Glory Days
By the time we left the volcanic heart of the North Island behind us, another long New Zealand drive had begun to feel less like an obstacle and more like part of the ritual. The road southeast to Napier took around three hours, winding steadily towards the Pacific coast through sheep country, dry hills and long empty stretches of State Highway 2. Pencarrow Lighthouse, Pencarrow Peninsula, Wellington We rolled into Napier by early evening and checked into Pebble Beach Motor Inn, a gloriously old‑fashioned motel with a kitchenette, a spa bath, and the sort of retro charm that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a 1970s road‑trip film. After days of hiking, driving and surviving on adrenaline, it felt magnificent. Art Deco Napier Napier itself has one of the more unusual stories of any town in New Zealand. In 1931, a catastrophic earthquake measuring 7.8 struck the Hawke’s Bay region, killing more than 250 people and devastating the town. Yet the disaster also gave Napier its ...
