Blogs from Hawkes Bay, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 17

Leave Wellington and drive north a few hours to Napier, via Hastings. Both are famed for their architecture (Hastings more a Spanish style, Napier Art Deco) Both were practically rebuilt in the 1930s and 40s after the a massive earthquake in 1931 stuck Hawkes Bay url=http://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/Stamps/NewZealandCurrentIssues/HawkesBayEathquakeAnniversary/HawkesBayEathquakeAnniversary.htm anniversary article . Staying at Wally's Backpackers - not bad, with free internet - result! Hastings is nice, mainly conisting of an Art Deco main street, with a really cool gym and cinema building. Napier is a lot bigger than we imaged, it's a town really, and has got lots of Art Deco buildings. Debs took a guided walk around the town to learn more about the lovingly restored and protected buildings and the town's histor... read more

I hope you all enjoy the pictures! I all I can say is the Tongariro Crossing was very challenging for me, both mentally and physically. But you can all see how worth it it was. To walk like a board the next day was worth the magical scenery that I was able to experience. I'm still in Hastings packing apples, but only for another week or so. Once again, enjoy the pictures!... read more

Well if you aren't interested in architecture or looking at many pictures of art deco construction you might as well skip this blog! By the way, I do have lots of pictures already uploaded but not published, over the last few months, and I am in the process of writing the journal part just now. I just upublished one for Feb 6th I think it was, about Tauranga and Bay of Plenty, and another on Feb 14th, so a word to my readers to keep checking earlier dates for these journals that I am just writing now. So back to Art Deco: I happen to really love looking at it. Pat and I went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Chicago several years ago and were completely taken with the simple beauty of ... read more

I've had a great time roaming around the Southern part of the North Island. I did the most amazing walk called the Tongariro Crossing (look it up if you get the chance!). Declared as the best one day walk in N.Z. It really was! I must say that it almost killed me though. There is one part that's called the Devil's Staircase, a very steep incline that takes an hour to do. Luckily I was tramping with a nice group of people from an organization called Trailblazers. I have some great pictures to show you all, but am not able to access the computer at the hostel I am staying at. I also then made my way down to Wellington. What a great city! So many free things to do, a great for me. I also ... read more

As well as art deco architecture another thing that Napier is famous for is wine. Napier is in Hawkes Bay, a famous wine growing region. Not wanting to let all this wine pass us by we decided to have a day touring the wineries! Luckily for me Tim decided to drive (we decided against going on one of the tours as they seemed expensive when all you got was the transport. We thought this way we could save the money and buy lots of wine!) There are lots of wineries to choose from so for no good reason we decided to start at Mission Estate Winery which is the oldest winery in New Zealand. We got a free tour which told us the history of the winery. It was set up by a group of French ... read more