Napier

From Peka Peka we drove to Napier, but first made a stop in Hastings, a small art deco town about 20 minutes from Napier. There are pretty cool art deco buildings all over the town and there were some fun Christmas decorations. The lamp posts are the coolest.






Our final stop for the day was Napier. This city is known for its art deco architecture and wineries. If you drink a New Zealand wine from Hawkes Bay it comes from this region. The city is pretty lively--full of shops, restaurants, and cafes.



We stumbled across a most beautiful park with statues, artifacts, and and incredible assortment of plants and flowers, all right in front of the ocean.






Lodging:  We stayed at the Shoreline Motel, a nice, modern motel with the beach right across the street. The ocean here, as in most other places in New Zealand, is a deep turquoise color. What a view from our room!!






Food: We ate at the Mission Estate Restaurant, which is located on the grounds of the Mission Estate Winery--New Zealand's oldest winery; their Pinot wines are excellent.

From the restaurant grounds you can see their vast vineyards; we also happened to see a most unusual and amusing thing: a large number of sheep returning to their barn by way of the vineyard--a parade of sheep walking through rows of grape vines (look at the little white sheep in the picture)

For breakfast we ate at the Emporium cafe, which is a popular spot.