ROTORUA AND NAPIER NEW ZEALAND

February 4 and 5,  2023

Rotorua

Rotorua is a port city in the Bay of Plenty.   It is best known as the gateway to bubbling mud pools and thermal fields with erupting geysers.   It has also has miles of white-sand beaches and is a major port for exporting wood and Kiwi fruit.   The Bay of Plenty region is New Zealand’s major producer of Kiwi fruit which is the country’s largest horticultural export - some $3B in 2020.

There is a higher percentage of Maori residents in the Rotorua region than in most all other NZ regions.   The Maori arrived in NZ in the 13th century, followed by the British 600 years later.   The culture of this region is significantly influenced by the Maori.

We didn’t get to see the geysers and such in the thermal fields but we went to the wonderful white-sand beaches and got to see acres and acres and acres of kiwi fruit plantations.  Kiwi fruit grows on trees which are planted close together so that their branches intertwine making it look like the fruit is growing on vines.  

Napier 

Napier has a truly fascinating history.   In 1931 an earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale!! magnitude essentially destroyed the city.  Only a few of the 150 or so buildings were left standing.   What the earthquake didn’t destroy, the ensuing fire did.   Two tectonic plates moved against each other one pushing under the other.   The result was that the ground was pushed up some 7 ft.   permantly.  A huge swamp like area was pushed up and the water drained into the bay creating a large new area of useable land.   Some 260 people died as a result of the earthquake and fires and hundreds more were injured.   

After the shock of the damage was absorbed, the city fathers decided to rebuild with the help of the government of New Zealand and wealthy businessmen.   And they decided to rebuild in the art deco style popular in that era.   They noted that the few buildings that withstood the earthquake were constructed of a combination of steel and concrete.   So that became the formula for rebuilding.   What is so amazing is that they rebuilt the city in just two years.   As the world was in the midst of the Great Depression, there was an abundance of available labor.   People flocked to the city to help with rebuilding.   The city has worked hard to maintain the art deco look.   Each year around the middle of February they have Mardi Gras type celebrations where everyone dresses in the style of the 1920s just preceding the Great Depression and they bring out vintage cars for the annual parade.

We took a tour of the city in a restored 1937 Pontiac with a guide dressed in the dapper 1920s style and then a walking tour of the city center.   We really enjoyed visiting this town and witnessing how people can rise up in response to an enormous disaster.   

                                         From our ship....one of the many ancient volcanos

                                                  Kiwi trees

               A little blurry, but you can see the fruit....the gold variety is the most popular

                                       Stately Norfolk pines.... Very common in the area

                                          Fun on the beach

                                                  Who is this masked marvel?

                                                  Our guide in Napier

                                         Another dapper fellow

 In front of 1937 Pontiac and a restored building that belonged to one of the wealthy businessmen who financed reconstruction.

  

                                                 A rebuilt building

                                         Another building rebuilt in 1932/33

This is one of the only building that withstood the earthquake.   Its concrete and steel construction inspired the rebuilding

                                         Another building rebuilt in 1932/1933

                                                  Boardwalk by the bay in Napier

                                         Flower garden by the bay