#newzealand #travel #adventure #artdeco

In the last blog we made an unscheduled stop in Rotorua and enjoyed a long weekend riding the bikes. The campsite we stayed at had a swimming pool and hot pools and was within an easy ride to the bike trails at Whakarewarewa Forest, so we basically spent the weekend chillin and making full use of the facilities. Rotorua (or “Vegas” as the locals call it :bloke) is a very popular thermal hot spot and the town is very much centred around the thermal activity here, there are hot pools everywhere, natural springs, volcanic evidence all over the place and as one of the guys in a local bike shop said “they tell you the place is a Mecca for mountain biking, but what they don’t tell you is about the smell”. Oh yes, it stinks! Some days are worse than others and some parts of town are more affected, but there is a very strong wiff of sulphur in the air. I’ve known it to be so strong you could almost chew it. Fortunately for us, out in the Redwoods forest you barely smell it. It is also an area with plenty of Maori culture and it has quite a different feel to it than most places on the South Island, I really like it, all around town there are Maori carvings, it’s an odd mix of traditional culture, thermal tourists and mountain bikers.

On the morning we left Rotorua, we met a couple in town for breakfast and a chat, we met these guys through Facebook a few weeks ago, when Rachel was asking for some info about visiting England. She posted on a women only MTB page and I messaged her to say we were currently in NZ and available for help if she needed it, and as luck would have it, we were all in Rotorua at the same time, unfortunately not long enough to get a ride in together but we plan to do that next time we meet, in a few weeks time. However, if any of you out there are looking for an adventure of your own out here, give these guys a look…www.adventurerstravelcompany.com, Rachel and Sean are really cool. It amazes me what a small community the mountain bike world is still, and how social media can pull people together. I also love the fact that you can post for help or advice and there is always someone that’ll point you in the right direction or even show you around their local trails. Bizarrely it also turned out that three of the people we met at Wairoa Gorge were from Brighton (and now living in NZ) and I used to live and ride around there too, albeit a long time ago. It is very small world isn’t it.

Anyway…..the real reason to hop back to the North Island was to spend the week in Napier with my family. Napier was struck by an earthquake in 1931 and in order to re-house the many homeless families, it was almost totally rebuilt in the style of that time, Art Deco. The houses were cheap to build and quick to put up as the style was simple yet attractive. Few of the original buildings survived the quake and the subsequent fires that broke out afterwards. But those that did have been fully restored and because of this and the large number of art deco frontages, Napier has become known as the Art Deco capital of New Zealand (I think it feels a bit like Torquay in the UK… but warmer. And sunnier. And quieter :bloke). They have two festivals a year here, celebrating all things “Deco”, one in winter and the largest one in summer. We are in Napier for the bigger of the two – the summer festival. My folks have been trying to convince me to come to it every year since they moved out here, and this year we have finally made it. Four days of being clean, dressing up and enjoying the Deco vibe. Cars, planes, motorcycles, bicycles, steam engines, food, drink, entertainment and of course the architecture. I was wondering how bloke would get on wearing shoes again after 4 months, he appears to have turned native and spends most of his time walking around barefoot, declaring “It’s West Coast dude”, flip flops are now for special occasions 😂. I think if he could get away with cycling barefoot, he would, but we all know how much those pedal pins rip the sole of your trainers – just think what they would do to bare feet!

On Thursday and Friday the feel of the city starts to change as people start to arrive, there are parties to go to, classes to attend (we tried out an Argentine Tango class and had a brilliant time), the sound of the old bikes and cars arriving and the wonderful outfits start to make an appearance.

Dressing like a lady

Bloke and my dad looking very dapper

Dad and I posing for the paparazzi

On Saturday, it’s the main event and 300 cars, motorcycles, bicycles, a NZ Navy marching band and probably others we didn’t get to see, parade through the streets of Napier and people flock to see the event. What we hadn’t realised was that we would end up being part of the parade and with a very brief driving lesson beforehand. (vintage cars have a variety of gear box patterns, pedal configurations and clutch options. Some need to be double clutched to get into specific gears or the drive chain is so idiocincratic that you can’t change down gears and must come to a full stop before you can get into first – Not to mention the stopping distance is measured in miles and the horse power might only be in single figures!! If you ever see a vintage car on the road, please give the driver space and patience. :Bloke). Then we were sent off to join the rest of the Hooterscarhire team in the convoy to the Parade. It was a really cool to be a part of the Parade and I was amazed at the size of the crowd – 5 or 6 people deep in places. An estimated 40,000 visitors which is a pretty impressive turn out considering there are approximately 62,000 people living in the Napier area. Considering how many people live in New Zealand, 4 and 3/4 million in total I believe, that really is impressive and without a doubt, the most people we have seen in one place since we arrived here.

Bloke and I having a photo taken by the local paper I think

Parade selfie

I hopped in with my sister for a while in this tiny Swallow

Saturday night was the big night out, the place was buzzing, people everywhere, bands playing in the street, street performers doing there thing, there were even dinner tables set up amongst the cars and people sitting around in their finery, ladies in full evening gowns and gents in their tuxedos. Most of the bars were playing music of 20’s and 30’s, or something more modern but of that style, and they were heaving with people. (We also had dinner in a restaurant called Bistronomy – anyone might have done the same. It was only as we finished our meal that we saw the two beefy chaps sat at the bar in modern clothes – the “security” and realised the NZ Prime Minister was at the back of the room with her partner having dinner too. You wouldn’t get that in Torquay. :Bloke).

The first time I’ve ever worn an evening gown

These people dinning amongst the cars were brilliant

On the Sunday, it was time for the “Deco Picnic” and we were very kindly invited to join friends of the family for the most civilised of picnics ever. Somewhat odd eating in front of a crowd of onlookers armed with cameras, but quite an experience all the same, especially when the 1930’s style “Warbird” display team planes flew overhead.

All set for the picnic

The Warbirds over head

The winning picnic display

There were even fashion shows going on

Bloke getting some training in for his race 😂

The final evening out, in the foyer of the iconic Masonic Hotel

We had a fabulous week in Napier with the family, but once again we couldn’t hang around, we had a ferry to catch and hot-footed it back down to Wellington to arrive at the ferry terminal just in time to board. We needed to get ourselves down to Christchurch ASAP as race week was soon approaching! We decided to drive down the east coast this time and when we got to a place caked Kaikoura, we pulled into a bay for a lunch stop, and straight away realised there were a bunch of kayakers and people on stand up paddle boards, surrounded by a large pod of 50 or more small Dolphins, who were clearly having a blast showing off. They were leaping and backflipping around the tourists. Next thing I knew, bloke was out the van and blowing up the SUP, ten minutes later he was out there with them all. (People have since said to me “don’t bother the Dolphins” “don’t interfere with there behaviour”. I think the people who say this haven’t seen the speed of a dolphin compared to a SUP. 😂. It took me maybe 10minutes to get the kilometer offshore where I could see them. The Dolphins seemed to be moving at 30 or 40kmh. Grey torpedoes just below the surface, popping up to spin and somersault at will. They jumped and slapped the water sounding really solid, like trees falling in a swamp. They swum by, checked me out and disappeared in seconds. I had no choice about whether I got close to them or not, there was less chance of me bugging them than of me grabbing an African swallow while parachuting. They are totally in command of the situation – I was literally “all at sea” and “out of my depth” 😬. And as soon as they came they melted away :bloke). I was just a lot jealous, but after the race we plan to revisit Kaikoura and hopefully I’ll get my own close encounter with the Dolphins.

This shot was taken from onshore

Onboard gopro shots

Underwater gopro shots