I am slowly learning how to pronounce Māori place names. Taupō, where we spent last night, I have been pronouncing Tow-po (rhymes with “how-so”). But the correct pronunciation is Toe-paw. Now you know.

Taupō Street Art

Taupō is a street art town. In fact, Graffiato: Taupō Street Art Festival was the first street art festival of its kind in New Zealand, and each year new murals are added. We explored on foot, and found lots of murals and several sculptures, but I’m sure there are many more. Here are just a few favourites.

by Bode Klein

by Gemeni (Gem Clough)

by BMD

by Yelz

by Dcypher (Guy Ellis)

by Charles & Janene Williams

As well as murals there are a number of sculptures, with more planned. It was rather chilly, and we would love to visit longer one day in a warmer season to explore more fully.

Waipunga Falls

We had a longish drive today from Taupō to Napier, but we made one stop along the way to see another magnificent waterfall. There’s no access path to the bottom of the falls, but we got a great view from a tiny car park at the side of the road of Waipunga Falls and also the nearby Waiarua Falls.

NAPIER

Napier is the Art Deco capital of New Zealand. The city was severely damaged during an earthquake in 1931, which killed 256 people, injured thousands and devastated the Hawke’s Bay region. It remains New Zealand’s deadliest natural disaster. Following the earthquake, the centre of Napier was rebuilt in the Art Deco style popular at the time. Much of that architecture has been preserved and the city celebrates that heritage. Even the street signs are in an art deco font.

And Napier has lots of street art too! The Sea Walls organisation is a worldwide public art program designed to bring attention to the plight of the world’s oceans, “using creativity to educate, inspire, and drive action for our ocean.”  This is a small selection of the many such murals in Napier.

“Maui’s Dolphins” by Kai Kaulukukui

“Penguin Paradise” by Celeste Byers

“Pania of the Reef” by James Bullough

“The Last Island” by Onur

Untitled by Ekundayo

“Sharkwater” by Freeman White

“Shark Love” by Noelle Anderson

Dining in Style

We ended our day having dinner at the Art Deco Masonic Hotel. The first Masonic Hotel opened on the present site in 1861 and was rebuilt a couple of times since then.  In the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake the Masonic Hotel was destroyed, mainly by the fire that followed rather than by the earthquake itself. What you see today is the new structure that was erected in 1932, although there was a major interior refurbishment in 2012 which embraced Art Deco.