A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Napier, New Zealand by TravelPod blogger Charlyk titled "Napier-On-Sea" Charlyk's travel blog entry: "I definately recommend Napier & the Hawkes Bay area as a NZ must visit location. For one thing the weather is great all summer (it's been over 4 months since the last serious rain) and the beach & countryside is stunning. Napier is in many ways the town that Southend should be, friendly, great architecture & lovely seaside location. I can imagine it gets very quiet in the winter but it's buzzing this time of year & all throughout February there are events celebrating the Art Deco theme of the buildings. Napier & Hastings suffered from a large earthquake in 1931 & were rebuilt in the Art Deco & Spanish Missionary (think Zorro) respectively. Napier is the seaside town & Hastings & the surrounding area of Hawkes Bay make up the "fruit bowl" of New Zealand. The fields are full of grape vines, fruit trees, olive groves & all other types of vegetables. I took a Ferg's Fantastic Tour of the region & "Ferg" was fantastic, really knowledgeable & so friendly I would definately recommend his tours to everyone. He took us to Te Mata Cheese Factory (heaven on earth), a winery (I think it was called Askeys) where I tried 10 different wines & liked almost all of them, a cute little shop that sold all sorts of liquers, chutneys & preserves, a strawberry farm where I had a freshly made mixed berry ice cream in the blazing sun, and finally to the Mission winery. The Mission is owned by the Catholic church but no longer used for religious reasons as it has become the area's oldest winery & is a popular spot for society weddings, as we found out when we arrived & one was in full swing. I took some lovely pictures from Te Mata peak, the highest point in the area. There is a painting on tiles at the top that shows the whole area so that you know what you are looking out at. Shame we couldn't stay until sunset but all that food & drink was waiting. The manager of the YHA, Bob, was really friendly too & it has a real family feel to the place. The building is also stunning & the view of the beach & sea from my room was sadly underseen as I didn't spend much time in the room... there was too much to do outside! A really friendly girl called Kate gave me some wine as she left. It went fantastically with my cheese, thank you Kate wherever you are." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/charlyk/1/1232809620/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Children playing in the Art Deco fountain" 2. "YHA Napier" 3. "Driving through Hawkes Bay" 4. "View from Te Mata peak" 5. "Tile painted map at Te Mata peak" 6. "The Mission winery" 7. "Posh wedding at The Mission winery" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00d8-6578-a065?ytv4=1

Comments