We head down North Island to the the Art Deco city of Napier. It rained throughout the whole journey! We follow the directions to our next accommodation, a ‘beautifully restored single storey 1890’s residence’. It stood nestled in a quiet cul de sac on Napier Hill and was indeed beautiful! Breathtaking! The floors, ceilings, windowsills and most of the furniture was from kauri wood and worth a fortune!
We unpacked and drove into Napier looking for a restaurant for our evening meal. It was still pouring with rain, the sea and sky had merged into a dense grey mass and even the commuters looked miserable, heads bent as they left their warm offices and trundled home. We parked our car and, umbrella held firmly on one side so as not to blow away in the howling gale, we made our way to the first restaurant we found open. It didn’t look very salubrious but had maintained the Art Deco style throughout although required some ‘tender loving care’!
The next day we booked a walking tour to see the collection of Art Deco buildings. There were also some impressive statues which would be well worth a visit. But there was a catch. It was still pouring with rain and blowing a gale! I needed to get my priorities right! I was on holiday and no one knew me. Our last day in Napier with no control over the weather! I could either stay in my beautiful warm room, curled up in bed with a good book (which I had) or get out there, puffer waistcoat, jacket and umbrella and ‘do’ Napier!
I ‘did’ Napier! But I’m going to be honest! I didn’t enjoy it! In fact, I really didn’t enjoy anything of the walk for two hours clutching my umbrella with one hand and trying to keep the tiny speaker in my only good ear with the other! Seen one Art Deco building you’ve seen them all! I know I was pathetic but no two people are the same! My husband loved the tour, took hundreds of wet photographs, revelled in the architecture and enthused over the statues. He hung on to every word the seriously loquacious Australian (can you believe?) guide bleated on and on about! We studied the designs in detail, piece by tedious piece, brick by cold, wet, insanely boring brick!
But we had an escape route! Oh what joy! Our car parking ticket expired after two hours! My husband had to physically drag himself away from completing the tour of the theatre and the final film show to avoid getting a fine! I cannot describe the sheer bliss of sitting in the warm, comfortable car, heated seat on, dry, survived!
We ended the day on a high by having a six course meal at a restaurant recommended by the owner of our apartment. She also provided the taxi. We included a wine tasting with every course, mainly from the local Hawke’s Bay vineyard. Delicious and well worth ironing my only smart outfit which had been left to atrophy at the bottom of my suitcase!
What a surprise the next morning. We woke up to a golden glow in our bedroom. The sun had finally made an appearance. We sat staring out at the Pacific Ocean, a glorious shade of azure blue, mirroring the cloudless sky.
But the sun is fickle. As we head down the Highway towards Wellington for our final two nights on the North Island, clouds returned to remind us that this had been and still was one of the wettest Springs on record! The sun played its favourite game, ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ and then vanished behind a black storm cloud which guided us into Wellington! And another two days of gales and downpours ….👠
Jenny Burrell 