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Ray White Hawke's Bay

NAPIER CITY AND SURROUNDING SUBURBS

Clean and bright as a newly-minted coin, Napier luxuriates in a Mediterranean-like climate and a coastal location.

That makes this sunny city popular with holidaymakers, but locals too make the most of the seaside setting.  Sailing and fishing are draw card sports, and the beachfront has developed into the Kiwi equivalent of an English "village green" with gardens, walk and cycle-ways, a skating rink and children's playground, a pool and spa complex,  a conference centre and a aquarium.

Napier is famed for its cafe culture and for its Art Deco quarter.  The historic architecture is the legacy of the 1931 Napier Earthquake which devastated the town centre and claimed many lives.  Unbowed by disaster, the residents rebuilt, drawing on architectural styles in vogue in the 'thirties'.  Their vision is honoured every year at Art Deco Weekend, one of many Hawke's Bay showcase events celebrated by visitors and locals alike.

Napier's footprint is like an arrowhead, with the tip end a limestone hill nudging into the otherwise perfectly semi-circular sweep of the bay - the legendary hook of Mauri.  Suburbs fan out along the coast on either side of Bluff Hill and extend, like the shank of the arrowhead, inland.

On the education front, the city provides a good range of schools, and takes in EIT Hawke's Bay, a tertiary institution offering degree, diploma and certificate courses.  Excellent sports facilities include McLean Park, the region's major stadium for top class rugby and cricket, and the Pettigrew-Green Arena for indoor sports.

A bustling port is the barometer of a thriving regional economy based on orcharding, forestry, the wine industry, and sheep and cattle farming.  During the summer months from October through to March, the port also caters for many cruise ships bringing tourists to the region to see our lovely city and surrounds.  The original port is now a haven for fishing and recreational boats.  In recent years, the fringes of the inner harbour area have been targeted for apartment developments, bars and eateries.

Napier people take great pride in their city.  It is not uncommon to hear the claim that there's no better place in New Zealand to raise a family.