Penguins in Christmas mood

Can I confess something to you: I still don't know what's special about Art Deco style...

But it doesn't matter, I started with the aquarium today. And almost right after I arrived and paid, the feeding of the penguins started.

They are so cute!

The 'Little Penguins' are really tiny and therefore so sweet. And when they swim on the surface, they splash with their wings... I melted.
In the aquarium, injured and/or needy animals are taken care of, nurtured, and released again. However, those individuals that had such a poor chance of survival in the wild now reside in the tank for the rest of their lives - and that's not a bad life.
Many of them are orphaned chicks, others have suffered serious injuries, e.g., two birds are missing a wing due to a fishing net.
They all have names and every month a particularly cheeky and commendable penguin is crowned. Cute idea.
After the feeding, I took a look at the aquarium in peace. The staff must have been in full Christmas mood, as there were Christmas decorations everywhere and Christmas songs playing.
I've never looked at turtles before and heard 'All I want for Christmas'.

The aquarium itself is not that big, but the attention to detail makes up for it. They also have two kiwis living with them, which clearly speaks for the quality of the aquarium ;)
In the afternoon, I went back to the aquarium to watch the shark feeding. That was really spectacular! The diver was surrounded by fish, stingrays, sharks, everything swimming in this tank. Worse than backpackers at an all-you-can-eat buffet!
Next to me was a group of German travelers, so I quickly disappeared afterwards... Germans!
In between, I wandered through the center of Napier and tried my best with the Art Deco style. It didn't really work. Well, you can see that the houses are very pretty and clearly a different architectural style, but if I hadn't known...
Because of my guilty conscience, I also visited the museum, especially the exhibition about the 1931 earthquake. But honestly, it didn't interest me that much, just like the floor dedicated to Maori culture. I'm starting to know enough about that now.
Instead, I retreated to the library, flipped through a few magazines, fried the WiFi, and found some cool New Zealand books (the travel guides for Germany are very depressing for Northerners...).

I also discovered a cool store: Possum World. I've mentioned before that possums are not exactly popular in New Zealand. That means: they are considered a pest because they destroy native forests and eat the eggs of birds. Sometimes even the birds.
So if you see a possum on the road: hold the steering wheel tight and hit the gas. No joke.
The fur of possums is processed into completely different things: jackets, scarves, socks, even underwear!

Can I confess something else to you: that's all I did today. Somehow, I didn't feel like exploring much today, so I retreated back to the house in the afternoon.
I watched YouTube videos, looked up a few things, read... Don't blame me, but I really needed this break.
As silly as it sounds, you can't do something crazy and see and try new things every day. Sometimes I just need a 'normal' day. And besides, I've finished exploring Napier for myself.
So: put your feet up, chill!
Tomorrow I'm somehow going to Taupo, then I'll stock up for the week and meet Chiara again. And at the latest on Tuesday, things will surely be back in full swing! Promise!