4/20/2009

Napier weekend

We made a weekend visit to Napier this weekend. The city is located on the Hawkes Bay and is a great tourist place. The area has some terrific autumn color (which are missing in the Taranaki area) and the weather is much milder on the east coast of the country.
This is the most famous backpackers in NZ. It used to be a prison in Napier.


The city itself was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1931. It was immediately rebuilt in the then-popular art deco style and that is now one of the biggest tourist attractions today. The small details of the building are the parts that fascinated me, although there are some amazing facades, too.








There is also a great aquarium there with a walk-through section where sharks and rays and lots of cool fish swim over your head. The diver who feeds the fish puts on a great show for the kids of all ages!

We visited Norsewood and Dannevirke along the way.  The Norse history is New Zealand began in September of 1872.  You can find more information by clicking here.








It's quite interesting to discover the history of this tiny, wee island country. I guess moving to a new place gets the curiosity flowing.

There were some great puns and strange things along the side of the road that I have posted over at my other blog. 

7 comments:

Esther Garvi said...

Those buildings are really charming! Lovely excursion and thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I have a soft spot for Napier, we used to travel there almost every year back in my earlier years here in NZ whether for Christmas or Easter. Great one! :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely architecture and interesting history. Thanks for visiting this morning. It's very nice to "meet" you!

Anonymous said...

Looks like a neat place. Will be sure to add it to my "Must see" list for when I get to NZ. Thanks for sharing.

Lanny said...

That was very interesting as well as all the links you provided. Dirt is of Scandanvian heritage and I adopted his as we made no big deal of our numerous European heritages in our family. Now my favorite artist is Carl Larsson even use his colour scheme. Read you post on backpacking. I had always wanted to do that right out of high school but my father gave me the look and I went straight to college that very summer, he wasn't taking any chances of losing me to those European boys!

Thanks for the visit.

Wolynski said...

Lovely blog. I know nothing about New Zealand, but now I can find out. Very interesting stuff.

Jennifer AKA keewee said...

Thanks for the memories. I loved to visit Napier, especially the aquarium. If I'm not careful I will start to feel a little homesickness.