Barry and I had fallen in love with Napier the last time we were here. This charming city is the second most famous Art Deco city in the world, after South Beach in Miami, Florida. The reason behind this Art Deco theme is that in 1931 there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed Napier. It was compounded by a fire that started and spread, and could not be fought due to the broken watermains. When they rebuilt the city, the architects decided to have a unifying theme so that the city would look cohesive. The other data point of interest is that after the earthquake there was not only a change in the course of the main river, but 40% of what is now Napier had previously been underwater. This city is next to the city of Hastings and together this area is famous for the quality and quantity of its vineyards. It rests, as does all of New Zealand on the "ring of fire" where earthquakes are prevalent.
I had arranged a private tour for Barry and I, Karen and Jonathan with "Ferg". This turned out to be another excellent experience. Our ship was originally supposed to dock at 10 am., but due to local currents and tides we had to change arrival till 11 a.m. which made for a shorter visit. The last time we were here we did the major wineries, and so this time we wanted to get out to see the surrounding country. There is a lovely waterfront with a very long bike trail, and parks and beaches. As we arrived by shuttle into the town, we saw several bagpipe groups practising for a competition. This lent a very festive spirit to our arrival. Ferg met us and he also had 2 other HAL guests who joined our group. The pace of the day was perfect. Off we headed for a 40 minute drive to the nearby mountain which is the high point of land. On the way we saw and huge vineyard and winery owned by a wealthy American, called Peabody, who has invested $100 million to develop. This was on a par with some of the calibre we saw in the Napa Valley. As I mentioned New Zealand has had a very severe drought, so the hills were scorched brown, which is very different from the lush green we were used to.
We climbed on the extremely narrow switchbacked road to the peak. What a spectacular view - 360 degrees looking out for many miles over Hastings and Napier to the north. This entire area was originally owned by the Chambers family who donated the land to the people as a national park, after running a sheep farm for many years. We found this interesting as Barry's mother's maiden name was Chambers, and we wondered if there was a connection.
We drove through Hastings, Ferg regaling with us local facts the entire way. I forgot to mention previously that New Zealand's top industries are b 1) beef/lamb 2) dairy 3) timber for export for pulp and paper. They are of course famous for kiwi fruit as well and Napier is the fruit basket of New Zealand. We passed huge apple orchards and vineyards. The apple trees are more like vines, strung up on wire fences. Next stop was the Strawberry Patch, where we sampled two huge baskets of strawberries, with chocolate for dipping, and frozen strawberry yogurt cones. The strawberries were delicious.
We then headed for Napier where Ferg took us on a tour of the Art Deco buildings. Unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible to take pictures out of his van. We saw a few other local features, went to the summit of the cuff under which our ship was docked for another photo op, then back to the ship.
The homes in this area are very reminiscent of English cottages, and there were lots of cricket fields as well.
At the ship the local antique car enthusiasts were assembled with their cars, dressed in period costume. As with almost every port these are all volunteers who turn out to welcome us to their town or city, and to show us the spirit of the place. We spoke for quite a while to one man, who said he came from England for a 2 year contract, 38 years ago. It is not difficult to understand how someone could make a decision to settle in this beautiful country, and in this very charming city.
A little post script. In Auckland several people joined the cruise and we were delighted to reunite with 2 couples who were on last year's cruise - Grace and Winston from Newfoundland, and Diane and John from California. We have such a nice group of friends on the cruise this year.
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