Day 22: Napier
An Art Deco city rebuilt from rubble
By the time we arrived in Napier, after completing the Tongariro Crossing, it was quite late and we tried two different freedom camping spots before eventually nabbing the last space on our third attempt. We got there just in time as another van arrived just after us and had to move on.
Napier is famous for its Art Deco architecture so our plan for our day there was to do the self-guided walking tour of the Art Deco buildings.
In 1931, Napier was devastated by an earthquake that killed 256 people, injured thousands more, and left the city in ruins. In the years that followed, the citizens of Napier rebuilt the city and — in keeping with the fashion of the time — much of it was built in Art Deco style. Although a lot of the buildings have since been replaced, many still remain and quite a few of them are Grade I listed.
The tour started at the Soundshell pictured above before taking us around another 73 stops! We didn’t quite have the stamina — or that strong a passion for Art Deco architecture — to fully take in all 74 stops, but we gave it a good go anyway.
The stops included everything from banks to hotels, old department stores to newspaper offices, and fire departments to pharmacies. Here are a few of the buildings we visited.
We even stumbled across Devon House. Not sure what it was used for but I had to take a photo anyway…
As well as the architecture, we were pleasantly surprised by some of the impressive street art that the city had.
It wasn’t just the buildings that were a throwback to the past. There were old-fashioned cars, clothing shops that sold 30s style clothes, adverts for Lindy Hop and Charleston dance classes — something Anna and I tried in Wellington — and other little touches that completed the effect.
To finish the day, we paid a flying visit to the MTG Hawke’s Bay Museum. It was a theatre, art gallery, and museum all rolled into one and we definitely didn’t have enough time to see everything it had to offer, but that is where we learnt about the 1931 earthquake.
We did also plan to go to the gannet colony, located in the eerily named Cape Kidnappers, but a recent landslide there meant that it was off limits. To be honest, this was probably a good thing as we were both feeling the effects of hiking the Tongariro Crossing and then spending the day on our feet in Napier. Instead, we hit the road and moved on down the coast.
