Napier on the East Coast

April 5, 2010


Today was a driving day. We headed north from Wellington, bound for Napier which is a small city on Cape Kidnappers in Hawke Bay on the east coast. The drive took us mostly through agricultural land, pasture mostly. The northern island was covered with dense forest when the Europeans arrived and in the time from about 1860 to 1900 it was all cut for timber and to provide farm land for the tidal wave of immigrants that were arriving. Today it is rolling fields and huge wind farms with the hills covered in regrowth pine forest (introduced). The drive was long and uneventful however the gusts of winds were monumental and felt like they were going to blow the van right off the road. We arrived in Napier late afternoon and headed into the city for a quick walk about and supper. The central core of Napier was destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt over the next several years in a distinctive art deco style. This city was almost empty as this was Easter Monday – New Zealand is very Christian in its culture. Everything was closed, there were few pedestrians and even half the restaurants were closed. We managed to walk the Marine Parade along the beach (made up of black volcanic pebbles – beautiful), snapped some photos of the sunken gardens and the Tom Parker fountain, hugged Pania of the Reef for luck and just enjoyed the interesting architecture. After a bite of supper we headed back to camp to rest up for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are off to central North Island to take in the volcanoes and possibly a traditional Maori feast.