Walking the deco streets

We awoke in Archie’s Bunker after a great night sleep. After showering and breakfast we ventured out. We had a walk into town, round the shops..... treating ourselves to a picnic rug!

We headed up to the supermarket for some stuff for dinner and walked back down to the waterfront to have our picnic. It was supposed to be 24 today but it was quite cloudy, still a little bit warm though.

After dinner we dropped our stuff at the hostel and headed out on a walk.

We decided to walk the 102m up to the Bluff Hill Lookout, it wasn’t straight up. We got to walk through a nature reserve and arrived at the top. It looked out over the Pacific Ocean and the Port of Napier. We walked down the footpath and ended up in the new part of Napier. The housing was more residential than Art Deco here. It was built after the 1940’s, after the earthquake in 1931 forced this piece of land up out of the water. They built all the houses on top of it and the airport.

We saw the National Tobacco Company building, it was very retro. It was built in 1933 and still had all its original features. A very grand door entrance with big brass handles. A massive stained glass roof inside with rose’s lining the walls.

We then carried on our walk, it got really steep in places. We eventually picked up the main road back into town. Calling in at the Art Deco Shop and an antiques market on the way home. Some of the items in the shop are amazing. We went back to the room to chill after the long walk and watched a DVD.

After having some tea we decided to see what the town was like at night. Everywhere was lit up. We started at the Tom Parker Fountain, it was all lit up with neon lights. It did a little light and water display which was cool to watch.

We continued up the waterfront to the soundshell. It’s an Art Deco outdoor stage, it was surrounded by lampposts.

We walked across the road to the T & G building with the clock tower on top and domed roof.

We walked through the town centre, down the palm lined streets and back up to Tennyson Street. We passed the Daily Telegraph building, it was all lit up with neon’s at the front.

After loads of photo’s we walked back to the hostel.