Napier

Napier is located on the east coast of the North island. We came here for a few reasons one of them being to break up the journey to Taupo. Napier is known for it's art deco buildings so that was another reason. We also wanted to visit the National Aquarium which is located here and read that you can feed the fish, including sharks, for a very reasonable price ($96 including all dive equipment and tank). Unfortunately, they only take a maximum of 3 people each day and it was already booked out. We still visited the Aquarium and although it's not as good as the one in Sydney it still represents very good value for money at $14.

The woman at our hostel's reception was very kind and gave us some ideas of things to do. If you had a few days to spare you could easily fill them here. A tour of the buildings, nice walk along the promenade and to the look-out point (for a sunrise/sunset), art house cinema and the ocean spa. Not to mention Hawkes bay and it's surrounding beaches.

We were very impressed with Napier and what it had to offer.

After our 4.30 hour drive we decided to go to Ocean Spa. They have several pools outdoors including a sauna and steam-room. There's also a gym but you need to staying in a hotel nearby. For $6 it's very good value and on a sunny day an excellent place to go.

The next morning we strolled around the shops before getting on the road again. We were very impressed with Napier and what it had to offer.