From Clifton the bay curves in a wide arc to Napier, and on the seashore around Napier are large numbers of adventive flowering plants. You get a particularly good view of these from the Gisborne railway line and also the main highway just north of the city, where they tend to crowd out the less rugged native plants. The widespread planting of marram grass along this coastline to stabilise sand dunes has made much of this habitat unsuitable for breeding shorebirds and further threatened native plants.

A drive along the waterfront around Napier is always interesting. The aquarium on the Marine Parade is probably the best in the country. Besides fish, they also have some good reptile exhibits and the only school of piranha in the country. The feature of the aquarium is a 400,000-litre tank in which many kinds of fish from Hawke’s Bay are found.

Nearby is the Napier Marineland. They use local common dolphins from Hawke’s Bay for their acts, but sometimes also dusky dolphins. They also do a lot of good work rehabilitating sick and injured seals and penguins.

Still further along the Marine Parade is the nocturnal wildlife centre where kiwi and other nocturnal animals can be seen. A number of the kiwi exhibited were bred at nearby Greenmeadows, which pioneered the propagation of this species in captivity.

On the slopes of Hospital Hill are the Napier Botanical Gardens. An unusual feature of the gardens is the large flock of free-flying budgies. They spend the day flying around the neighbourhood before returning each night to their cages. Unlike wild budgies in their native Australia, which are almost entirely green, these, because of selective breeding, display a variety of colours.

Napier is probably best known for the earthquake that devastated the town in 1931. One consequence was the raising of the bed of the harbour at Napier, which created an extensive area of salt marsh, providing an ideal habitat for waders. Five kilometres north of Napier beside State Highway 2 is the Ahuriri Wildlife Refuge and large numbers of migratory and shorebirds are found here. Kotuku are often seen in winter, and godwits in the summer months. There is also a large number of ducks.

Continue on along State Highway 2 and the first major river that you reach from Napier is the Esk. From here it is an easy drive north to Tutira Station. One of our best-known amateur naturalists, Herbert Guthrie-Smith, purchased Tutira in 1882 and spent most of his adult life at the station. He wrote his classic works in the homestead on the rise across the road from Lake Tutira. These included his best-known work, ‘Tutira’, as well as several other eminently readable books on birdlife.

Guthrie-Smith was a pioneer of bird photography in New Zealand and, considering the limitations of his cumbersome and primitive equipment, the results were remarkable. He wrote: 'I have committed crimes in my life, I know. Who hasn't? But I believe expiation may have been accomplished during those hours of anguish, kneeling on a waterproof and slowly sinking into the ooze.' It was in such a position that he photographed several bird species now gone from Tutira, including the blue duck, weka, falcon and brown teal.