Andy was up again with the birds and found himself a circular 10km run along the headland of Napier in the glorious morning sunshine.

Being Saturday, we managed to find a local farmers market just around the corner from our apartment and made a beeline for the bacon sandwich van, which to Andy’s great pleasure had the all important special accompaniment, brown sauce.

After this ‘second’ breakfast we went to discover the Main Street and the many art deco shops and restaurants that reside in central Napier.

It’s not just a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, it also has an esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive architecture. Given these attributes, Napier is sometimes romantically referred to as the “Nice of the Pacific”^.

Napier is a popular tourist city, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco, and to a lesser extent Spanish Mission, architecture, built after much of the city was destroyed in the 1932 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.

Napier is also the nexus of the largest wool centre in the Southern Hemisphere, and it has the primary export seaport for northeastern New Zealand – which is the largest producer of apples, pears, and stone fruit in the country. The Hawke’s Bay wine region is now the second largest after Marlborough in NZ.

Given the glorious sunshine and the fact we hadn’t been to a beach for a swim for what seems like months, we decided to park our usual tourist sightseeing plans and instead enjoy the attributes of being outdoors with nothing to do but walk along a beach front.

We decided to go for a walk to Ahuriri and on Westshore beach to make the most of the day in the sun. After a walk of a couple of miles we found our way to Ahuriri, where we came across a family beach and a run of beach bars and cafes that we couldn’t resist. After our caffeine fix, we walked along to the marina passing some magnificent boats and newly developed apartments with spectacular views across the bay.

We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we first arrived in Napier, however the more we saw the more we liked and were taken by its surroundings and general feel.

The Maori population in Napier was a lot more visible than we had seen elsewhere in the South Island.

After some time at the first beach, we moved to our ‘lunch stop’ at the Gin House!

This was turning into one of our favourite ways to spend an afternoon with a visit to a gin palace. The Napier offer was incredible with an amazing array of gin types and we found a couple that took our fancy and then settled in to enjoy the experience.

After a very pleasant couple of hours, tasting a couple of gins along with a very tasty garlic pizza we returned to the sunshine and walked along the spit to Westshore beach for a dip in the ocean.

After a glorious day at the beach we eventually returned to our apartment for a quick change before heading out for Saturday night drinks at the Market Street bar & restaurant. It was there that we hatched our plans for tomorrow and a day at the cricket in Hamilton for the 2nd Day of the 3rd Test.

Our stay in Napier has been very chilled and very enjoyable and we are so glad we decided to pay a visit to this glorious city in the sunshine.

Tomorrow it’s an early start and a 4hr drive to Hamilton for a return to test match cricket.