Thursday, April 21, 2011

Views from Napier - Art Deco City

 We are having a very frustrating morning techy wise and so these photos are slightly out of order. Never mind!!! This is Napier, a city flattened in the 1931 earthquake and rebuilt in the style of the day - Art Deco. Some very beautiful buildings many still in their original form. The streets are planted with palms and with the lights give a feeling of Los Angeles!
 We were staying in a converted church hall just outside Napier. The church had been moved some miles intact to its present position, a common practice in NZ - see our original blog for photos. It was very comfy, and we were well looked after by the owners.

 Close by was the wonderful summit of Te Mata from which this photo was taken. The story says that the bellicose Maori leader Te Mata carried out a number of tasks to win the hand of the princess from the rival iwi (tribe). One of them was to eat through this hill. This proved too much for him and he choked and died and the outline of his body can be seen on the skyline. Geologists say it is limestone pushed up  and tilted by the movement of tectonic plates, but we know the true story!!!
Hi . Fogg here. Incredibly Phileas has not mentioned the fact we were in the Hawkes Bay area, famed for its wine and of course we had to visit a winery ( Clearview ) and do some tasting or more strictly speaking, Phileas did the tasting whilst Fogg did the driving !!! We bought two bottles and had an excellent lunch.

We are now in Wellington staying at the Intercontinental hotel . We will be taking the ferry over to South Island on Easter Monday.

So very best wishes from both of us. Fogg and Phileas xx

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