Henrik in New Zealand, September 2001

Napier

My three reasons for visiting Napier:

• the art deco architecture from the early 30s (when Napier had been devastated by an erathquake)
  

• visit a vineyard on bike (see below - and Mission Estate was excellent, both the history, the guide and the wines), and to
• visit Norsewood, the little town (or road-crossing) that was established by Norwegian immigrants in the early 1880s.

I stayed at the SeaBreeze B&B, with a view to the Pacific, across the street from Marineland
with the limp dolphins. SeaBreeze is run by a Turk, and the rooms are very Turkish (see photo of my room).
Quite fascinating. You can hire bikes from Marineland, and 100 meters away,
there's the Take Five restaurant with live jazz every Friday. The jazz was excellent,
especially compared to the R & B café, where I had dinner the next day.
The host sang songs like Misty and other old ballads with a karaoke playback.

Napier was devastated by an earthquake in 1931. Every day - at least Saturdays -
it seems to be hit by a neutron bomb around 16:31. The city is dead - or did,
as I've learnt to pronounce it.

However, I did see some real action in Napier. Outside the travel center:
There were three cars in the parking lot. Two of them managed to back out
at the same time, and crash. Apart from this, it was definitely pacific.

On the Pacific shore, leaving tomorrow behind me.

Evaluating the Mission Estate vines outside Napier, after sampling the wines: