Napier (Ahuriri)
Accommodation: Sat 15th Feb – Mon 17th Feb
Sat 15th Feb
It was another fine morning for our last in Lake Taupo so the boys were on a final bike ride and Colleen and I on a walk. It was a two hour trip down to Napier and we found our next accommodation easily. Once again, we found ourselves in a rather luxurious apartment with views right out over the water of Hawkes Bay and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The other piece of good luck was that we were here for the weekend of the 48th Annual Art Deco Festival. We arrived to find most of the towns folk all dressed in Gatsby style clothing. I had initially thought all these locals were just a bit odd. We thought much of New Zealand, that we had seen thus far, had been hit with the 80s stick but this was something else! It was a relief to find they were all just heartily embracing the vibe of the festival.
It was midday by the time we had settled in to the apartment so we didn’t hang around for too long and set out to have lunch and explore the local area. We were technically staying in Ahuriri (pronounced: ah-hoo-ri-ri), around the headland from the main shopping area of Napier, and there were a lot of old warehouses nearby that have been converted into a variety of restaurants, breweries, gin distilleries and the like so it was a very interesting part of Napier. It was quite windy though, and became increasingly so in the afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day enjoying the luxury of our waterfront apartment. The view from our apartment was so lovely that we decided to dine in for the night.
Sun 16th Feb
It was a mild but overcast morning and I was very glad for the reprieve. We had a 90 minute art deco walking tour at 10 am and a bit of cloud cover would offer welcome relief from the blistering sun. The boys started the day with a bike ride and Colleen and I had a bit of a walk.
The walking tour was offered by the Napier Art Deco Trust and the general consensus was that it was great. Our guide, Cindy, was an excellent communicator as her day job was teaching at a high school. She gave us a good overview about the recent history of Napier and how the 1931 major earthquake shaped the development of the town as it appears today and gave rise to much of the art deco architecture.
To summarise briefly:
# 1931: a 2.5 minutes earthquake destroyed Napier and then there was a fire for the following 2 days.
# 250 died and were buried in a mass grave.
# 7,000 evacuated after the earthquake. All services were destroyed
# HMS Veronica was in port at time of the earthquake and called for help.
# The Port was very important for NZ and, hence, the town was rebuilt
# A committee of just 2 planned & oversaw the rebuild: a barrister and engineer.
# The rebuild was done on a budget because insurance claims were denied and most needed a second mortgage.
# Art deco style dominated in the rebuild as that was the dominant and popular style at the time.
# Rebuild took just 18 months
# There were lots of workers available due to the depression
# The Land level rose above 2 metres
#Verandas were for providing shelter from the sun for stock in the window displays
# Bank building don’t have verandas as they didn’t have stock to worry about
#Hastings also has a bit of art deco and Spanish mission as it was also damaged in the earthquake. They are 20 minutes apart.
We went on to explore Napier a bit more after the tour and then drove out to Hastings for lunch before heading back to the apartment to rest up before dinner.
It was 5.30 pm before we set out again and we headed to The Gin Trap Restaurant & Bar for a drink before dinner at Madam Social. Both venues were great and I’d highly recommend them if you’re ever in the area. And guess what kids! Madame Social was ‘Asian Fusion’! 😂
We had greatly enjoyed our short visit to Napier and were very lucky to have been here for the weekend of the Art Deco Festival as this brought a much greater sense of meaning to our understanding of the area. We were also very lucky to have found such an amazing apartment and my initial concern about being out of the main part of Napier was misguided as this was a great area to be located for our time exploring Napier. Tomorrow we depart early to head to Martinborough to pick up an afternoon wine tour.