Gym's Ramblings: Happening upon Hawke's Bay

The audacious couple arrived in Napier on May 17, 2018. Their goal was to check out a nice town and explore the Hawkes Bay rural countryside. Here again, they would be confronted with a landscape greatly altered by tectonic forces, the same forces that influence the geomorphology of the whole of New Zealand. Take the town of Napier, it was completely devastated by a massive earthquake in 1931. That disaster took the lives of 256 people and destroyed the majority of it's buildings changing Napier forever. Like the volcanic landforms and the geothermal areas around Auckland and Tauranga, the look of Napier today is influenced by it being located on the Pacific Rim of Fire.

Now, don't think that the author believes the earthquake wasn't a terrible thing, but two kind of positive things did come out of it. The first positive was that the sea floor under Hawkes Bay adjacent to Napier was lifted up an average of 2.7 meters after the quake. This actually drained the Ahuriri swamp and provided a place for the future Napier airport to be built. The other positive thing that happened was that the whole of Napier was re-built quickly after the devastation, in the style of the times and Napier now boasts a notable assortment of Art Deco buildings in its central business district. This includes the only Art Deco McDonalds in the world.

Marine Parade is the showcase waterfront street and seaside promenade in Napier, that borders Hawke's Bay. It is lined with fountains, gardens, water features and a skateboard park and is New Zealand's answer to South Beach, Miami. Gym and his lovely sidekick would drive down it in the morning and later would stroll down past the visitor's centre to the area adjacent to the Six Sisters, six identical Victorian houses built for six sisters, by their wealthy father.

After touring Marine Drive our adventurers were off to the rural areas around Napier where they would check out an old church, have lunch at a beautiful farmhouse surrounded by apple orchards and attend to a wine tasting. Our host was Prinsy's Rural Tours and it was actually the tour owner's home that hosted the nice garden party for the tour. Sausage rolls, pastries, cheeses and crackers were served with nice french-pressed coffee and then the owner gave us a short tour around the orchard. The wine tasting was held at Moana Park Vineyard's not too far from the Prins' place where vegan friendly, non-allergenic, naturally produced wines that Gym didn't like one bit are produced. Hey, Gym is just being honest! I guess Gym prefers a few allergenics and non-vegan stuff in his wine, that's all. But, it was a beautiful day and a nice outdoor tasting and although the Pinot Noir wasn't on the tasting menu, Gym bought a bottle for the ship. They had assured him that because of all the stuff they didn't put into the wine that there would be no hangover - and they were right.

Stay tuned for Picton and the crossing to Tonga.

The only Art Deco McDonalds is in Napier

The Six Sisters are 6 similar Victorian homes built by the father
of six daughters.

Marine Parade Gardens next to the beachside street also named
Marine Parade.

Another picture of the gardens which are sunken from the
grade of Marine Parade

Artwork on Marine Parade depicting the carcass on a whale.
Whaling was once an important economic driver in the
area.

One more shot of the gardens

St. Michael's & All Angels Anglican Church is a well preserved
heritage building in the rural Hawkes Bay Area.

The stained glass windows were brought in by boat from
England but the wood is all local hardwood.

The beautiful backyard of the Prins family is bordered by
apple orchards

This is a pineapple guava tree. The fruits were ripe as
they were falling off the tree. Tasty!

We had a nice lunch here and then got a tour of the orchard.

Some squash that is ready for the market

The apple trees are a new varietals that have been grafted on the
stumps of old varietals. The apple grower does this to remain
current with the market. For instance, new Galaxy trees might be grafted onto on Gala
stumps because of apple tastes in Japan.