To reach Napier after leaving Rotorua, we had to go through another mountain range after a surprisingly straight stretch of road for a little while. It was great while it lasted. The landscape was very diverse as usual.
Napier is a city on Hawke’s Bay, on the east coast of the north island. It is known for its sunny weather and fertile soil that produces great fruit and wine. Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s leading fruit producer, and second-largest wine-producing region (after Marlborough). Apples, pears, peaches, nectarines and plums all grow in abundance there. As for wine, it is known for its red blends, Chardonnay and Syrah varietals.
One interesting thing about Napier is that it has one of the highest concentration of art deco buildings in the world. This is because of a devastating earthquake in 1931 that destroyed most of the traditional brick buildings. The only buildings that seemed to have survived the event were the ones made out of cement. So the town decided to only rebuild cement buildings after that, which went well with the art-deco stylings popular at the time. With palm trees throughout the streets, Napier kind of had a Miami South Beach vibe, but not as opulent. To us, it felt very different than the New Zealand we were used to.
The beach at Napier was very rough the day we visited, as it was really windy. It is a large black smooth stone beach lined with giant Norfolk Island Pines. The waves made a loud crackling sound as the surf drained back out after each big wave causing the stones to move en masse.
After a night of freedom camping, we rented e-bikes the next day to visit the countryside. Hawke’s Bay is a popular biking area because it is relatively flat compared to other areas of New Zealand. We were glad to have e-bikes, though, as our route still had plenty of hills.
We started in the town of Havelock North, and then followed a river upstream several miles where we crossed a bridge and then continued following the river all the way back down to the coast. We went by several wineries around there that looked impressive, with the Te Mata mountaintop views in the distance.
The first grapes were planted in early 1850s by French Catholic missionaries near the Mission Estate in Napier. Nearby at Te Mata Estate, New Zealand’s oldest operating winery buildings were established. The original vineyards were planted in 1892 after a French woman visiting the estate remarked that, if these hills were in France, they would be covered in vines. There are now about seventy wineries in Hawke’s Bay.
In some places, we rode on top of dikes that protected the farmlands from flooding. This gave us great views of the orchards. It looked like the stone fruits had been harvested already, but the apple harvest was just starting. The trees were just loaded with apples! The wine harvest had also just started, but we didn’t see any grape harvesters. We spotted some funny signs along the path as we were sometimes riding next to cattle and sheep.
Once we reached the coast, we followed it for a few more miles before turning around and returning back up the other side of the river. It was windy and the surf still seemed pretty strong. At one point on the end we saw lots of surfers enjoying the waves. We rode about forty miles before returning our bikes. We bought some local wine in town (one Chardonnay and one Merlot Cabernet blend) that were recommended to us as classic examples from the region. We found the Chardonnay full-flavored and a bit oaky. Sophie really liked that one. And I enjoyed the red wine which was well rounded and easy to drink.
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