Mar 28, 2013 - Wine Country, Art Deco & More Golf

Day 7 & on to the Hawkes Bay area which is wine & fruit country. On our first evening we enjoyed a delicious & scenic progressive dinner which included transportation and guide. Next day while the guys golfed at Cape Kidnappers, I took a walking tour and learned all about Art Deco. Napier was destroyed by an 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt within 2 years in the Art Deco style that was all the rage at the time. They say Napier has the most complete and significant group of Art Deco buildings in the world and all within a fairly...

Mar 2, 2013 - R and R day - Napier

March 2 Hastings Today was an R and R day. We started the day by heading off to Napier. Napier is about 15 or 20 km from Hastings. It is located on the east coast of the north island. An earthquake followed by a huge fire around 1930 destroyed most of the town. It also raised the level of the ground about 2 metres resulting in developable land rising out of the sea. The centre of modern day Napier was rebuilt in 1930 to 1934 in the Art Deco style that was popular at the time. They have turned that into a major tourist attraction. We took...

Feb 19, 2013 - Napier

Walked around downtown Napier this morning. Really a busting little town and really cool place to wander around. It's really strange how everything closed up late afternoon, no restaurants open at all there. Lots of Art Deco buildings and the usual little parks with great flower displays. All along the Marine Parade, there are flower gardens and lawns, all well kept. Reminds us of English seaside towns like Lytham, St Anne's, and even Bournemouth. Drove down to Hastings this afternoon, about 12 miles, but not really a very interesting town...

Feb 18, 2013 - Rotorua and drive to Napier

Spent this morning looking around Rotorua. Very colonial particularly the croquet lawn and the bowling green with the ladies obviously having a very cutthroat tournament! Took a tour around the museum. It was built as a bathhouse in the early 1900's to attract overseas visitors to the delights of the thermal spas of the this region. Unfortunately, the first World War and various other global events killed off travel to NZ by Europeans so the bath house ended as a night club, a warehouse, and then was converted into a museum. The biggest...

Jan 30, 2013 - Napier

On the road after a bit of a sleep in and some wedding planning with our families. We stopped for a local cup of java, then slowly made our way out of beautiful Taupo. After our hour and and half drive, we arrived in Napier which is on the south eastern side of the north island. After checking into our hostel, which is above an econo lodge hotel, we started our little journey of the town and area. First we headed to Silky Oats Chocolate factory just outside of Napier. Kara was in heaven here, as she tried I would say 50% of the chocolates...

Jan 10, 2013 - Napier

I was feeling a little ill last night after yesterday’s workout of digging the van out of the sand with a stick. That took three hours of hard work but it was the combination of that and the hot sun that wore me out. It was 31 degrees yesterday. We are having a bit of a heat wave here. More than 30 degrees again today. The normal temperature for January is 23. It is supposed to be hot for several more days. At least it is not raining. I felt much better this morning after a good night’s rest. The summer holidays are winding down. Each day...

Jan 7, 2013 - Napier

January 06 After a somewhat disturbed night due to a party in another hotel that went till at least 3:30am we arose at 8:00, breakfasted, packed and set off for Napier. Initially the road was relatively straight and flat and I thought that we would cover the 148 kms in short order. After about 50 km or so however the usual New Zealand windy roads with lots of ups and downs appeared and slowed our progress. A sign pointing to a lookout drew our attention and I drove off the road to investigate. Imagine our surprise to see a lovely waterfall...

Nov 4, 2012 - what a cool place!

Up and out early this morning as we had planned on moving to another hostel a couple of blocks away in a 1932 Art Deco hotel with a fabulous lounge and huge kitchen. The fires that resulted from the 1930 Napier earthquake destroyed everything that had been left standing, which from what we understand wasn't that much. In less than 2 years there was a town design in place and buildings were erected specifically adhering to their chosen style of architecture. The town was equipped with underground services (which were unheard of back in...

Nov 3, 2012 - East Cape drive to Napier

One of Gisborne's claims to fame is that they are the first city in the world to see the sun rise. Donna didn't quite make it to this daily event today...................maybe tomorrow!...........maaaayyybe!!!!!!!!!! Headed south today on another windy road past countless sheep and cattle herds. We did stop and walk in to a pair of waterfalls. There are countless trails and hikes marked along the road. These Kiwis must be the fittest group on earth as each and every hike involves climbing hills however you are always rewarded with a view...

Jan 2, 2012 - The Napier Trip

We started our Napier Trip on the morning of the 26th December 2011. As it turned out, this was a perfect time to travel, little traffic on the road and smooth sailing all way. The return journey on the 30th December 2011 was much the same, although we did strike a lot of trucks in the early part of the day. For more information please check out these sites - http://www.gannets.com http://www.nationalaquarium.co.nz Point of Note: My mother, aged 80, was the oldest person of about 300 people who took this trip! There were five tractors with...

Nov 6, 2011 - Napier

The city of Napier was destroyed in the 1930's by a huge earthquake, so it has been rebuilt all in a Art Deco style and is also in the Hawke's Bay wine region. So once we arrived and settled in Napier, we hired some bikes which seriously needed mending and did our own cycle tour of local wineries and sites to go. Managed to save about $80 by DIY!! Like I said the bikes were not the best. One front wheel needed tightening up every 1km as the bulging tyre that was about to pop any second had buckled the wheel and the other one pretty much had...

Sep 29, 2011 - 27th September 2011

Early start, first stop Mission Wineries, where the tasting began before 10.00am, our host was most entertaining, various varieties were sampled, but my favourite was the desert wine served last, something I had never tried before, the old saying of the best been served last was truly the case on this day. We then went to Craggy Mountain winery, this was in the most beautiful of settings, and I took my self-off to the shade while the rest visited the various cellars. Lunch was unbelievable. The starter was a mixture of various pates and...