Cruising Through Hawke’s Bay (Feb. 7-8)

We’re currently making our way through Hawke’s Bay, a sunny region of New Zealand famed for its fruit and wine production. In summer, backpackers descend on Hawke’s Bay to pick apples, kiwifruit, and sometimes winery work. The majority appears to be picking apples though, as most fields we’ve driven by are apple orchards with trees busting with red fruit.

We’re on a mission to get to the South Island and see the sights there before late fall (around May) when the weather there turns too cold, so we’ve decided not to pick fruit around here at the moment. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be too much happening in Hawke’s Bay, either, so that doesn’t help much. Napier, in particular, was a bit of a disappointment. Billed as one of the world’s foremost Art Deco cities, Napier does indeed have a number of Art Deco buildings and other flourishes, but is otherwise rather unremarkable. Napier does have a top-notch marketing campaign, as it’s certainly built up a reputation as a must-stop in NZ.

Expecting to see a city full of Art Deco like South Beach in Miami, we were bummed to find a somewhat gritty, industrial city in which the overlook at the town’s bluffs gave a terrific and encompassing view of the city’s…shipping port. The ocean does give the city a nice setting, but unfortunately you can’t swim there as the strong currents and rip tides make it too dangerous. To be fair, we were in town mid-week, and it is supposed to be much more happening on the weekend. We stayed at a backpackers in town that was full of long-term fruit-picking backpackers, many of whom were camping in the sprawling hostel’s backyard. The hostel was a bit run-down and also felt a bit like an old-person’s house, a funny combination for a house full of 20-somethings.

McDeco Style

"Beam me up!" says Andrew in Napier

Napier’s sister city is Hastings, just 19km down the road, and based on what we’d read in our guidebooks, we figured there wouldn’t be much going on there. We were quite surprised to find it to be a nicer, cleaner city than Napier. If I were picking fruit, I’d much rather stay in Hastings than Napier, but luckily we didn’t have to stay. Someday soon we’ll have to do something to earn money though…

Spanish mission style architecture in Hastings

At times like this it makes it difficult to trust the guidebooks like Lonely Planet and Let’s Go, as their portrayals of towns and activities seem to resemble the copy from the local chambers of commerce as opposed impartial descriptions with a bent towards budget travel. We won’t be throwing them out anytime soon, as they have a lot of useful info, including maps, but we’d never use them as our sole references.

On the bright side, we’ve met many cool people, both Kiwis and other backpackers, who have recommended various places to stay and things to do. It would seem that as usual, word-of-mouth is the best place to get the lowdown.