Napier is so far the cutest we have visited in NZ with respect to its architecture. We stayed in the Art Deco Masonic Hotel, which is where Queen Elizabeth stayed in 1954.
This is the view from the terrace off our bedroom.
In the morning we took an architectural tour with Christine, a spry 80-something-year-old who, after 24 years of giving these tours, retired after ours.
Napier suffered a devastating earthquake on Feb. 3, 1931 which caused fires that lasted for 2 days. The town was burned to the ground, over 250 people died, and thousands were injured. Because it was the depression, architects and construction teams were available to pour in from all over the world to help rebuild the city. The style at the time was art deco, so that is how the new buildings were designed. Over time, some of them were altered. but in the 1980s the town realized the gem that they had, and started restoring them to the original. Now every year in February the town has a huge jazz era festival. People come from all over in their roadsters, dressed in 30s style to celebrate the resilience of the town. Christine shared some of the architectural marvels with us.
In the afternoon, we visited wineries. I forgot to mention that while in Queenstown, we visited wineries of the Otago Valley. There the specialty is Pinot Noir, of which they have some internationally award winning ones. Napier is in the Hawkes Bay wine region, which has a more diverse offering of grape varietals.
The following morning was Saturday, which meant a farmers’ market in the town park.
While in Australia, we were lucky enough to have the Jakaranda trees in bloom. Now almost a month later and much further south, we get to see them in bloom again! The red one is called the Maori Christmas tree because of its bright red blooms in December.
Jo & Eric's travels 