This was our shortest port of call and we only had half a day here. Or so we thought. As it happened the ship was concerned about logistics and so put on steam to arrive a bit earlier. We still had to wait on ship anyway for our scheduled tour. However it was worth it as our bus took us to a part of suburb that we couldn't have reached from the town centre. This let us see a whole bunch of art deco domestic houses.
For Art Deco is the big thing in Napier now and it is there in abundance. Whereas we're used to seeing Art Deco in isolated remnants (e.g. in Perth, the Como, Astor and Windsor cinemas) with monochrome facades and usually no period interiors - in Napier the exteriors are alive with colour and many interiors are either extant or restored. Seeing this style in a consistent setting is the difference which is hard to appreciate without actually being there. It was so startling to see an ordinary block of independent shops all in original art deco style. Another surprise is that they originally built them with underground power so the streets are wide and tidy. Even the sidewalk overhangs were all set even which makes for a neat look.
If you didn't know why Napier is an Art Deco time capsule the short story is that it was devastated by an earthquake in 1931 and then almost entirely rebuilt within a couple of years.
We did most of the (walking) tour in a light rain - good thing we had our umbrellas. Afterwards we wrote some postcards at a cafe - we both had hazelnut flavoured hot drinks and Lee used some free WiFi to check Facebook. Then it was time to hop a bus back to the ship.
On board we rested a bit then went to another song and dance show after dinner.
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