Napier

We had a good start out of Wellington heading for that night's destination: Napier. Our route took us through the small rural community of Masterton and along the highway we saw a sign advertising the fact that this being Saturday their annual A&P show was opening. A&P you ask? Agricultural & Pastoral. I will remind my readers that our darling daughter is a farrier by trade and as there were really no lunch stops planned and as it was nearing lunchtime and as we saw Kim's eyes light up at the thought of a farm show, we decided to go. It was a treat. The was horse flesh a'plenty. Dressage, hunter jumpers, pony shows. You don't often see six-year-olds dressed in top hat & tails but in just one ring we saw several. In a room under the grandstand the winners of all the different craft competitions were proudly on display - all behind one form of barrier or another so as to prevent theft. After all, on display was the cream of the crop in many, many categories. Knitting alone there was a dozen different categories: babies clothes, sweaters, spun, dyed & knit (ie make your own wool).

Competition in this category - creative food art - was fierce

In the photography section there was a category for nature, animals, sunsets, people, artistic. Then there were the most heavily protected: the cakes, pies, cookies and other edible confections. There were several categories, a men's competition, children's and open. Then there were the veggies. You name the veg, and there they were, 1st, 2nd & 3rd and often the honorable mentions. Lunch ended up being a wiener on a piece of white bread (no hotdog buns unless it is advertised as an American hotdog) washed down with some home made lemonade. There were hundreds of people there and the portable Ferris wheel and the other rides were doing a booming business. After walking through the sheep sheds and the pig pens we looked for where the sheep shearing competition was to be held but were disappointed to learn this was on the Sunday agenda. And so with many miles still to go we headed back to our car to continue on to Napier only to encounter a festival of a different but equally exuberant kind - Art Deco Days. Back in 1931 this seaside town was leveled by a massive earthquake. The downtown core was rebuilt over the next two years and so most of the town's building are in this particular style. The are dozens of events over a period of a week or so, all celebrating the thirties. Everyone dresses in period costumes, everyone except the tourists who happen to be in town more or less accidentally. However, you will be relieved to know that our host for that evening had a remedy for us all. Kim would have nothing to do with this. Julie consented to wearing some kind of a hat. Yours truly however, was decked out from head to foot in clothes that almost fit. We had a great time wandering the streets listening to different street bands belting out music from the twenties and thirties. Thousands of Men, women and children most dressed in all manner of costumes roamed the streets and the waterfront. It was great.

We packed right for Art Deco Days in Napier

Unfortunately the three of us were so bagged from a hot sunny afternoon in Masterton that we headed back to our B&B around nine. We got a great feel for Napier. It was clear that the entire community got behind this event and enjoyed themselves to the utmost.