We slept in, no surprise there, leaving Wellington at 10.00. It was a cloudy day and we had a long drive ahead to Napier, passing by the Tararua and Ruahine Mountain Ranges, admiring the views, arriving in Napier to a blue sky and sunshine at around 3.00 pm.
First stop tourist information to book accommodation for one night and the 'Art Deco Tour'.
Napier is famous for the number of Art Deco buildings constructed due to a significant rebuilding programme following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 3rd 1931. It devastated the CBD of the city and killed 157 and is unique in the fact that the whole town was rebuilt in the style of the early Thirties. This period also offered much needed employment during the depression. Even today there are still 144 buildings standing compared to the original 164.
We saw some wonderful examples during the walk particularly the Cinema, Bank and shop doorways complete with mosaics and Art Deco stained glass. The opportunity had been taken to bury the electric cables giving the streets a clean look and even incorporated the street signs on the pavement as everyone walked at the time!
Today the city is revelling in it's uniqueness, particularly the annual Art Deco Weekend held in February. The whole town dresses up and it is impossible to book a room for the 2012 event!
After the tour we drove to a recommended viewpoint at Te Mata. Towards the top the ascent became very scary, like the Alpine ski roads when you pray that you don't meet anything coming the other way especially in our little car which really had to work hard to complete the climb.
The 360 degree views at the top however of Hawkes Bay, Napier and surrounding mountain ranges was worth it.
Our accommodation was great, the hotel had only been open three months and as we were just out of peak season we had two queen size beds (one each!) and a sea view on special offer.
We enjoyed a great meal at a local restraunt 'Three Doors Up', we enjoyed the local fish of the day and toasted my dad's birthday (he would have been 80 today) with several glasses of wine.