Hawke's Bay: A taste of Italy and Spain in New Zealand

I'm only a couple of hours out of Wellington when I find the best pie I have eaten in months and the best op shop I've seen in years.

Anyone one who knows me will tell you, if you see me eating a pie while looking into an op shop, I am in a happy place.

The idea was to take a long weekend and drive up the North Island for a while. Te Matau-a-Māui/Hawke’s Bay is only a half day from Wellington - and I haven't been to Napier since I worked on the under-seen film The Pa Boys, back in 2013.

So here I am, with a steak and mushroom from The Woodville Bakery as good as any I've ever had. Standing next to The Viking's Haul, which for op shoppers and collectors, is pretty much paradise.

Owner Evan started this place in 2005, when he came to Woodville "to buy a suit of armour" - as you do - and found a space to rent. In 17 years, Evan has built a collection of Crown Lynn and Temuka, and shelves full of all the usual goodness you hope to find in a well run second hand store. Evan is a lovely bloke too. He's embraced the Scandinavian kaupapa of this area - Dannevirke and ​ are an axe-throw away - and made himself a part of the town.

But, Woodville, its Vikings and bakery are just a diversion. I'm heading for Napier.

I started out in rain and a Wellington winter day, which persisted as I drove through the Manawatū. But as we get to Te Matau-a-Māui/Hawke’s Bay, the sky clears and the hills give way to pasture and vineyards. After a great but very wet morning, I feel like I've landed in Italy.

Driving into Napier, I'd forgotten how beautiful this place is. The traffic has been calmed by wide footpaths, cycle paths and malls, leaving necessary service lanes with pedestrians prioritised. And I am loving it.

The Airbnb I've booked is a treat. I'm sure that all the Airbnb options around Napier are fantastic, but if you see a place called Mission Oak Cottage, it comes highly recommended. It's a ten-minute drive to the city centre, with trees, a garden and birdlife all around.

The next day, the weather is just too good to stay in the city - and I have never been this close to before.

Hygge - the cafe - is set just back from Clifton Beach. Clifton is where people depart for the eight-kilometre walk along the coast to get to the Cape. I don't have the time for that today, but after a quick thrash of the bike along the coastal bike paths that weave through the area like a braided river, I'm ready for coffee, a sandwich and couch near the fireplace. All of which Hygge - it roughly means 'warm and cosy' in Danish - provides perfectly.

The place is built inside a much extended farmhouse, but it has a genuine charm about it. The service is brilliant, the coffee is as tasty as any Wellingtonian could hope for and the feeling comes back to my fingers in no time.

Back in the city, the coast is really laying on a beautiful day. After weeks of rain in Wellington, these blue skies are a mockery. I walk along the oceanfront and streets, spending a few dollars at the famous Napier Antique & Jewellery Centre, which sprawls from cheerful second-hand bargains to genuine treasures - and then visit the world-famous Decorum Vintage, which has been outfitting the hard-working women and beautiful men who come to Napier's Art Deco festivals for years.

Decorum is across the road from Napier's MTG (Museum, Theatre, Gallery). It's late in the day by the time I arrive and I really only have time for the ground floor, which is devoted to a series on pre-European and early colonial history.

Napier markets itself so successfully on the 1930s Art Deco rebuild, that maybe the earlier history of this incredible area gets sidelined. MTG does a brilliant job of making some of that history more present.

Later that night, I'm kind of torn between finding a place to watch the game or maybe a perfect wee joint for food and drink that won't have a TV playing. I put $50 on Ireland and then spy a happy roomful of people through a glass door. It takes a minute to work out that the way into this wonderland is - no really - through a delicatessen and then past a friendly doorman, who has to ask whether there is room at the bar for one more.

Holy hell. . Within minutes I'm inhaling a perfect negroni and a plate of salami, fresh hot bread and olives. And figuring this is going to be a great night.

All I can tell you about Teresa is that it is one of the best bars I have sat at. The staff were brilliant, knowledgeable and fun to hang out with. A lengthy and hilarious discussion on the merits of pechuga mezcal leads to a tasting session I will never forget. While all around me, one of the happiest crowds I've seen for years are being served drinks and plates that would do any bar in the world proud.

Hopefully, come summer, that lane at the back of Teresa will become a genuine laneway or pedestrian mall. If that happens, Napier will be adding some serious Melbourne vibes to what it already has. Businesses like Teresa are rare. This place is worth the drive up from Wellington by itself.

And the Irish got home at $4.50 to one, so thanks Andy Farrell and team. You paid for dinner and drinks.

It's a happily slow start to Sunday. I'd shouted myself a stay at the famous Masonic Hotel the night before. In the morning the receptionist tells me I've been sleeping in the same room as the Queen and Prince Philip, back in 1954.

God knows I'm not much of a royalist, but sometimes you just have to laugh. And the room did have a brilliant view out over the Parade and the beach, so I hope Liz and Phil appreciated it as much as I did.

Taking a morning detour through Havelock North turns out to be a great idea, with the town turning on a beautiful day. I stumble across a deli and market called Bellatino's, which apparently is becoming quite famous.

All I can say is that the place had a fantastic vibe and that crucial second coffee of the day was maybe the best one of the entire long weekend.

And then, homewards. With only a quick stop at Ōtāne - population about 500 - for the Sunday market. Which yields a jar of the best pickled chillis I've ever eaten and recycled hardwood chopping board I figure I'm going to use for the rest of my life.

What an amazing weekend. It's been nearly three years since I last left New Zealand. But three days in Te Matau-a-Māui/Hawke’s Bay has felt like a taste of Italy or Spain, in the middle of a New Zealand winter. I'll be back.