a stunningly beautiful and dramatic sunrise. But don’t tell Holland America. I’m sure they will charge us if they find out. ;-)

A1931 earthquake made major changes to Napier. Ground was moved up 5 feet or so. The water line was pushed back a couple of blocks. Swampy areas became dry land and underwater areas became swampy. The beautiful deep sea port became a ho-hum port. The white sand beaches became rock strewn water with dangerous tides. Buildings made with bricks collapsed. Buildings made of wood generally survived the quake but didn’t necessarily survive the fire. The silver lining is that Napier rebuilt their commercial district over the next couple of years. Today, they bill themselves as the Art Deco capitol of the world. They also had a major cyclone about two years ago. We saw plenty of abandoned houses in the rural area. The storm moved one house several hundred yards down the hill. It seems every port has at least one weather disaster story. Here’s hoping the good weather holds for another week.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.