# Roots Earth in Napier: audio stories about 40 places Canonical: https://rootsearth.com/cities/napier Published: 16 September 2026 Roots Earth has audio stories about 40 places in Napier, New Zealand, in Oceania. The Napier stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Napier, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people. The 40 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026. ## The 40 places in Napier with audio stories In the order the app shows them. 1. Art Deco Napier (City Centre) 2. Marine Parade 3. Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist 4. MTG Hawke's Bay (Museum Theatre Gallery) 5. Pania of the Reef Statue 6. Napier Prison 7. National Aquarium of New Zealand 8. Napier Hill (Bluff Hill) 9. 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake Memorial 10. National Tobacco Company Building 11. Daily Telegraph Building 12. Napier Municipal Theatre 13. Art Deco Centre / Napier Art Deco Trust 14. Emerson Street 15. Napier War Memorial 16. Sound Shell and Sunken Gardens 17. Tom Parker Fountain and Colonnade 18. Napier Port 19. Ahuriri and the Iron Pot 20. Hawke's Bay 21. Cape Kidnappers 22. Te Mata Peak 23. Mission Estate Winery 24. Napier Girls' High School 25. Napier Boys' High School 26. Hastings 27. Clive 28. Ahuriri West Quay (waterfront bars & cafes) 29. McLean Park 30. Westshore 31. Taradale 32. Greenmeadows 33. Onekawa 34. Pirimai 35. EIT Hawke's Bay (student quarter) 36. Napier Marine Parade Skate Park 37. Ocean Spa Marine Parade 38. Hukarere Girls' College 39. Waiohiki 40. Bluff Hill Lookout ## Is there an audio guide for Art Deco Napier (City Centre)? Yes. Art Deco Napier (City Centre) has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. It is place 1 of the 40 Napier places in the app, at -39.49028, 176.91778. Every one of the other 39 places in the list above has the same two stories. Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself. ## How to use Roots Earth in Napier Open Roots Earth and choose Napier. The city has its own map of places with all 40 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order. You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. --- **In full** All 40 places in Napier, in the app's order, with their coordinates. ## All 40 places in Napier, with coordinates Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print. ### 1. Art Deco Napier (City Centre) - Coordinates: -39.49028, 176.91778 - In one line: Napier's compact city centre is one of the world's most complete Art Deco townscapes, rebuilt through the 1930s after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake leveled it, its pastel facades alive with sunbursts and zigzags. ### 2. Marine Parade - Coordinates: -39.5, 176.91861 - In one line: Marine Parade is Napier's grand seafront boulevard, a 3-kilometre esplanade of towering Norfolk pines, gardens, fountains, and memorials, lined with the aquarium, the museum, the Sound Shell, and the bronze Pania of the Reef. ### 3. Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist - Coordinates: -39.4889, 176.917 - In one line: Waiapu Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist is Napier's Anglican mother church, a modern building completed in 1965 to replace the original destroyed in the 1931 earthquake, housing vivid stained glass and one of New Zealand's largest organs. ### 4. MTG Hawke's Bay (Museum Theatre Gallery) - Coordinates: -39.4887, 176.9189 - In one line: MTG Hawke's Bay combines museum, theatre, and gallery on Marine Parade, rooted in an 1865 institute and a 1936 Art Deco building, reopened in 2013, strong on the 1931 earthquake story and Ngati Kahungunu taonga. ### 5. Pania of the Reef Statue - Coordinates: -39.4935, 176.9189 - In one line: The bronze statue of Pania of the Reef, unveiled on Marine Parade in 1954, depicts the Māori sea-maiden of local legend. Often called Napier's Little Mermaid, it was famously stolen in 2005 and recovered weeks later. ### 6. Napier Prison - Coordinates: -39.4847, 176.9188 - In one line: Napier Prison, built in 1862 on Bluff Hill, is New Zealand's oldest prison complex. ### 7. National Aquarium of New Zealand - Coordinates: -39.5008, 176.9189 - In one line: The National Aquarium of New Zealand, a stingray-shaped landmark on Marine Parade, opened here in 1976 and was rebuilt in 2002. Its highlights include a 50-metre underwater tunnel, little penguins, kiwi, and tuatara. ### 8. Napier Hill (Bluff Hill) - Coordinates: -39.47975, 176.91053 - In one line: Napier Hill, known to Maori as Mataruahou and locally as Bluff Hill, is the limestone bluff where European settlement began in 1855. Steep streets, heritage villas and a harbour lookout crown the city's original heart. ### 9. 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake Memorial - Coordinates: -39.491, 176.917 - In one line: This memorial honours the 256 people killed when a magnitude 7. 8 earthquake struck Hawke's Bay on 3 February 1931. New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster levelled Napier and Hastings, and from the ruins rose the Art Deco city seen today. ### 10. National Tobacco Company Building - Coordinates: -39.484, 176.915 - In one line: Completed in 1933 to designs by architect Louis Hay, this Ahuriri landmark fuses Art Deco geometry with Art Nouveau ornament. Roses, vine leaves and native raupo curl around its arched entrance, making it widely regarded as Napier's finest single building. ### 11. Daily Telegraph Building - Coordinates: -39.49, 176.9172 - In one line: Completed in May 1933 after a construction tender was awarded in November 1932, to designs by architect Ernest Arthur Williams, this Tennyson Street landmark is among Napier's most flamboyant Art Deco buildings. Zigzag bands, fluted columns, a ziggurat parapet and a carved sunburst mark the former home of the city's daily newspaper. ### 12. Napier Municipal Theatre - Coordinates: -39.4908, 176.9176 - In one line: Opened on 3 June 1938 to replace a theatre lost in the 1931 earthquake, this streamlined Art Deco auditorium remains a working stage. Behind its geometric foyer, around 1,150 seats fill a hall still hosting performances today. ### 13. Art Deco Centre / Napier Art Deco Trust - Coordinates: -39.4905, 176.9174 - In one line: Formed from a group founded in 1985 and legally incorporated in 1987, the Napier Art Deco Trust protects and celebrates the city's 1930s architecture. ### 14. Emerson Street - Coordinates: -39.4906, 176.9168 - In one line: Rebuilt between 1931 and 1933 after the earthquake, Emerson Street is the retail heart of Art Deco Napier. Its unified shopfronts, shaded verandahs and decorative parapets form one of the world's most complete 1930s shopping streets. ### 15. Napier War Memorial - Coordinates: -39.495, 176.9187 - In one line: On Marine Parade, this seafront memorial honours the district's war dead with a wall of names and an eternal flame. Opened in 1957 and rededicated after later restoration, it sits among the boulevard's gardens and Norfolk pines. ### 16. Sound Shell and Sunken Gardens - Coordinates: -39.494, 176.9186 - In one line: Completed and ceremonially opened in December 1934 on land reclaimed after the 1931 earthquake, the curved white Sound Shell is an open-air Art Deco stage on Marine Parade. Ringed by a colonnade and flower-filled sunken gardens, it remains a venue for concerts and the city's Art Deco festival. ### 17. Tom Parker Fountain and Colonnade - Coordinates: -39.4965, 176.9187 - In one line: Opened in 1936 and gifted by outfitter Tom Parker, this illuminated fountain throws coloured jets of water into the night air on Marine Parade. Designed by architect J T Watson and set beside an Art Deco colonnade, it remains a glowing seafront landmark after dark. ### 18. Napier Port - Coordinates: -39.4748, 176.9191 - In one line: Hawke's Bay's main export harbour sits beneath Bluff Hill, where a public poll in 1885 chose to move the port from Ahuriri. The breakwater