Flying would have been an excellent way to visit Napier for a quick trip, I however elected to drive. In my defence, I only decided on Wednesday morning that I would head to Napier on Friday for the weekend, by this time flights were pricey. By Wednesday afternoon I changed plans and opted to leave on Thursday afternoon and stop for a night on the way down to break up the drive, this turned out to be a good and a bad option.
On Thursday morning I looked on booking.com and found a cabin at DeBretts Hotsprings in Taupō for under $100. Thinking this would be a great option and giving me the chance to have a hot soak after driving for a few hours I booked it. It was only when the confirmation email came through I realised I’d booked it for October 5th 2024. This would still have been a bargain but not very helpful for my imminent departure. Deciding to just wing it I threw my overnight back in the car and hit the road. Traffic, roadworks and detours turned a 3.5-hour drive into 4 hours, and as I pulled alongside New Zealand’s largest lake I realised that winging it on accommodation may have been a flawed plan. It was only then I remembered that it was still the school holidays which is a brain fade on my part given that this is the reason I am not at work.
I drove by many ‘no vacancy’ signs before I spied a large-looking line of motel-type accommodation which I popped into on the off chance. This random selection turned out to be a bit of a gem. The Suncourt claims to be ‘Taupō’s BEST local, family owned and operated accommodation, conference, event and wedding venue’, while I can’t vouch for its wedding, conference or event claims, their accommodation, food and staff were excellent. After checking into my lake-view room I wandered off in search of two of life’s necessities, wine and snacks. After enjoying both on my balcony as the sun sagged in the sky I moved inside for room service and an early night.
Friday started perfectly, watching the All Blacks win while lounging in bed, before hitting the road for the two-hour drive from Taupō to Napier. The last time I drove this road was exactly a year ago in a minivan loaded with teenage cricketers while rain battered off the windscreen. This drive, alone and in perfect weather, was a much more peaceful experience until I reached the Esk Valley. Twelve months ago this valley was a lush green landscape blanketed with grape vines and fruit trees, it was jarring and upsetting how much devastation was caused, and remains after Cyclone Gabrielle in February. The landscape is now dotted with piles of dirt being scooped up by an army of diggers and houses which were swept off their piles and moved to random spots sometimes miles away from where they were once homes.
I arrived at Hawkes Bay at midday, and my first thought was to hunt food. As the region is known for its wine it seemed fitting to head to a winery, the one that I chose was Mission Estate. Established in 1851 by French Missionaries the grand buildings are nestled in the Taradale Hills and accessed by a grant, tree-lined driveway. As I was dining alone I didn’t opt for the $60, three-course spring lunch menu, choosing instead the ‘Chicken Breast, ‘Pig & Salt’ Spec & Truffle Polenta, Corn Salsa, Cheese Croquette & Chicken Jus’. The suggested wine pairing was a Jewelstone Chardonnay, who am I to argue with the experts. The setting, the food, and the wine were all exceptional and the perfect way to start my Napier experience.
Watching my child play cricket is the guise for my mini-break so after lunch I headed to Cornwall Park, Napier for the first of the weekend’s scheduled games before checking in to my accommodation. While in Taupō I looked online and made a booking for a couple of nights. I chose the Masonic Art Deco Hotel as it looked cool, was central and offered a single room option which made the cost a little less. It was another wonderful surprise to check in and find that it was indeed as cool as it looked on the website.
The hotel is located on Tennyson St, a stone’s throw from Marine Parade and the waterfront and an easy walk to downtown Napier. While there is no parking at the hotel they provide free parking a couple of hundred metres away after you have unloaded your luggage in the loading zone alongside the hotel entry. The decor is true to Art Deco, a style that emerged in France just before World War I, but flourished in the 1920s and ’30s.
Napier would not have been known for its Art Deco buildings if it wasn’t for New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake on February 3rd, 1931, when ‘energies roughly equal to the detonation of 100 million tonnes of TNT was channelled down a moving slab of landscape’ killing at least 256 people. Fire destroyed much of downtown Napier which was rebuilt in the style of the time, Art Deco. Stepping into the hotel is a timewarp back to the era with stunning woodwork, carpet, fixtures and art all reflecting the era.
My single room features a king-single bed, a small desk, a reading chair, a cabinet with tea and coffee-making facilities, a window onto a courtyard an ensuite with a shower more powerful than most you come across from in hotels. Ready to eat again I opted to stay in-house and eat at The Rose, the Irish pub underneath the hotel. This was a mistake. It was not pleasant.
Saturday: After a good night’s sleep what better way to start the day than with a massage? Regular readers of my blog will know that I love a good massage and like to try the out whenever I travel. I haven’t blogged about my last two massages. In August, while visiting Mt Maunganui I had what was possibly the best massage of my life at the Mount Hotpools, 10/10 recommend. Needing one in Auckland recently I had what was possibly the worst massage of my life and a place I’ve been to before but with a therapist I (thankfully) hadn’t come across in the past. It was enough to put me off.
Put me off going back to that place, not put me off massages obviously!
After two minutes of Google research while sitting at the cricket I booked myself an appointment for 9 am at a Thai place just around the corner from my hotel.
It didn’t start well. The decor and colour scheme were questionable but the massage therapist was welcoming and directed me to a curtained cubicle with the usual wide, Thai-style, massage beds. I had opted for an ‘aroma massage’ which I was hoping wouldn’t involve me being twisted into a pretzel like the last Thai massage I had. Very soon I was nearly naked, face down and was mounted by Sarah as she began the massage. The massage was lovely but I found it very hard to concentrate due to what was happening in the cubicle next door.
I assume it was a largish, older man escorted into the room by his wife or maybe a carer. She explained to the therapist through the thin wall from me, that he was a bit hard of hearing but probably his back just needed a ‘good clicking’. She left with a ‘Have fun big boy’, at this moment I wondered whether I’d missed seeing the word ‘parlour’ on the massage sign. It took about 5 minutes of his half-hour booking for him to understand that he had to lie face-down and put his face at the end with the hole (specifically designed for a face). His breathing wasn’t the quietest while he was upright, as soon as he lay down it became snoring loud only interrupted with the odd grunt or moan. Once his session had ended (not happily) I could again focus on relaxing. All in all my experience was more towards the Mount end of the scale than my local experience and I would recommend it.
Photo or cricket to prove I actually went.
The massage finished in perfect time to watch some cricket which was alas interrupted by rain. This gave me the chance to try another local attraction the Ocean Spa, where for the bargain price of $11.50 I soaked away the chill of watching cricket in the rain. With the rest of the cricket day called I have stocked up on snacks for dinner and enjoying some downtime in the hotel before a 400+km drive tomorrow.
If you haven’t been to Napier yet, do it!
Gillian Scott Creative 