The weather was a bit miserable this morning when I took Totty for a walk before taking her to the kennels - Jon had to go into the office to collect something he had forgotten.
We set off expecting to have a wet journey and we were right. I had on a light kitted jumper as it was not looking good. The journey to Napier is quite a nice one passing through Rotorua and then Taupo. When we drove through Rotorua the smell of the sulphur was amazingly strong, must have been all the low cloud keeping the smell in. It must be a terrible place to live with that smell all the time. Driving along the main highway you get to see little areas puffing steam up from all the volcanic activity.
Taupo is a pretty place come rain or shine but it wasn't raining too hard by the time we got there although it was quite misty across the lake and we couldn't see the mountains beyond the laske. After Taupo there are no major towns until you reach Napier an hour and a half away. You drive through lots of pine forests and we saw lots of different stages of the logging process, being cut down, just cleared, left to rest and then tiny new trees just planted, I find it quite fascinating and really will look into it all one of these days. The natural forests are really different down there as there are no ferns but lots of really tall trees but as we didn't stop and look at the leaves I don't know what they are, kauri maybe? There are also more signs of autumn in this area with many trees having lost all their leaves and many turning all different shades of yellow and gold, quite beautiful.
We managed to find a small bar to stop for coffee and they had a lovely wood burning stove with a big cat sat in front of it, really cosy. The coffee wasn't the best we have ever had though.
When we got over the mountains the sun was shining and it looked really bright and the view of Hawke's Bay from the mountains was really good.
As soon as you get into the town you see the lovely Art Deco buildings which are beautiful. We found our hotel, a lovely Edwardian building with a 1920's interior. All the rooms are named after NZ birds and we were in the Whio (pronounced "feo") room which was lovely. Jon had to go straight off to his meeting so I unpacked and then set off to get some lunch which I did in an amazing little bar on the main street, you never feel "odd" eating in bars over here on your own, it is always friendly and they chat to you.
I then set off using my Lonely Planet Guide for a tour of all the main Art Deco buildings. Napier was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.8 back in 1931 when 261 people were killed. The main centre was flattened and destroyed by the fires caused by the quake. The city was re built in the style of the day, Art Deco and now has the biggest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world. They are all lovely pastel shades and all very well kept. The whole place has a really friendly atmosphere with lots of street cafes. I really wished I had a T shirt on as it was so warm and sunny.
My walk took me down onto the Marine Parade and the beach, which isn't the nicest beach in the world as it is all stones. Along the front are many wooden housed that survived the quake and are really quaint. There is the statue of Pania of the Reef who in Maori folklore was the girlfriend of a warrior who was lured out to see and never came back. I walked for miles! The cathedral was particularly nice, very modern with beautiful windows and lots of Maori workmanship incorporated into the design. I was the only person in there and it was really peaceful. There are two pink, sandstone crosses made of stone from Liverpool Cathedral the Archbishop at the time of dedication had begun his ministry in Liverpool Cathedral. Amazing the things you learn.
I had been given a complimentary wine tasting by the hotel a which was just across the road so I made that my last visit of the afternoon and enjoyed the tasting very much - I was the only one there! It was then back to the hotel for a rest!!
In the evening we met up with the chap Jon had come to see and his wife and they took us to a Thai restaurant which served dishes called "Cheeky Chicken", "The 3 Alcoholics" and "Sexy Little Duck".The strengh of spices was measured by being not spicy through to med, hot and bloody hot. This chap started in a caravan at the roadside and now has a hugely popular, big restaurant which I later saw is mentioned in the Lonely Planet. The food was lovely and so were Carol and Trevor and they have invited us to stay with them when next we go to Napier.
Tuesday was another lovely day (I was so glad I had packed a T shirt at the last minute or I would have had to go and buy one) and after breakfast Jon left for his meeting. I had a wander around the town and took more pictures and went into the Art Deco Shop where I watched a film about the earthquake and the re building of Napier. The lady who worked in the shop is originally from Slough but has been in NZ for many years. Now that I knew all the finer points of Art Deco I had to go out and look at the buildings again to see them!
I then went to the museum where I watched another film which was stories from survivors and really moving. While I was there Jon called to say he was back at the hotel so I met him and we went for coffee. We took a quick photo of each other in the street before getting our cases and heading back to Tauranga.
I loved everything about Napier. It is the first city I have been to that I feel I didn't have enough time to see it all and I need to go and visit again. It felt very strange being in a city that had once been destroyed by an earthquake and still have many earthquakes but not big ones but as Trevor said "You have to hang on to your pint until is passes"!
The journey back up into the hills was lovely and I could not believe the weather it was well up in the high 20s. As we crossed over the mountains the weather changed and you could see lots of cloud and obviously rain but looking back to the Bay it was clear blue sky, very weird.
We stopped at a glass factory just outside Rotorua for lunch. It had the most beautiful pieces of glass for sale, not that we could afford them at nearly £1,000. They were pretty colours and were more matt than glossy. You could watch the blowing but we didn't have time. Lunch was a focaccia sandwich filled with salami, gherkin, blue cheese and rocket and toasted and was sooo good. I couldn't eat it all so picked out the filling and left some of the bread. The lady saw and said I could have had a doggy bag to take it home with me. We have eaten in some amazing places and the choice of food is incredible and so good.
The rain wasn't too bad but it was very misty. We got back to the kennels in time to collect Totty and I had just enough time to get ready to go out to the Lions meeting.
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