Featured
- National tourism strategy and HB
The Government has just issued its NZ Tourism Policy Statement. Interestingly, after bashing local councils mercilessly for the last year-plus for wanton spending… Read more: National tourism strategy and HB
Environment
- All-electric bus fleet for HB
Napier and Hastings will have an all-electric urban bus fleet starting in 2027. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has awarded New Zealand family-owned Tranzit Group a new nine-year contract to deliver the urban bus services that will support the 2027 Public Transport Network. Replacing Go Bus, the contract is expected to start on 1 August 2027,… Read more: All-electric bus fleet for HB - MPs Nimon and Wedd should be ashamed
Or at least acutely embarrassed. On Thursday, here’s how they defended to Hawke’s Bay Today their Government’s legislative assault on DoC conservation land: “Napier MP Katie Nimon said claims that the bill threatens beloved places of conservation and recreation like the Ahuriri Estuary or Boundary Stream were ‘wrong and blatant scaremongering’. ‘National parks, marine reserves and… Read more: MPs Nimon and Wedd should be ashamed - HB conservation land for sale?
The Government’s Conservation Amendment Bill, which passed its first reading in Parliement last month, would enable to sale of up to 60% of current conservation land and also allow more economic activity on land unavailable for sale. In Hawke’s Bay, the areas jeopardised include the Kawekas, Ruahines, Ahuriri Estuary, Maraetotara Falls, Otatara Pa, Boundary Stream.… Read more: HB conservation land for sale? - Ahuriri Regional Park grounded
Confronted by two rather fundamental obstacles to its grand vision, the Ahuriri Regional Park Joint Committee has decided the Park project must be reconsidered. And refocused on the initial objective driving the project — addressing the wastewater and runoff pollution of the estuary. Or as the Joint Committee’s media release put it more softly: “…unanimously… Read more: Ahuriri Regional Park grounded
Culture
- Italian Film Festival returns to HB
Tickets are on sale for the popular Italian Film Festival as it returns to Hawke’s Bay in July with a carefully curated season of 27 films for those craving a tour of Italy without having to leave the country this winter. In its eleventh year, the nation-wide festival is owned and organised by local film… Read more: Italian Film Festival returns to HB - Craggy Range wines earn global recognition
Three Craggy Range wines have earned top accolades at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the world’s largest and most rigorously judged wine competition. Now in its 23rd year, DWWA 2026 saw close to 17,000 wines from 57 countries blind-tasted by 245 of the world’s leading wine judges. The 2025 Te Muna, Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc… Read more: Craggy Range wines earn global recognition - Losing our cultural capital
[As published in May/June 2026 BayBuzz magazine.] In the most recent New Zealanders and The Arts report, following Cyclone Gabrielle, community members shared their views … “The recent weather event was a big disaster for Napier and Hastings, but the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival played a vital role in bringing the communities morale up.” “It… Read more: Losing our cultural capital - Pipi was our friend
[As published in May/June BayBuzz magazine.] Alex Tylee on twenty years of food, colour and the art of creating a beautiful world. There’s a thread running through Alex Tylee’s life … through the farm kitchen of her Hawke’s Bay childhood, the birth of Pipi in Sydney, through a little coffee shop in Greytown, then a… Read more: Pipi was our friend