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Art deco, fine wine and glorious scenery:
Drinking it up in Napier, New Zealand Situated on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, there is a tiny city of 55,000 that prides itself on having one of the largest concentrations of art deco architecture and some of the finest wines in the world.
Daily Telegraph Building
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Destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, Napier was rebuilt in the art deco style of the day. The clean simple lines and pastel colours of the buildings contrast beautifully with the sapphire sky that shines over the city, almost as sure as the day dawns. The buildings are a lasting tribute to a community that when faced by such massive destruction had the foresight to rebuild in the middle of the Great Depression in a style that promised better things to come.
Art deco originated in Europe in the early 20th century along with jazz, short skirts, bobbed hair and long cigarette holders. Known for its decorative motifs of sunbursts, fountains, geometric shapes and images of industry, it also has a significant Egyptian flavour flowing from a fascination that followed the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen in 1921. Napier's art deco has its own unique style that incorporates Maori design and symbolism.
Today, central Napier has 140 buildings of the 1920's and 1930's style. I particularly liked the Daily Telegraph building but in hindsight that may have been because when we passed by, an antique Buick was parked outside. Immediately my imagination ran wild. Here I was with bobbed hair, a long string of pearls around my neck, and a cigarette holder in one hand, with the other on the arm of a swinging jazz musician. I was elegance, ‘20s style. My daughter, of course, thought I was crazy.
In Napier a lot of time is spent gazing skyward because much of the detail in art deco architecture is near the roofline: the friezes, the balconies and the upper story windows.
Esk Valley Vineyards
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When your neck begins to ache, you can shift your gaze seawards.
Marine Parade, with its art deco arches and century old Norfolk Pines, circles Hawke Bay, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is home to numerous attractions including Marineland, where you can swim with the dolphins, and the National Aquarium and Opossum World. Opossums are an ecological nightmare and it is beyond me why the country would honour this pest with its own museum. There are approximately 70 million opossums in New Zealand (compared to 50 million sheep and four million people) and they're said to eat more than 20,000 tonnes of foliage each night.
Pania of the sea people also sits, in statue form, on the Marine Parade. Maori myth has it that Pania left her ocean kin to dwell on land with her human lover. Her people constantly called her to return and finally she could no longer resist and swam out for one last visit. Alas, Pania's people came up from the depths to draw her down to join them in their sea caves. Ask any local, and they will tell you that some days you can see her outstretched arms, still trying to return to earth and to her lover.
Front doors of the National
Tobacco Building
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Located in the middle of the Hawke's Bay wine region, Napier is a great place from which to visit a vineyard, or two or three.
The second largest wine region in New Zealand, Hawke's Bay has been producing wines since the first settlers arrived in the 1850s. It is home to the oldest operational winery and winemaker in the country. With its perfect climate, the region produces award-winning Chardonnays and classic reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. There are numerous cellar doors, cafés and restaurants where you can enjoy everything from straightforward tasting to an elaborate gourmet meal.
Between the wine, the locally grown produce, the creamiest ice cream, the tastiest cheddars, and the warmest hospitality, you will leave Napier and the Hawke's Bay region well content. Travel in any direction and you'll find spectacular scenery. Coastal, river valley, rural, or native bush – it all depends on which way you choose to go.
We'd come from Wellington and were on our way to Auckland so we faced our little rental car northward and headed up the Pacific Coast Highway toward Gisborne, the most eastern city in the world and the first to welcome the sun - but that's another story.
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