Napier Street Art – Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans

PangeaSeed Foundation is an international organisation that takes oceans into the streets to raise awareness of marine environment issues like pollution, plastic use and over fishing. They use what they call ARTivism – a combination of art and activism to educate and inspire people around the world to think more about their environmental impact, and it is done in a creative and thought provoking way …….

Frank And Mimi

House of Meggs

The first Sea Walls project brought 25 artists to Napier in March 2016. Their mission – to give the oceans a voice, one art work at a time. … Read the rest

Dome Cinema & Bar, Gisborne

We went to a movie at Dome Cinema in Gisborne for the first time this year, and what a treat it was. There’s a bar onsite, add a sunny evening and we were happy with a pre movie drink of cold Gisborne Gold.

Dome Cinema & Bar is in the grand old Poverty Bay Club, the cinema is in the billiards room of the former gentleman’s club. The bar still has a gentleman’s club feel with low lighting, old framed photos, an ornate wooden fire surround, and worn  leather couches. The gentleman’s club finally opened its doors to women in … Read the rest

Art Deco Masonic Hotel in Napier

There’s a rave review ahead for Art Deco Masonic Hotel in Napier. We remember when the hotel had a Breakers Cafe on the ground floor, what a transformation! In 2012 the hotel was renovated significantly and many of its Art Deco features were restored. The work of the owners’ was recognised recently when they picked up two awards at Hospitality NZ Awards for Excellence – Best Accommodation, and the top award – Supreme Award Winner.

We checked in to a Superior Queen Room to find we had French doors opening to the balcony overlooking Marine Parade, it was a lovely … Read the rest

Art Deco Napier

It’s all about Art Deco in Napier, the architectural style that typifies many of the buildings that rose from the devastation of the Hawkes Bay earthquake. The earthquake shook Napier’s business district from its foundations on the morning of 3 February 1931.

More than 250 people died in the Hawkes Bay region and buildings that didn’t collapse in Napier’s city centre initially were then mostly destroyed by fire and subsequent aftershocks.

But like the Art Deco image of the rising sun, Napier’s city centre rose again and by 1933 was almost entirely rebuilt. Four local architecture firms worked together … Read the rest

Gisborne – our ‘go to place’ for sunshine

We often wondered about people who went to the same destination every year for a holiday, it didn’t seem like something we would do. Then one year we went to Gisborne and turned into the sort of people we wondered about. We don’t go every year, more likely every second, but it’s the one place we return to regularly. Given I updated Driving the East Cape from Gisborne to Opotiki, I thought I’d share some of what makes Gisborne a favourite destination for us.

The weather – It seems every Christmas/New Year in one part of the country at least, … Read the rest

Ring the Westminster Chimes at The Faraday Centre in Napier

The Faraday Centre is a historical technology museum, it’s a hands on sort of place so you get to push, pull and make stuff go, not just look at it. You’ll find all sorts of weird and intriguing things like a Uranus electric mouse trap, a dishwasher from 1925, a 1907 Rover car, and old and unusual typewriters.

You can use the pneumatic conveyor system that once transferred money in cannisters through a series of pipes around Westerman’s Department Store in Hastings. Curiously, C1 Espresso in Christchurch are using a similar system to transfer sliders from the kitchen to food … Read the rest

Smash Palace Bar, Gisborne

The name Smash Palace gives an indication of what to expect – think a guy called Gazza getting a liquor licence for his second hand shop / wreckers yard and inviting his mates around for a party. There’s a pool table, Lion Red on tap and a mix of soft and hard rock on the sound system. Smash turns it up mid January for the annual rock and metal event – Hell Smash Fest.

One of Gazza’s mates has conveniently landed a DC3 in the garden bar to provide some shade and another has sawn off the top of a … Read the rest

Kaiaua Beach Horse Races, Tolaga Bay

Racing this time at Kaiaua Beach Horse Races … Posse won race 2 with Lady Gaga coming home fourth; don’t know about race 1, we were getting the car stuck in a paddock; race 3 was a 22 horse race, our lucky dip pick Sarge came second but first place is the only one that pays at Kaiaua, it was Mac that stormed down the beach to take first and pay $10 the win ….

Time for hot chips and a bet on race 4, Posse took the win again with Lady Gaga in at fourth, what are the chances?; … Read the rest

Happy New Year from the Skinny Dip Capital of the World

NEWS FLASH 😉 – It’s official, Gisborne now hold the Guinness World Record for Largest Skinny Dipping (744 people)! (Update: On 8 March 2015 The Fig Group in Australia set a new world record with 786 people).

People have been getting their gear off around the world to try and beat the skinny dipping world record currently held by 729 people who bared all at a Spanish beach in July. In the naked queue for the record were 805 people who took to the water in November at a clothes optional beach in Florida, but they didn’t have adequate photographic … Read the rest

Take a walk with words

Take a walk with words to celebrate National Poetry Day …..

Haiku Pathway, Katikati
Sandwiched between Robert Harris Cafe and Hammer Hardware in Katikati you’ll find the main entrance to the Haiku Pathway.The haiku are engraved on boulders along the path that follows Uretara Stream ….

Words on Walls in Napier
Many of Napier’s streets are named after poets, it seems a natural progression to write Words on Walls….

Janet Frame’s words (above) are on the wall in Theatre Lane near The Kitchen Table Cafe and Community Art Space.

Words on Walls is an ongoing project, visit the i-SITE … Read the rest