harbour was completed in 1886, and today the wharves ship the region's apples, timber, wool, meat and wine to the world. ### 19. Ahuriri and the Iron Pot - Coordinates: -39.48146, 176.89796 - In one line: Napier's original port, Ahuriri grew around the Iron Pot, a small inner basin named for the whalers' trypot once used to render oil here. The 1931 earthquake lifted the seabed, and the old quays now host heritage buildings, bars and boats. ### 20. Hawke's Bay - Coordinates: -39.41667, 176.81667 - In one line: Named by Captain James Cook in 1769, Hawke's Bay sweeps along New Zealand's east coast from Mahia Peninsula to Cape Kidnappers. Its sunny Heretaunga Plains make it a leading wine and fruit-growing region, with Napier and Hastings as its main towns. ### 21. Cape Kidnappers - Coordinates: -39.6447, 177.0932 - In one line: This dramatic headland south of Napier was named by James Cook in 1769 after Maori tried to seize a Tahitian boy from his crew. Its towering cliffs hold the largest and most accessible mainland gannet colony in the world. ### 22. Te Mata Peak - Coordinates: -39.70139, 176.90917 - In one line: Te Mata Peak rises 399 metres above the Heretaunga Plains south of Hastings, its sheer cliffs and ridgeline tied to the Ngāti Kahungunu ancestor Rongokako. ### 23. Mission Estate Winery - Coordinates: -39.526, 176.86159 - In one line: Founded in 1851 by French Marist missionaries, Mission Estate at Taradale is New Zealand's oldest surviving winemaker. Its centrepiece, the 1880 seminary La Grande Maison, was famously sawn apart and moved 5 kilometres to this hillside in 1911. ### 24. Napier Girls' High School - Coordinates: -39.4857, 176.9145 - In one line: Opened on 29 January 1884 on Clyde Road, Napier Girls' High School began with 39 pupils under Mary Hewett. Its original building was so severely damaged in the 1931 earthquake that it had to be demolished. ### 25. Napier Boys' High School - Coordinates: -39.5145, 176.9138 - In one line: Founded in 1872, Napier Boys' High School is among New Zealand's oldest schools. It moved from Bluff Hill to its 30-hectare Te Awa campus in 1927, rebuilt in Art Deco style after the 1931 earthquake, and counts Xero founder Rod Drury among its alumni. ### 26. Hastings - Coordinates: -39.64167, 176.84444 - In one line: Hastings, 18 kilometres south of Napier on the fertile Heretaunga Plains, was levelled by the 1931 earthquake and rebuilt in Art Deco and Spanish Mission style. Surrounded by orchards and vineyards, it is one of New Zealand's great food-producing centres. ### 27. Clive - Coordinates: -39.58333, 176.91667 - In one line: Clive sits roughly halfway between Napier and Hastings, beside Te Awa o Mokotuararo, once the Clive River. Named after Robert Clive of India, this small Hawke's Bay town of around 2,000 people has hosted a rowing regatta since 1872. ### 28. Ahuriri West Quay (waterfront bars & cafes) - Coordinates: -39.482, 176.899 - In one line: West Quay lines the old inner harbour at Ahuriri, Napier's original port until the 1931 earthquake raised the seabed. Today its heritage warehouses house bars, cafes and restaurants, making the waterfront a favourite spot for an evening drink by the water. ### 29. McLean Park - Coordinates: -39.50194, 176.91278 - In one line: McLean Park is Napier's main sports ground, a 19,700-seat arena on Latham Street hosting cricket Tests and rugby since 1911. Donated by the McLean family, it remains the beating heart of Hawke's Bay summer sport. ### 30. Westshore - Coordinates: -39.4778, 176.8823 - In one line: Westshore is a seaside suburb on Napier's northern shore, its safe sandy beach created when the 1931 earthquake lifted the coast. Once a sandspit resort, it remains one of the city's most loved swimming spots beside Hawke Bay. ### 31. Taradale - Coordinates: -39.53333, 176.85 - In one line: Taradale is a leafy suburb southwest of Napier, recognised as a town in 1886 and merged into the city in 1968. Its Gloucester Street village