Hawkes Bay - a three day travelogue

29th December 2009

I've been fortunate enough to spend three days in Napier on the North Island of New Zealand. During the trip, I managed to see some of the Art Deco architecture for which Napier is famed, sample some of the wines of the Hawkes Bay Region and visit the Gannet Colony at Cape Kidnappers. This is a brief overview of what I enjoyed most and why.

Napier

A heady mix of concentrated Art Deco, wine tours and Gannets made up our three day trip to Napier in the Hawkes Bar region of New Zealands North Island.

1931 saw a devestating earthquake for the Hawkes Bay region - but one which would create, shape and form Hawkes Bay as it exists today. The earthquake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter Scale, destroyed much of Napier and Hastings. The following two years saw Napier and Hastings rebuilt in the Art Deco, Spanish Mission and Stripped Classical styles - but it is the Art Deco for which Napier is most famous. And rightly so. It's a dense display of Art Deco style which has been well kept up over the years. The New Zealand Wine Centre in the Art Deco AMP Building is an excellent example of the Art Deco style. Rebuilt after the earthquake, the grape decorations were somewhat prophetic as the AMP Building now houses an excellent wine shop with knowledgeable staff and regular videos about wines in the Hawkes Bay region.

Hawkes Bay Wine Tour

Hawkes Bay is also well known as a wine producing region - so a wine tour with Bay Tours was in order. Our afternoon tour (70NZD) took in four vineyards in the region - Moana Park, Mission Estate Winery, Unison Vineyard and Matariki Wines. One of the joys of wines tours is visiting vineyards you've never heard of before - often they're some of the best. And Moana Park was no exception - a boutique vineyard I'd not heard of previously which I rate as the finest we visited on the day. The off-dry Gewürztraminer was the finest of the whites. Moana Park also makes New Zealands only port wine - labelled as "Tawny" due to restrictions on use of the name "Port" outside of Portugal - which was so good I was compelled to order 6 bottles for delivery to Switzerland.

Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony

Cape Kidnappers was our final stop in Hawkes Bay. Our knowledgeable guide from Gannet Safaris drove our 4x4 across extensive farmland to the Gannet Colony. The drive through the farm took us along former river bed and sea bed with unfossiled shells, with native ti-tree, birdlife, deep gullies, Perendale sheep and Aberdeen Angus cows. The Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony is the largest of all the mainland gannet colonies as, in general, they prefer to breed in remote, inaccessible islands areas free of predators. The Gannets themselves are unphased by the human presence on the plateau colony - which also affords excellent views over sheer cliff face and Hawkes Bay.

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