We loved the motel room we stayed at in Napier. Great location right next to the beach and close to all the main attractions. The room itself was large with two rooms, bathroom, kitchen, and a spacious living area for Aiden to run around in. First stop in Napier was the National Aquarium where Aiden saw sharks, stingrays, alligators, and even piranhas. We were fortunate to witness a feeding session of the fish which Aiden enjoyed. Afterwards, we took Aiden took a playground where he used the slides and other equipment for about an hour. We went home and while Sona was putting him to bed, I went and got some Turkish food for us. We ate and after his nap went out to Te Mata Peak which offered spectacular views of the Napier/Hasting/Havelock North areas. Since it was still quite early, we decided to walk around downtown Napier and took in the art deco architecture and then went up to another lookout point called Bluff View. That evening, we decided to make it a Dominos night and took away pizza and ate in the room.
The next morning we left after checking out around 9 to a couple of wineries. Before some wine tastings though, we went to a cafe called Mister D for some breakfast. The first one was in Napier called Middle Estate Winery where we enjoyed the Lake Harvest wine which tasted like ICEWINE. The grounds of the winery were well maintained and we some took some fabulous pictures of the property. Aiden was in a modeling mood and I got some good shots of him as well. The next winery was in Hastings called Vidal. We went through the same amount of wine bottles but nice surprise afterwards when he didn’t charge us. All in all, a great time in Napier and headed now to Taupo!