Greetings! we are in Napier, the Art Deco town of New Zealand. A good deal of Napier was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the 1930s and it’s fabulous! We also happened to be there on the anniversary of the earthquake so the town was having a weekend of celebration of rebuilding.

Before I get to show you lots of art deco buildings, we will start with the very nice air B&B we stopped at with the ‘very challenging’ drive. ‘It’s a bit tight’ they said in the description. I driven a minibus in Handsworth, won’t be a problem he said not knowing just how tight and how steep the drive was! Indeed, when the owner Brent arrived, he did say “that was brave” getting the car down the drive. Well the car does have sensors, the wing-mirrors come in on the press of a button, plus Julie and Lynn keeping and eye on the sides, and minibus driving is coming in very handy.

and so to some of the buildings…

After a day of walking around, we hit the marina front for food and beverages.

And for the first time on this holiday, we all have proper downtime and the wine/beer flowed.

We like Napier a lot but were only here for 1 night. Like Ghost Lodge, it’s another one we should have had 2 nights. Tomorrow we head for Lake Taupo. Oh yes, and we did find somewhere for good tea and cake!