Hawkes Bay and Napier

Art deco capital of the world

Napier is unchallenged in it's domain as the Art deco capital of the world. On February 3 1931 at 10:48 in the morning a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale, ripped through the young sea side town destroying scores of buildings, and the lives of thousands. 256 people were killed in New Zealand's worst ever natural disaster. Napier rebuilt itself in the fullest exuberance of the period architectural styles. Today the buildings stand proudly against a back drop of vibrant blue skies and the glistening pacific ocean, a testament to the people of Napier who picked themselves out of the rubble, blew off the dust and got on with the job, it's great a reminder of how something good can come from such devastation.

Hawkes Bay

Aside from Art deco the Hawkes bay is also highly regarded for it's produce. Being one of the sunniest and driest places in the country, it's the perfect spot for growing everything from avocados to zuchini. There's a score of vineyards providing some pretty tantalising experiences for the taste buds. The Information centre on marine parade has plenty of info on where to go if you're interested in checking out the local produce. Napier also features the National aquarium on marine parade, a gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers and an interesting little shop called Possum world also on marine parade, worth a look if you've got a few spare minutes.

Wellington ahead

The drive from Napier to Wellington takes around 4 1/2 hours. Along the way you'll pass through Dannevirke and Norsewood. These towns were settled in by thirteen Danish and 7 Norwegian families from 1872-1873. The settlers had great difficulty in clearing the heavily bush clad land. They were also required to build roads through the region as the men were forced to repay the fares to New Zealand of themselves and their families. Once they had paid fares back they could then purchase land. For some families it was too much and they left the area broken. Dannevirke translates to Danes Work.

Did you know?

New Zealand experiences around 15,000 earthquakes per year. The biggest recorded earthquake was in Wellington and the Wairarapa in 1855 which measured 8.2 on the richter scale. Napier was 7.8 as was the Murchison earthquake of 1929 which killed 17. NZ generally experiences a quake of 7+ magnitude once every ten years. Our last big quake was in Fiordland on 22 August 2003 and measured 7.1 Was there an earthquake while you were here?