Hey guys!!!

Napier is beautiful! Such lovely weather, great location with a nice hostel to boot. We have stayed at Archies Bunker with our hosts Doug and Julie. Boy can Doug talk when you get him going, but they were really nice and welcoming (something you don't quite get from the bigger hostels!) We have been in Napier for 3 nights and have really enjoyed the place.

The town was hit by an earthquake in 1933 that wiped out the whole place and when it got re-built they had Art Deco designers to do most of the buildings. This means the whole town has an art deco feel and is really quite unusual!

So what have we done? Well Napier is in the Hawkes Bay wine region so it would be rude not to go have a look at that huh! So we picked a wine tasting tour and off we went. It has taught us quite a bit about wine that we didnt know, such as, the difference in taste between unoaked and oaked wine! Basically, whether it is kept in metal or wood really affects the taste! We tried a dessert ice wine at Mission Estate which was gorgeous! Emma started by tasting reds and then decided against it by the 2nd Winery....Andrew wished the next day that he had done the same!!! All in all the wine tasting was really worth the hangover! It taught us a bit about wine and was a nice experience!

The next day we decided (stupidly) to rent bikes and have a cycle! We didnt really plan on a 6hour massive one but thats what it turned out to be. Andrew really felt ill and at one point had to stop and go throw up...well it was his own fault!! haha After that we had some chips and a can of coke and all was better heehee. We really enjoyed our cycle around the region. We stopped off at the Prison and took some pictures for Alan, We could have stayed here, as its now a hostel, but decided against spending a night in a cell! We also cycled to a Chocolate factory which was the worst factory in the world!! The cafe didnt even sell the chocolate they made! The samples were either milk or dark choc...not impressed! So onward to the cider tasting!!! A really nice tasting of 6 different ciders! Most nice and one really awful haha

The weather and views were amazing. The town is a coastal town so had a beach...well i say a beach, there wasnt any sand just really dirty pebbles (Made Brid look like a Pacific Island haha) and like most of New Zealand, had remnants of a volcano that was a nice walk and view over the region!

We enjoyed Napier! Had a good time tasting wine, riding bikes and oh an amzing Chinese takeaway! Its nice to have a treat inbetween the noodles and pasta!

Love Andrew and Emma x