What a wonderful few days we’ve had in Napier and Hastings. We headed down SH2 from Gisborne, via Nuhaka and Mahia stoping for the night in Wairoa. A lovely town with some very quirky, unique shop fronts and a lighthouse! Our campsite was really great, it even had a garden you could collect veggies from.

From Wairoa, we continue down to Napier. As someone who loves Art Deco buildings, I was super keen to visit here and I wasn’t disappointed! After parking up in one of the public car parks by the seafront, we walked into town for a very quick look around before driving up to Bluff Hill & Hospital Hill. Some of the houses are stunning on the hills and the view from Bluff Hill is amazing. We also make a stop at Mission Estate, the first winery in New Zealand, established in 1851 by French missionaries. It is a stunning building with a view just as stunning. We have decided to do a tour of some wineries but by bicycle! Now to some of you, this may not seem like a big deal, but when you haven’t been on a bike for over 30 years, it is! We hired our bikes from On yer bike! https://onyerbikehb.co.nz/ Phil was kind enough to let me have a practise the day before so I felt a little less apprehensive. One brilliant thing about Hawkes Bay is that they have created kilometres of cycle paths so that you can safely cycle from one vineyard to another. We visited four wineries, sharing a tasting at each one. Trinity Hill – https://trinityhill.com/ Oak Estate – https://oakestatewines.co.nz/ Radburnd – https://radburndcellars.co.nz/ and Ash Ridge https://www.ashridgewines.com/ What a brilliant day we had. Even if we did come away a few $ lighter!

We had decided not to do too much the following day but…we were up at the crack of dawn to go to the Hawkes Bay Farmer’s Market in Hastings. What a treat it was. Coffee carts, crepes, live music, fresh produce from independent artisan growers/makers. It was a real pleasure to see the range of fine food produce that was on sale by small owner operators. There was such a lovely feeling to it as well – lots of laughter, music, glorious smells. Just brilliant.

After visiting the market, we drove through Hastings, into lovely Havelock North and up the road to the top of Te Mata Peak for spectacular views across Hawkes Bay. From the Peak, we stopped in at the Te Mata winery. Don had a tasting here and we both made a purchase – it is very nice wine. https://www.temata.co.nz/

We gave ourselves a day to look around Napier at the Art Deco buildings. On February 3rd 1931, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale razed the main business district of Napier to the ground. At least 250 died. The town was rebuilt in the architectural style of Art Deco which was in vogue at the time. https://www.napier.govt.nz/napier/about/history/napier-earthquake-1931/ We had a drive around a residential area and saw some excellent examples of art deco houses before spending a few hours in the town centre. Buildings here have of course had to adapt to their new uses – chemists, stationery shops, shoe shops, eateries, which means that their beauty is somewhat blurred by modern signage. Marine Parade is beautiful with its rows of Norfolk Pines and the ocean rolling in and crashing on the black pebbled beach. Napier embraces and celebrates it’s legacy borne out from the terrible disaster that occurred in 1931.

Last stop in Napier before heading further down SH2 was the Faraday Museum of Technology. OMG! It was fantastic! Hands on. Lots of information, lots of artifacts. Highlights: the Tesla Coil that was demonstrated and the Fullagar Engine – the only working example in the world. This engine was vital in the aftermath of the Napier earthquake as it was used to generate power & lighting. https://www.faradaymuseum.co.nz/

It was like being a 10 year old again – so exciting!