Wine, Wilderness and Art Deco

Following advice from a lot of people, we changed our travel plans to include a couple of days in Napier and Hawkes Bay, and we are glad we did.

Napier and Hastings were severely damaged by a massive earthquake in 1931, just as the great economic depression was starting to bite. The rebuilding was done very fast, a lot of it in the Art Deco style fashionable at the time. The results are remarkable, and we hope our pictures do the place justice.

Hawkes Bay is also fruit growing country. The grapes are pretty famous, but there are miles of orchards, lemon groves, and soft fruit growing: strawberries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines and peacharines (really)

From there, we drove over the mountains up to the central plateau, where a lot of the volcanic activity can still be seen.

The drive over featured a sign saying, Last Petrol for 130km. We got the message.

More volcano related fun in the next bulletin...