Napier

Waking up after the hike in Tongariro National Park was interesting. Painful, actually. I don't think I have ever gotten out of bed with such strange choreography. It seems that knees have muscles in the strangest places, and all of them were aching from all those steep climbs - I was walking like Robocop. The stiff posture along with rainy weather made us decided to head for East Coast and spend a few lazy days in Napier.

The timing to visit Napier turned out to be perfect, since the town was celebrating its annual Art Deco -festival, honouring the style and sophistication of the 1920s and 1930s. Pretty much all the locals were dressed up according to the fashion of the time, up to the tiniest details with pearls, gloves and accents. We even saw Charlie Chaplin, moustache and all! There is naturally a story behind such festivities. In 1931 a huge earthquake destroyed pretty much the whole town, after which the town was rebuilt according to Art Deco Style. So even without the Charlie Chaplins, the place already reminds you of those two decades.

There is also a parade with hundreds of spit-and-polish vintage cars, an airplane show and big band music everywhere. If you are a sucker for Agatha Christie's murder mysteries, this is definitely a place worth going. It was incredible! Though we did not exactly fit in with our broken beach bum clothes and flipflops, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Hooray weird festivals!