Went to the visitor's info centre this morning to get some info on one of the trips out to the gannet colony and booked myself for that for Friday morning.
Then I went to the local museum, the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibit about the 1931 earthquake was quite interesting. The day of the earthquake the city actually rose up 7 feet and most of the flat land that I noticed coming in on the plane yesterday was basically underwater prior to the earthquake. The airport itself is built on land that was underwater previously. It was all pushed up by the quake. Very interesting to learn how the earthquake changed the city by destroying it but also totally changed the landscape and provided more land for the city to be rebuilt on. The museum also had an exhibit on called "A Kiwi at Brideshead" and it was an exhibit of work by a New Zealand artist, Felix Kelly, who moved to London, England at 21 and had a career as an illustrator and cartoonist. He did a lot of book covers and artwork for magazines and advertising but also did some amazing illustrations of country houses with slightly surreal touches. His work was absolutely amazing and I will have to order a copy of the book about him when I return. His life had a lot of parallels with the character of Charles Ryder in 'Brideshead Revisited' (one of my favourite books ever) -- he even knew the Howard family and painted some murals in the garden rooms at Castle Howard (like Charles does in the novel). Anyway, I was fascinated and totally captivated by his style.
I stopped for some lunch at one of the cafes. Had a leek and mushroom filo pastry pie with roasted red peppers and salad and a glass of lemon-limeade. After lunch I went to relax at one of the parks. Big tall palm trees always make me think of that movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World". (double uuuuuuuuuuu) double uuuuuuuuuuuuu double uuuuuuuuuu)...
I had booked for the 2 pm art deco walking tour conducted by the art deco trust. The walk/talk was two and half hours and was very informative about the art deco, spanish mission and modern classic styles that the city was rebuilt in after the earthquake. The styles were chosen mainly because it was cheap (the depression was starting) and fast to build (as opposed to rebuilding in Victorian and Classical styles). Also the decoration was simple and flat -- nothing to fall of and kill people during a quake!
This bank building was particularly interesting as it details (inside and out) are Maori motifs.
After the walk I went to a few of the shops to look around. Found a nice gallery and bought a print by a local artist called "Lococat" -- his coloured etchings all featured cats -- and I look forward to getting it framed when I get home.
Now back in my room. Glad to see my nose is only slightly pink. I had loaded up on sunscreen this morning but that sun was quite intense today. Going to have a glass or two of wine -- trying a Wishart "Te Puriri" chardonnay from the Hawke's Bay region -- on my balcony and read for a bit. Then will head out for a bite to eat and a walk along the oceanfront. It gets dark here earlier then it did down south in Dunedin but it is still light until after 9.
Tomorrow is supposed to gorgeous again so I plan to load on the sunscreen and spend the day at the beach.
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