Napier

We spent Saturday night at a motel on Lake Taupo. The lake has 238 square miles of surface area making it NZ’s largest lake. On a map it looks like the “heart” of the North Island.

From there, we drove back on Sunday morning to Napier in time to catch a delightful tour and scrumptious lunch at the Church Road Winery, one of the big local wineries.

Sunday afternoon we took a two hour guided walking tour of downtown Napier. The city’s downtown area was completely destroyed in 1931 by a 7.8 earthquake and resulting fire. However, the earthquake also caused a 7 foot upheaval of the coastline. Previously, at least at high tide, Napier had been an island. Post earthquake, it was looking like a much more viable city with plenty of surrounding land. (Interestingly, according to the guide, the new land was immediately claimed by the port authority but that claim is currently being challenged by the Maori and is before the national tribunal investigating such claims.)

Long story short, the city fathers decided to quickly rebuild and chose the in vogue Art Deco style with its clean lines (read cheap to build, this was the depression after all) , simple decorations instead of heavy pediments (which fall down and kill people in earthquakes), and modern, bold designs (ziggurats, zigzags, fountains, sunbursts, etc.). We would have loved to have been in Napier during the third weekend of February when the Art Deco Trust sponsors the annual Art Deco Weekend. The pictures of the many festivities are fabulous--folks dressed up in 1930’s wear (flappers!) and driving around in beautifully kept 1930’s cars.

After the tour we made a beeline down the street to enter the New Zealand Wine Centre before it closed for the day. This was a fun experience! It began with a self-guided “aroma awareness room” (we did the white wine room together). The room had dozens of tiny metal stoppers to smell and each was accompanied by information on the wines which usually have those aromas. There was also a wall full of odors (NOT aromas) which indicated bad wines!

The aroma room was followed by a movie featuring 6 different local wineries. As the winery came into view on the screen, its winemaker gave a spiel about his wine and we got to taste the wine he was describing and drinking on film. We had been given a sheet describing the wines which included a place for our own personal scoring of each wine. It was a different and enjoyable way to do wine tasting, we thought.

Monday, April 12, after a leisurely breakfast, we drove south along the ocean about 30 minutes to Havelock North to do an hour’s walk up part of Te Mata Peak. The 240 foot high point is on a bluff overlooking the ocean and gives wonderful views to the surrounding countryside as well as up and down the coastline.

Looking back at Te Mata Peak

The rest of the day was spent stopping at an organic cheese farm, visiting a couple of other wineries, having a relaxed lunch, buying some fresh fruit and veggies, and doing the drive back to Wairoa in time for dinner “at home“.