Where We Have Been - NZ - Hawkes Bay Region

The Hawke’s Bay Region is one of New Zealand’s key wine regions—it’s actually New Zealand’s oldest, and is now recognised as a Great Wine Capital of the world.

It’s another remote part of New Zealand, with only a few road routes that really let you get in and out.

In our view there’s better scenery elsewhere in New Zealand, and not a lot that pulls you into northern Hawke’s Bay. If Gisborne is your goal there are better routes to get there without chewing up quite so much time and patience.

You may be tempted to undertake an expedition into northern Hawke’s Bay to visit the Māhia Peninsula—home to Rocket Lab, one of those brilliant New Zealand success stories—and try to get a look at the launch site.

Honestly, don’t bother. The Māhia Launch Complex sits well away from the road and is tucked out of sight behind the hills. We know… because we tried. Still, there’s something quietly cool about driving through that part of the country knowing that, just over there, little old New Zealand is sending rockets into space from the middle of nowhere.

The drive from Taupō to Napier on the Napier Taupo Highway, SH5, is one of those roads where the landscape keeps changing on you. You leave the Central Plateau and cut through long stretches of forestry and open country, then you start that proper drop off the plateau toward Hawke’s Bay—winding down through the valley country toward the coast. And yes, that “dropping off the Central Plateau” description is spot on. What really hit home for us was seeing how hard some of those valleys were hammered by Cyclone Gabrielle—parts of the wider Esk Valley/SH5 corridor were overtopped by floodwaters meres deep and left with huge damage and debris, enough to close and disrupt the highway for weeks and peoples lives for much longer.

Napier and Hastings are often called the “twin cities” of Hawke’s Bay. They’re close neighbours (about 18km apart) and, in many ways, they function as one urban area—though they’ve each got their own personality: Napier with its coastal, Art Deco charm, and Hastings with more of an inland, orchard-and-vineyard heart.

Napier (and much of Hawke’s Bay) was badly hit by the 1931 earthquake (magnitude 7.9). More than 250 people lost their lives, many others suffered major loss and disruption, and around 40 square kilometres of seabed was lifted into dry land. When central Napier was rebuilt, it was done in the style of the time—Art Deco—and that’s what gives the city its distinctive look today. Napier leans into this heritage with the Art Deco Festival (usually in February). Carolyn has been along, dressed up for the occasion, and enjoyed the vintage car parades and events that make it feel like a full-on celebration of the 1930s.

Add Marine Parade, the long waterfront (rightly named), and you’ll also find the National Aquarium of New Zealand, the Sound Shell, and the statue of Pania of the Reef—all easy stops that make a simple wander along the seafront feel like time well spent.

We spent a very enjoyable special wedding anniversary there—January 1, so New Year’s as well—staying at the County Hotel with its old-school charm. Part of what makes it feel special is the building itself: it was originally constructed in 1909 for the Hawke’s Bay County Council, and it’s noted as the only Victorian–Edwardian classical-style building in Napier to have survived the 1931 earthquake. These days it’s been carefully refurbished as a boutique hotel, so you still get that sense of history, but with the comfort you actually want when you’re celebrating something special.

We wouldn’t be doing the region justice if we didn’t mention the wineries (Hawke’s Bay is best known for Syrah and Bordeaux-style reds (especially Merlot/Cabernet blends), and it’s also highly regarded for Chardonnay), craft breweries, and the many cycle/walking/running trails—which also make it easy to connect a few stops if you haven’t got a non-drinker driver along to chaperone you, actually maybe not a good idea. (A few of those trails have even featured in Carolyn’s half-marathon excursions to various NZ locations.)

We’ve got plenty of good memories of lazy, kick-back afternoons with great food, wine (Carolyn), and beer (David… and Carolyn). There are too many places to name them all, but a few deserve a mention: Mission Estate, the Catholic Marist missionaries who introduced viticulture to the Hawke’s Bay in the 1850’s and their concerts (not that we’ve managed to get to one yet); Craggy Range, tucked beneath Te Mata Peak and worth a visit in its own right; Hawke’s Bay Brewing Company, one of the first independent breweries we ever visited and one that still makes us smile; GodsOwn Brewery, where you’re sitting at cable drums in their taproom which is basically a paddock, with music playing, pizzas coming out of an old caravan, and some really nice brews—exactly the kind of brew bar we enjoy more than the spit-and-polish of the high-end ones.

Closing Thought: Hawke’s Bay is another region you need to make a conscious effort to visit—it’s not really on the way to anywhere unless you choose it. If good wine and food are your thing, it’s absolutely worth it, especially if you can time it to line up with the Art Deco Festival or a concert at Mission Estate. Otherwise, like a few of the more “out on a limb” regions, the extra travel time can make it harder to justify unless you’ve got plenty of days up your sleeve.