Hawks Bay (Napier/Hastings) 2/29

---

Day 12-14 Tuesday, Wed & Thursday 2/24-26
We had a beautiful drive down from Taupo to Napier. Taupo is on Lake Taupo which is a big lake that was created from an explosion and which literally blew off the top of a mountain.

The drive down to Napier was nice and we actually went 50k without mountains. I think it is about 150K from Taupo to Napier.

The Napier/Hastings area is really interesting and beautiful. It is a big Wine producing area. Next time you buy NZ wine and see Hawks Bay on it, it comes from this area.

Napier and Hastings are on the Pacific Ocean (East side of the North Island). Both towns feature a lot of Art Deco buildings. In fact, Napier is known as the Art Deco City. This was caused by an earthquake in 1931 which wiped out the town and created a large land mass which had been below sea level. When Napier and Hastings were rebuilt a lot of the buildings were built in the Art Deco style.

We decided to stay in Napier for 3 nights and just rest. Juanita is pretty tired and I think it is best to just relax in one place for a few days.

The beach on the Pacific side (East) has white sand rather than the black sand on the Tasman Sea (West) side of the North Island.

Actually found a place in Napier where I could plug the laptop into a high speed connection. Some of the computer connections are really slow so this is a real treat. A lot of the motels do not have computer connections or they are dreadfully slow. When I plug into a connection, I first upload a couple of pictures to check the speed.

The weather is beautiful. I can totally recommend NZ for a winter vacation.

On Friday we will be driving south and stay somewhere near Wellington. On Saturday we will visit Ron Head and stay on the Kapiti Coast (Waikanae) for a few days. Then we will take off for the South Island for 2 weeks with Ron.

Stay warm.

---

Photos

Hastings CBS
CBS stands for Central Business District

Comments

[Jane Curtis]

Wow, beautiful landscapes. Love Jane

[Libby]

Hi Jim and Nita!
I've been following you two on your trip around NZ. Emmett and I are envious.......it's one of the spots Emmett has always wanted to visit. Enjoy everything!!!!!!! Libby