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March already! We are really beginning to feel that this is the turn for home now, certainly when we leave New Zealand to head off across the Pacific at the weekend the mile counter will start winding down for a change and we will feel we are headed home, slowly. The Pacific is not that large surely. There is going to be much confusion on March 4th though as we will cross the International Date Line on that day, or rather on both those days, as we will have two March 4ths. Don't ask me, you would need to get a geographer to explain how the dickens that works.
So, it's off to Napier, the Art Deco capital of the world, just a short overnight chug up the coast from Wellington. Now, as I'm sure you all know, Napier was virtually wiped out by a 6.3 earthquake in 1931. Equally you don't need me to tell you that New Zealand lies slap across one of the major tectonic plate boundaries in the world, hence the frequent earthquakes. It was, of course, just one year ago this last weekend that Christchurch was so severely damaged by their quake causing the change in itinerary that brings us to Napier today. Following the 1931 earthquake the local authorities set about rebuilding the city in one of the great public building initiatives that characterised government's response to the problems of the Great Depression. Dave Cameron and his mates down on millionaires row have a much better way of sharing the pain with us all this time round! Anyway, I digress slightly, the good burghers of Napier met with the architects and the decision was taken that all the new rebuilds were to be exclusively in the art deco style, and effectively the town was reconstructed in just under 2 years; you wouldn't get past the planning enquiry in that time today. But the boys done good. It's like going into a time warp, all smooth edges, flowing lines, arcades, colonnades, boulevards, promenades, I could go on, but strangely (and uncharacteristically I hear you say) I don't have the words to do it justice. Many of the local populace, not least those associated with tourist trade, enter into the spirit, with many sporting period costume. We even spotted a straw boater not dissimilar to that once worn by one of your correspondents as a callow schoolboy, how old is that!
We eschewed the opportunity to ride in a vintage 1930s motor car for the more appealing charm of 9 seater Hyundai minibus for our morning tour of the Hawkes Bay wine growing region. Well of course there was wine tasting. It would have been churlish in an extreme to have come all this way and not accept their invitation, after they had gone to so much trouble. And good wine it is too, well certainly at the first couple of places Mission Bay and Church Road wineries. It's a bit of a blur after that!
We were fortunate that the guide/driver we hired was excellent, a bit of a character, a former apple grower and vineyard estate manager, he had a wealth of knowledge, a delightful sense of humour, and access to places that 50 seater bus tours cannot reach. Not only did we get to visit some excellent wineries but Ross had also brought with him a first class picnic of cheeses etc. which we were meant to have at the top of an isolated hillside overlooking Hawkes Bay. Unfortunately, having negotiated the rural tracks in the 4x4 minibus to reach the picnic spot, the wind was so fierce as to make it impossible to comfortably have lunch. So, there was no option other than to make a quick phone call to arrange to make use of a spare room at a nearby winery; local contacts you see. We were disappointed, the view had been exceptional, we had been so looking forward to the rural idyll, but you have to make sacrifices in life every now and then and we just struggled through another boring old wine tasting, this time with the cheese and biscuits thrown in.
Ross had another tour going out in the afternoon and we were, by now, running a little bit late, but still behaving with great decorum, so he asked if we could detour to his house to enable him to stock up with the afternoon's hamper. Thus we got to meet his two Jack Russells and have a quick wander through his delightful garden overlooking Napier harbour before returning to downtown just short of 2 o'clock.
This left us free to spend the afternoon browsing around Napier itself, which was about the right kind of time we felt. Napier is not large, certainly the Art Deco section is easily walkable in a couple of hours. It has a quaint, other worldly feel to it and works hard to make visitors feel welcome in a way that many larger cities don't feel the need to. Beyond the rebuilt central zone it is much like anywhere else with large retail parks on the city fringes, but we enjoyed our stop here. It is a unique place and of a size that made a pleasant change from the bigger cities of our recent experience. On returning to the ship at around 5pm we found a selection of vintage cars parked up on the quayside with a 5 piece jazz band bopping away merrily until we cast off on our merry way toward Auckland.
- comments
Clairey All those wineries.... sounds like your dream day out, Dad!
Tebay Tommy Geographer,? geographer?? .... I used to know one........ P.S. this might not get through I keep getting the security sums wrong!