East As Begins

I left on my Kiwi Experience East As trip today. It's a 4 day, 3 night trip around the East coast of the North Island.

We drove to Napier in the Hawkes Bay Region. All along the way is miles of pine forest. Pine grows in NZ fater than anywhere else because of the soil so forestry is big business here! Hawkes Bay however is one of the major wine and fruit regions in NZ. Napier is famous for its art deco architecture. The reason Napier has 1930's art deco buildings is that in the 1930s a massive earthquake hit the region and completely devastated Napier. They got in this art deco architect/designer dude who re-did the town in art deco! I thought Napier was lovely, the buildings weren't as art deco as I though they would be but there was a great vibe to the place. The streets were lined with palm trees, the marine parade ran along the sea front. The water was clear - the beach (sand)was black but this is due to the volcanic activity etc. The best thing was that there was a Starbucks - Frappacino yeah!

We then drove on past Poverty Bay where Captain Cook first landed in NZ, he called it Poverty Bay as the Maori tribe there attacked them when they arrived so Captain Cook thought - ah well there's not much to be had here! They then proceeded to land in the Bay of Plenty where they were welcomed by the local Maori tribe there!

We went to a place called the Chalet Surf Lodge in a place called Gisborne (http://www.chaletsurf.co.nz). I felt quite ill when I arrived so I had the barbeque and walked along the beach and fell into bed!