We managed to get to the Visitor Centre just in time to catch the 10am Art Deco walking tour of Napier. Napier was destroyed by earthquake and subsequent fire in 1931, with quite a number of people being killed. The earthquake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and lasted for two minutes (imagine the ground beneath you shaking for two minutes!). It also made the land rise up and Napier found itself to be 40sqkm bigger afterwards. Following the disaster, the town was replanned, the streets widened, services placed underground (there are no overhead power lines for example), and rebuilt in an Art Deco architectural style. Our excellent guide took us all round the major sites, pointing out many items of interest that we would otherwise have missed. We learnt all about the key points of Art Deco design, including Zigarettes (zig-zag shapes, which derived from the requirement to step back skyscrapers in the States to let light through to street level), sun bursts (dawn of a new age), fountains (source of life and rebirth) and speed-lines (to show power, technological progress as streamlining had just been discovered and, er, speed). Also the building corners were cut off diagonally, so people could see around the corner when walking. We saw inside the ASB Bank, which its high ceilings and Maori inspired carvings, which was very unusual and progressive for the time. We also saw inside a Napier computer company building which had a very impressive Art Deco interior including a stepped back upper floor balcony. We certainly would like to work there!

After the tour we drove to Hastings, which was also damaged by the earthquake. One of the first Art Deco buildings we saw there had the large inscription Holden's Buildings! another great example of our surname. Unfortunately, carved into the corner of the building was the word "Nutters"...

Outside the tourist information centre is an interesting square with an Art Deco clock tower and fountain pool, through which the train track ran!

From Hastings we drove south to Lower Hutt, just north of Wellington, to one of the nearest campsites to the ferry. The campsite itself was out of the way on an industrial estate so we had a fairly long walk to the main street to get some food. We finally decided to eat in the Irish pub (we always end up in Irish pubs no matter where in the world we are!). It was throwing it down after we'd eaten, which was a good excuse to get a taxi back!