Cape Kidnappers is a place that sounds made up. In fact, in actually looks like a place that’s made up as well! However, I can assure you it is a real place and it is a beautiful place even when the weather doesn’t cooperate with you! As an excursion from the Azamara Quest, I did a daytrip to Cape Kidnappers from the coastal town of Napier, New Zealand.

Napier is a nice little town that I have been through before and it is famous for its Art Deco architectural style including the famous tobacco building. It was rebuilt as such after a devastating earthquake in 1931. However, it’s not the most interesting place even though it’s on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status for its architecture. Luckily it’s surrounded by some cool attractions like Hawke’s Bay for wine and of course Cape Kidnappers!

I took a Cape Kidnappers tour with Gannet Safaris Overland, a local tour company that was set up through the Azamara Quest and they were pretty good I must say. The weather was not good but the guide was both knowledgeable and funny. The scenery was also awesome-even in the rain!

Cape Kidnappers is a very hilly, steep terrain cape that features some really steep climbs and close to the edge turns but as the driver says, “the bus knows the way”.

The views are pretty spectacular with all the undulating hills and of course the beautiful coastline. Atop the cape at the very end is where the resident Australasian gannets live and they were pretty cool.

They were grouped together much like an emperor penguin colony would have been from Antarctica. They smelled about the same as well but that’s to be expected! Unfortunately, it was pouring when we were up there and the wind was blowing at 60+mph. So my time there was short but I got a few good photos and some muddy shoes!

Cape Kidnappers also has a very famous golf course but I sadly wasn’t able to play. In fact, even if I had signed up to play as some people on the cruise ship did, there was no way with the weather. I actually had a few friends fly down to New Zealand in December and play-they loved it! It is ranked in the top 30 courses in the world.

So I was very pleased with my daytrip to Cape Kidnappers even with inclement weather although it cleared up nicely for a great sunset as we sailed away. These things happen on cruises and on vacation. There’s an old saying in baseball, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains”…truth!

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