Oct 28th – What a delightful place! Napier is the story of one of Nz’s worst disasters being turned into something positive. In 1931 a deadly earthquake destroyed much of the city. Rebuilt in the architecture of the time, it wasn’t until the 1980s that people really began to appreciate the Art Deco buildings and their significance in making Napier a unique location. It has now become a major tourist area and in February they hold a Gatsby-style festival to which people from all around the world attend.

The other attraction in the area is a number of great wineries. We spent a delightful evening at the Mission Estate Winery. The drive up to the mission house was a long path bordered on each side by majestic English Plane Trees. Dinner was delicious, the wine was excellent, but it was again a serendipity moment that made the evening special. On our way in we greeted and chatted briefly with some other guests who were arriving for dinner. After we had finished our main course, one of the gentlemen came over to chat with us to find out where we were from. It turned out that he was a retired Lutheran pastor. To make a long story short, we were invited to join the four of them in the lounge for coffee and a delightful conversation. People here are so friendly!

Before leaving town the next day, we took a guided walking tour of the Art Deco buildings followed by a screening of a video about the earthquake and subsequent rebuilding. Due to the fact that a navy ship had just docked in port the day before, word of the disaster was sent out by the ship and help arrived quickly saving lives. It really does give you pause for thought at the destruction and upset to normal life caused by earthquakes. In this case land that was previously under water was lifted and the town gained 50′ or more to their waterfront. In the case of Christchurch land that was previously useable has become nothing but shingle. We’ll be interested in hearing their story when we get there. It appears that reconstruction efforts have not been as fast or as easy as they were in other places.