Fairley Motor Lodge

School Groups at Play

by djramey

It is common in all of New Zealand that during the school day the children get outside for some form of recreation, this seemed to be especially true when I was in Napier for a week. The same class of school children spent time outside playing teeball or going on hikes during the school hours.

It was quite refreshing to see them enjoying themselves and relieved a lot of the travel stress I was experiencing at the time. My worries of money and transportation vanished for a few hours as I watched them play the American sport of teeball.

No one had any genuine knowledge of the game and this made it much better and quite a bit more relaxing. I've always had a love for children and the laughs and smiles this day warmed my heart while I sat alone under a shade tree catching the sea breeze from the Pacific that lay only 50 meters away.

ESKDALE WAR MEMORIAL CHURCH

by balhannah

On State Highway 5, we came across this beautiful, small, chuch, made prettier with the autumn leaves.
I had to stop and have a look....

It was dedicated in 1920, and was built in memory of a local man, Percival Beattie, who was killed near the end of the First World War.
Eskdale farmer Thomas Clark donated the land and his daughter Annie, who was married to Percival Beattie, donated money for the furnishings and building of it....

Attractive shopping centre

by vtveen

Napier has an attractive shopping centre with lots of nice shops and some shopping arcades.

‘Down town’ is must more pleasant than in many other cities in New Zealand. They succeeded in creating a more or less pedestrian area with lots of side walk café’s.
It is just fun to browse around. Off course one of the highlights when shopping and interested in art deco is the Art Deco Shop.

The main shopping streets are: Emerson Street, Hastings Street and Dalton Street.

Wineries

by balhannah

Hawkes Bay is home to over 70 vineyards, and is New Zealands oldest wine region. It was stunning, as the Autumn leaves in this area were at their best, a nice time to visit!

There are some wonderful Wineries here, like the "Craggy Range" which has a restaurant serving New Zealand food with a French theme. The views are of Te Mata Peak, the lake and vineyards. Location is ...253 Waimarama Road, Havelock North

Wineries are at Eskdale, Havelock North and Hastings and other close by areas.

Napier - Art Deco City!!

by NZ_gurl

Napier, my wonderful home town! There is so much to say and so little space!! I'll start off with the Art Deco then. On the 3rd of February 1931 at 10.46am an
earthquake, 7.8 on the richter scale, hit Napier, turning the city to dust... (Will post picture later) You could imagine how devasting this was.. They all rebulit the town and alot of help and praise goes to the sailors of Veronica who had harboured in the bay. The sea went way back and we were left with alot more land which made life alot easier in the long run. Here is the most famous building of them all..

"Te Mata Peak"

This is a great lookout - although the drive up is a little hairy (I dont like driving along edges) it's great!! You can see the whole of Napier/Hastings/Havelock North and even see the road that goes out to the beach and the winery down below it. There are several walks around this area that you can take, depending on your level of fitness. We often take exchange students up here and they love it so I know you will to. This is just a small portion of what you can see from here!

"Art Deco Aftermath"

This is what happened after the earthquake struck. As you can see, it totally tore the city to shreads...