It is well over twenty years since I have been to this area and a first for Stephen. We were both very impressed with what we saw.
Marine Parade, that was originally developed after the 1931 earthquake, is going through a period of rejuvenation. MarineLand is now closed but has been replaced by the National Aquarium (Link to website) further down the Parade. There are wonderful playgrounds for children, wide cycle and walking paths and many gardens. There are still some projects to be built but even now it is a credit to their Council and city planners. There are many lessons for other cities to be learnt here.
Marine Parade highlights
Of course a visit to Napier wouldn't be complete without a photo with Pania of the Reef. Pania is steeped in Maori Mythology and has pride of place on Marine Parade.
The Legend
Napier is the city of Art Deco, built in this style out of necessity after the horrific earthquake on 3 February 1931. There are special shops dedicated to promoting this feature of the city, and their new Museum has exhibitions about both. Viewing the history about the earthquake is particularly poignant in light of the Christchurch earthquake. We found ourselves wondering just what will be in Christchurch in 60 years time in relation to what has happened there. Of course times are vastly different but to think that they had much of their CBD rebuilt within two years is hard to comprehend.
Napier and its surrounds is a food basket for NZ. Suzanne, another friend we caught up with while there, gave us a 'tiki' tour around the region on Saturday afternoon. We saw the many vineyards, orchards, beaches, Kidnappers Cape (in the distant) Te Mata and Hastings. We finished our tour with an ice-cream from the famous Rush Munro's in Hastings.
The region has also encompassed the new love of cycle trails that are appearing all over NZ. There are hundreds of kilometres of trails catering for the all levels of cyclists. We made use of the one closest to our camping ground which took us around part of the estuary.
We aren't great shoppers, partly because we have no where to put 'stuff' but we did find one shop in the historic port village that took our fancy. It was a Mediterranean food and wine shop and it had a wide selection of foods and wines at most reasonable prices.
Marine Parade, that was originally developed after the 1931 earthquake, is going through a period of rejuvenation. MarineLand is now closed but has been replaced by the National Aquarium (Link to website) further down the Parade. There are wonderful playgrounds for children, wide cycle and walking paths and many gardens. There are still some projects to be built but even now it is a credit to their Council and city planners. There are many lessons for other cities to be learnt here.
Marine Parade highlights
Of course a visit to Napier wouldn't be complete without a photo with Pania of the Reef. Pania is steeped in Maori Mythology and has pride of place on Marine Parade.
The Legend
Napier is the city of Art Deco, built in this style out of necessity after the horrific earthquake on 3 February 1931. There are special shops dedicated to promoting this feature of the city, and their new Museum has exhibitions about both. Viewing the history about the earthquake is particularly poignant in light of the Christchurch earthquake. We found ourselves wondering just what will be in Christchurch in 60 years time in relation to what has happened there. Of course times are vastly different but to think that they had much of their CBD rebuilt within two years is hard to comprehend.
Napier and its surrounds is a food basket for NZ. Suzanne, another friend we caught up with while there, gave us a 'tiki' tour around the region on Saturday afternoon. We saw the many vineyards, orchards, beaches, Kidnappers Cape (in the distant) Te Mata and Hastings. We finished our tour with an ice-cream from the famous Rush Munro's in Hastings.
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| Mission Estate Winery |
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| Stephen and Suzanne, our tour guide for the day. |
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| Cape Kidnappers in the distance. |
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| Rush Munro website |
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| Estuary walk and cycle track. |
The region has also encompassed the new love of cycle trails that are appearing all over NZ. There are hundreds of kilometres of trails catering for the all levels of cyclists. We made use of the one closest to our camping ground which took us around part of the estuary.
We aren't great shoppers, partly because we have no where to put 'stuff' but we did find one shop in the historic port village that took our fancy. It was a Mediterranean food and wine shop and it had a wide selection of foods and wines at most reasonable prices.
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