Jenny and Beazy on the High Seas: Seven Stops in New Zealand: Day 5

At about 10:30am on February 3, 1931, an enormous earthquake hit tiny Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand’s north island. It leveled all the brick buildings, then burned all the wooden buildings and killed a couple hundred people along the way. But it did create a whole new city.

The plates’ shift resulted in land under a river rising a full 2 metres, which meant the tiny island of Napier was now joined to rich, flat land capable of housing people and businesses for ever more. An island no more, a few very smart people decided to rebuild the city in a new image. The only building of any substance that did not fall in the earthquake was made of reinforced steel, so that was to be the new building medium.

But what style? Another building that had withstood the quake was a good example of the height of fashion, Art Deco. Although this had been a bit too much for the Victorian tastes of the residents before the tragedy, now that they were building a new city from scratch it was seen as a good and practical option.

What about builders? Thanks to the Depression, it was easy to attract thousands of workers who laboured for only 22 months before stepping back from what is essentially the current Napier with its wide downtown streets full of two storey art deco buildings, with leaded glass and exterior decoration to counteract the fact they were all grey concrete, until acrylic paint came around and allowed a palate of soft ice-cream colours and what we now think of as “original” Art Deco finishing. Using streamlines, zigzag and step and other geographic patterns, and aquatic and Maori style flourishes, the little city became an icon.

In the 1980s, when the downtown was beginning to change a few dedicated citizens formed a foundation and were able to preserve what was there, and even add more. This Art Deco Trust is now a shop, a source of walking tours, and a supporter of all sorts of events, including a 5 day annual Art Deco festival that more than doubles the town’s population.

I happened to find this Trust when looking for something interesting to do for our few short hours in Napier, something that did not require too much walking for Beazy. I found Tony, with his 1939 Packard and this morning, there he was, immaculately dressed and ready to take us off for a bit of a town tour and then wine tasting at Mission Estate, New Zealand’s oldest winery, in nearby Hawke’s Bay. After two splendid hours we were dropped off at the dock, swanning out in front of our cruise-mates, and to the sound of Dixieland, played by a quartet hired to see us off in style.

Boop Boop a Doop!