Monday, January 28, 2008

Napier, NZ.- Art Deco at it's finest

On Thursday we took the bus from Rotorua to Napier and in doing so we crossed the major mountain range of the north island, beautiful scenery and so many sheep. Much of the drive Thursday reminded me of the Nantahala area of western NC.

Arrival in Napier was smooth and we secured transportation to the course for the following day very easily, so the big hurdle was cleared for the evening.

We began our self guided architechtural tour that evening and I will give you the low down here. In 1931 the largest earthquake ever recorded in NZ rocked the area. A subsequent fire destroyed just about everything that was not leveled by the quake, and the town had no choice but to start over from the ground up.

With the Art Deco movement all the rage at the time, the town chose to rebuild almost entirely in the style. What transpired over the next few years was an array of buildings that stand right with Miami as the best examples of the style anywhere in the world.

www.artdeconapier.com

The buildings displayed here range from law offices to municipal buildings to the newspaper, but all reflect the style of the day.

Napier's Art Deco

Napier's Art Deco

Napier's Art Deco

We set off Friday morning for Cape Kidnappers on a Gannet Safari bus which we had arranged to drop us off at the course. The gannet is member of the booby family and Cape Kidnappers is their largest inland breeding ground in the world.

As you can imagine, the course was unbelieveable and I will be dedicating a seperate post to that experience itself. Absolutely stunning views, great course and it played as fast as anything I've ever played.

That evening we were absolutley zonked and we had to make sure we were rested for lots of wine drinking the following day.

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