We awoke to brilliant sun and blue skies. One could get used to this climate. Yvonne and I had wanted to take a walking tour this morning to learn more about how the city became the Art Deco city that it is. Scott and Jessica wanted to go bike riding on some of the many trails that criss-cross the city, so we went our separate ways and planned to meet in a few hours.

Napier was another city that earthquakes devastated. Their calamity occurred on February 3, 1931 when a 7.8 quake shook the city at 10 AM.  256 people were killed and the downtown area was destroyed. We signed up for the tour, sponsored by the Art Deco Center, an organization that promotes and oversees the development of the city. Before the walking tour we watched a 20 minute movie with film clips and photographs of the 1931 quake and what city fathers did to rebuild the current city. What amazed me was that they completely rebuilt the city with an Art Deco motif in two years! The Art Deco style of architecture was selected as it was the popular style of the times. Over time the city continued promoting its Art Deco heritage and today it is known world wide for this. The city even sponsors a special Art Deco weekend in February where people come from all over to relive the 1930s.  The weekend features the dress, music, and events to celebrate that era in history. There are also many old 1930’s vehicles still in the city that are used for city touring.

Our walking tour, lead by a knowledgeable docent, lead us past different buildings in the area where she pointed out the Art Deco design features of the building. We learned that when the city was rebuilt they gave total authority to only two men to oversee the work. Maybe that is why they were able to accomplish what they did in two years! The result is a vibrant downtown area with heritage trust oversight to preserve its future.

 

After the tour we met Scott and Jessica and learned they had biked over thirty miles along the waterfront while we were on our 2 hour walking tour. After a quick pizza lunch, It was time to seek out some of those wineries that were not open yesterday for wine tasting. We stopped at two different sites. Although I equate the area to Napa Valley it is Napa Valley of decades ago. With a couple notable exceptions the wineries here are small, family owned ventures. Tasting is often free. I focused on the rose and Syrah as that is what the area is noted for.

Before we knew it, it was time to eat again. We decided to make it a picnic and stopped at a local grocery to buy some cheese, crackers, salami, olives and fruit and simply “nosh” back at the bach, followed by a beach walk. The latter was rewarded by experiencing a novel fishing method used by fishermen here. A battery powered boat (torpedo shaped) pulls a fishing line 1-2 km out to sea. Attached are a series of about 25 baited hooks. After an hour or so the vessel is reeled back in and hopefully some fish have been caught. Of course, this is accompanied by a bottle or two of beer/wine while waiting. We happened to come on the beach as the vessel was being reeled in and we engaged in pleasant conversation with the fishermen/women and watched the action. The catch was light- two good sized fish but the people were happy as they had caught three that morning, so a decent meal of fresh fish was guaranteed.

The sun was rapidly setting and our day came to an end. Tomorrow we all fly to Auckland.