of cafes and shops, war memorial clock tower and garden streets give it a distinct, settled identity. ### 32. Greenmeadows - Coordinates: -39.526, 176.86159 - In one line: Greenmeadows is a settled Napier suburb near Taradale, named for its native danthonia grasses and once an 1857 sheep run. Home to historic schools and the former Anderson Park racecourse, it blends garden streets with deep local roots. ### 33. Onekawa - Coordinates: -39.5084, 176.8902 - In one line: Onekawa is a Napier suburb raised from the Ahuriri Lagoon by the 1931 earthquake, its name meaning salty soil. Developed from the late 1940s, it mixes the Pandora industrial zone, Pandora Pond's watersports and a young, diverse community. ### 34. Pirimai - Coordinates: -39.51319, 176.88317 - In one line: Pirimai is a compact Napier suburb whose housing began in 1961, built on flats once part of the old lagoon. With its park, young families and tidy residential streets, it embodies the city's postwar suburban growth. ### 35. EIT Hawke's Bay (student quarter) - Coordinates: -39.5468, 176.8385 - In one line: EIT Hawke's Bay is the region's main tertiary campus in Taradale, founded in 1975 as Hawke's Bay Community College. Set on 28 hectares of donated land, it teaches viticulture, wine science, nursing and trades, bringing student life to suburban Napier. ### 36. Napier Marine Parade Skate Park - Coordinates: -39.4975, 176.9187 - In one line: Its sunken bowls overlook Hawke Bay, with one carved from a former aquarium tank, drawing skaters, scooters, and BMX riders. ### 37. Ocean Spa Marine Parade - Coordinates: -39.496, 176.919 - In one line: An open-air heated pool complex on Napier's Marine Parade, opened in 2003 on the site of seawater baths dating to 1908. ### 38. Hukarere Girls' College - Coordinates: -39.6678, 176.8794 - In one line: A historic Anglican boarding school for Maori girls, founded in Napier in July 1875 by Bishop William Williams and Samuel Williams. Though now based near Havelock North, it took its name from a hillside above the city and remains a cornerstone of Maori education. ### 39. Waiohiki - Coordinates: -39.5625, 176.81667 - In one line: A rural Maori community near Taradale, set between the Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri Rivers. Its marae is the meeting place of the Ngati Paarau hapu of Ngati Kahungunu, a carved meeting house at the heart of a settlement known for its riverside golf course. ### 40. Bluff Hill Lookout - Coordinates: -39.478, 176.92 - In one line: A clifftop viewpoint atop Bluff Hill, roughly 100 metres above Napier's port. It commands sweeping views across Hawke Bay toward Cape Kidnappers and the Mahia Peninsula, on a limestone outcrop once surrounded by sea before the 1931 earthquake reshaped the coast. ## Roots Earth in short Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people. - No account - Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection - Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app). ## More from Roots Earth - [Oceania in the Roots Earth catalogue](https://rootsearth.com/cities#oceania): every city in Oceania with its number of places and its languages. - [What Roots Earth is](https://rootsearth.com/app): the app in one page, how it works and what is in it. - [Questions travellers ask](https://rootsearth.com/faq): the cities, the languages, the account, listening without a connection. - [The 7 languages](https://rootsearth.com/languages): the seven languages with their codes and how many cities each one covers. - [Auckland](https://rootsearth.com/cities/auckland): 46 places in New Zealand with audio stories. - [Christchurch](https://rootsearth.com/cities/christchurch): 42 places in New Zealand with audio stories. - [Dunedin](https://rootsearth.com/cities/dunedin): 40 places in New Zealand with audio stories. - [Wellington](https://rootsearth.com/cities/wellington): 44 places in New Zealand with audio stories. 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