Napier - the Art Deco City

The city of Napier, on the east coast just south of Gisborne, suffered a huge earthquake in 1931 and most of its buildings were destroyed. As a result the town centre was rebuilt and today has the largest number of Art Deco buildings in the southern hemisphere:

Our walk around town was followed by a really interesting visit to a small Hawkes Bay winery called Unison. It's one of several clustered around the original path of the river that once flowed through Hastings, just south of Napier before it found an easier path to the sea. The land here, known as Gimblett Gravels, was once thought to be useless for growing anything and was destined to be quarried for concrete manufacture until a few wine makers realised its potential about 30 years ago. Land that could be bought for $9 per acre back then is now worth, fully planted, around $240,000 per acre!