Urban Art Association

Napier is "arty", not sure if there is art to buy though... and won't be "street art"... more house art, very pretty too... bit of a trek though.

My mate just got back from NZ he said the best thing he did was to take a 'copter ride.

head down to Wellington or Christchurch..
8+)

Been thinking, but you are probably out and about already... if you get the time (or have the time to spare) then the TransNZ railway down to Wellington (takes a whole day each way) is defintely worth doing, very cheap and you get to see a whole load of scenery... it goes up a mountain in a spiral (which is kinda cool) and has a photo-deck at the back (where you can sneak a crafty fag, if you need to)... just remember to take a pic-nic with you... you'll only come across "pies" and the odd train station sandwich bar.

I did the trip in one hit after doing a "drive-back" car rental from Wellington to Auckland (only cost petrol and insurance, most of the car hire places do it - main drawback is you have to let them pick the car... I got some sort of Subaru station wagon, which was fairly suitable), but I am sure you can get a ticket that will let you do it over the course of a week or few days... so you can get out at Taupo or Rotarua (I'm really not sure if those are spelt right or even exist!) but its in the middle where the hot springs, big lake and death games are, North Island wise anyway.

I'll shut up in a minute... but if you should get down as far as Wellington and have a day or two to kill.. then you really should hop over to the South Island and go see the Whales in Kaikoura, half day each way on the train with a couple of hours on the ferry... it is an overnight trip there and back really, but frankly worth it for an hour long boat ride looking for a whale, because they will find you one.

Whatever you do, have fun.

thanks for the info. +1 to all when i could! but will be stuck in this town for a while. heard there's a gallery called Disruptive on K- street?

will be checking that out soon... and perhaps picked up a nice souvenir!

spent the whole of last night F5in' the ghettos... definitely not healthy... THE AIR HERE IS FABULOUS - you can almost taste it... sweetest smelling city i've been to.

+1 for your awesome taste in wine. Funnily enough I live in Australia and I was first introduced to it in when visiting Edinburgh.

K-Road is good for galleries, and boutiques, cheap food............ponsonby road is a bit posher.........you should check out some of the major art museums though............Colin McCahon, Dick Frizzell, Tony Fomisson, and Bill Hammond, are all current or recent New Zealand artists that readers of this forum would enjoy...............................oh yeah and Otis Frizzell is a graffitti artist.....................catch the ferry to devenport for a good day out, or piha, murawai, and kare kare beach........for some polynesian culture go to south auckland in the weekend for pacifica, tapa cloths etc..............................enjoy!