Half Around The World In 80 Days

The weather on this part of the trip has been uniformly foul and we have to cancel a number of activities because of the conditions. To escape the worst of the elements we head for the east coast where the city of Napier sits on the coast of Hawke's Bay, a renowned wine producing region. The sun shines and Napier is an architectural revelation. The city was flattened by an earthquake in 1931 and the civic authorities took the brave decision to reconstruct all the centre in the Art Deco style which was in vogue at the time. Now I had no idea what art deco meant, but if you know how the Empire State Building is decorated then you have gotten the picture. The resulting city looks wonderful with all buildings having dramatic lines and vibrant colours. On point of note was that the first rebuilt edifice was apparently constructed with riveted rather than welded joints so as to make the maximum noise and buoy the spirits of the citizens. The full story of Art Deco Napier can be read at http://www.hb.co.nz/artdeco/

Tennyson Chambers (1932), typical Napier Art Deco

Near Napier we also visited some fine old wineries. As a teetotaller this still can be quite interesting, even if you don't sample the finished product. In any case the Curran girls told me that the wine was of the highest quality and that 1998 is a particularly excellent vintage. From Napier we headed south through Dannevirke which is an outpost of the New Zealand Currans and on to Wellington at the southern end of the island, which is the nation's capital. The city is known affectionately as 'Windy Wellington' by the locals and it sure lived up to this name on the night we were there with ferocious downpours and howling gales. It is quite a lovely city though with a cosmopolitan and arty feel to it.