The weather has changed again and we woke up to overcast sky’s and a forecast of rain, but luckily it didn’t arrive until we got back to the apartment. Our plan today was to drive the Art Deco route that we got from tourist information the other day. This is a 90km route and it said it should take 2 hours without stopping so we have allocated the whole day! Our first stop was Ahuriri which is the other side of the hill to Napier, it is where the port is, this is the site of the wreck of the Montgomery which was an immigration ship from England which was wrecked in 1867 after catching fire and drifting ashore. It is one of several wrecks on this coast but is the only one where the wreck can be seen at low tide. We followed the heritage trail walk which took us around some of the areas we drove round yesterday, but most of it was new. Most of the walk is around the quay areas of the inner harbour. The quay is called the Iron Pot as it is the shape of an iron pot, it was where all the European ships docked until the earthquake when the land by the quays rose and is now too high for boats although a new quay has been built. The area has a number of warehouses, which were previously mostly used for storing wool, they have ‘saw tooth’ roofs which have south facing windows which allowed natural light into the interiors while not admitting direct sunlight. The way wool is now sold (the book didn’t explain what this change has been!) means there is less demand for wool storage so the warehouses have been converted into either restaurants or apartments. The other main building in the area was the National Tobacco Company (British American tobacco New Zealand) which is one of the most impressive buildings in the area. It was built in 1932 and the front door is said to have cost £1,200 in 1932. The factory walls collapsed in the earthquake but the steel supports remained standing and they were replaced with the brick walls that are in place today. We the continued with the drive and our next stop was in Taradale where they have a ‘McDeco’ McDonalds, it was previously a hotel but has subsequently been taken over by McDonald’s and is possibly the most impressive McDonald’s we have seen, certainly in New Zealand. From there we drove to Hastings where we parked up and took a walk round. Hastings also suffered in the 1931 earthquake where 93 lives were lost, however because the water supply remained intact the devastation wasn’t as great. Some major buildings were destroyed and most lost their facades so, like Napier, were rebuilt in the Art Deco design. Having said that there didn’t seem to be as many buildings as Napier. We stopped for lunch then get back in the car to drive to Havelock North which is known as ‘the village’. The town was laid out in the 1860s in the hope of attracting middle class families to the area, however the building of the Napier – Wellington railway line meant that people moved to Hastings rather than Havelock North – it was originally called Havelock but as there is also a Havelock on the South Island they added the North to distinguish between the two. We then drove to Te Mata Peak which provides fantastic views across the region and really shows off the geological features of the area. The pattern of the hills caused by folding of the land as the Pacific plate pushes under the Australian plate which is moving at 50mm per year. The Napier hill was originally an island linked by swampland but stopped being an island when the land raised as a result of the the earthquake. It was then time to return to Napier where we drove past the memorial entrance to the Napier boys high school which was the last Art Deco building in the area it was built in 1958. We got back to the apartment about 4.30 and just as we pulled up there was a massive clap of thunder and the rain that has been forecast for earlier in the day finally arrived – fantastic timing.
