Napier, New Zealand is a quaint, coastal town that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931.  Because of this, the city was entirely rebuilt with the 1930s Art Deco style architecture.  It is now known as the Art Deco City due to it’s highly concentrated amount of Art Deco style buildings.  It totally looks frozen in time.

Notable Experiences

Masonic Hotel

The Masonic Hotel originally opened in 1861, but was tragically destroyed by a fire in 1896.  It was reopened in 1897 as one of the largest and most elaborate hotels to date in New Zealand, according to Masonic’s website.  The  1931 earthquake destroyed the hotel again and it was rebuilt into the Art Deco style hotel it is today.

Emporium Eatery and Bar is a restaurant  within the hotel that was recommend to me by one of my sorority sisters.  (Thanks, Meg!)  The inside of this restaurant is loaded with really cool vintage artifacts and photos, which I absolutely loved.  My husband’s uncle and I ordered fish and chips that were outstanding.

Mister D’s

We randomly heard about “this donut shop where you can inject your own jelly” from friends of Aunt Liny and Uncle Terry.  We were on a mission to find it.  Google, I tell ya, just knows where everything is!  Haha.  The interior of this place was trendy and had a fun atmosphere.  They have a really nice menu as well.  I can’t comment on their food though since we just ordered donuts to go.

They made our donuts on the spot and we were able to select what kind of filling we wanted to inject our donuts with.  They had basic fillings (chocolate, jelly, or custard) and adult only fillings that were laced with rum, vodka, or cognac.  Aunt Liny and I decided to get wild… she selected Hennessy Cognac Custard and I selected the Manuka Honey Vodka Jelly.  The verdict?  We were obsessed with the concept of this injectable donut idea, but agreed it needed to be fine tuned.  We wished the donuts were smaller – like donut holes.  These were the size of our fists!  We also thought the donuts were a little too dense.  With that said, it was really fun and I’d definitely go back to try the other flavors.  Haha.

Hawke’s Bay Wineries

Aunt Liny and Uncle Terry are part of an exclusive wine club.  They extended an invitation for us to join them on a winery tour in Hawke’s Bay.  It included a tour of two wineries as well as a beautiful lunch at the second winery.

Te Mata Estate Winery

Craggy Range Winery

As you can see, Napier is amazing!  I’ll be recapping our stay in Auckland, New Zealand next week.  Can’t wait to share.

XO, Lauren