If this haiku challenge were to represent a linear road trip, it would require a fortune in travel costs. We’re back into the North Island today to the beautiful Hawkes Bay and to Napier in particular.

I can’t explain my youthful fascination with Napier, but it was one of the places I insisted on visiting when we first travelled to New Zealand, many years before we chose to live there for more than a decade. I think it was because of the stories of resilience of the people who suffered so greatly in the earthquake of 1931 – long before I was born – which remains New Zealand’s deadliest quake in which 256 people died. (185 died in the 2011 Christchurch quake.) Yet the people rallied, rebuilt their lives and rebuilt their town to make it an inviting place to visit and a model of 1930s architecture.

The national aquarium is housed there and that made the international news this week with the escape of Inky the octopus!

Other attractions most decidedly include the wines. Napier and nearby Hastings are home to some renowned wineries. Visitors should take the time and make the effort to seek out some of the smaller,  boutique wineries too. Plenty of gems to be found.

For more information about Napier and surrounds, see…

http://www.newzealand.com/us/napier/
http://www.newzealand.com/us/napier+sculptures/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier,_New_Zealand

And now the haiku…

Napier

Beachside sculptures and
Art deco buildings trumpet
Napier’s spirit.