Hawke's Bay Today

‘It was a huge event’

AKiwi volunteer firefighter has been awarded a golden axe by the mayor of a US city for his work fighting a wildfire the size of the region he’s from. In August, Hawke’s Bay rural volunteer firefighter Robert Sheely was one of 43 Fire and Emergency...

‘Like sardines in a tin’

Residents in a Hastings neighbourhood have been fighting Hastings District Council and Kāinga Ora for three years over a 15-home development they say will squeeze homes on to the site “like sardines in a tin”. Group spokeswoman Lee Russell said...

Magpies tweak Battle lineup

The Magpies will have five starting line-up changes for today’s MacraeShelford Bay Cup Battle of the Bays NPC rugby match in Tauranga. Among those missing from the 23 are prop Joe Apikotoa and wing Neria Fomai, who both started in last Sunday’s loss...

Rodeo era ends

The Upper Mōhaka Rodeo Club has taken its final ride after 45 years of “great crowds, great horses, tough bulls and some absolute chaos”. Club president Simon Tahau said the decision had been taken out of its hands because the Mōhaka Domain, where the...

Shepherd’s epic commute to chase rugby dream

when Kate Donald goes to training for the Hawke’s Bay Tui women’s rugby team, she first drives two hours to Hastings. That’s because Donald is a head shepherd and lives on Tautane Station near Herbertville in the Tararua district. On weekends, the...

300km ride for Te Tiriti

After five days on horseback from Hawke’s Bay to Parliament, iwi leader Bayden Barber says the timing could not have been better to deliver a petition calling on the Government to halt policies opponents say diminish Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Ngāti...

Shank, drugs, knuckle dusters

An imitation firearm, fireworks, a throwing star, bongs, P pipes, drugs and knives have been stopped from entering Hawke’s Bay courtrooms over the past two years. Ministry of Justice national security operations director Peter Cowan said weapon finds...

74 steps to home

When Connor Havill was discharged from hospital following a nasty ankle break, a big challenge awaited him. Or, more specifically, 74 challenges. The 13-year-old lives on Napier’s Bluff Hill and access between the street and his house is via 74...

Employer fined after tree-felling fatality

Aman has been fined after a tree-felling accident near Dannevirke resulted in the death of Tejay Alan Debenham. Trevor Beale was prosecuted by WorkSafe New Zealand after Debenham, his employee, died while felling trees at a rural property on Weber Rd...

‘Difficult decision’

Prestigious Hawke’s Bay winery Sileni will close at the end of this year after almost three decades. Sileni was established in 1997 by Sir Graeme Avery. The winery has been based in a stunning building and property near Hastings since 1999, in the...

CANE, BUT ABLE

For more than two decades, 80-year-old community patroller Richard Sanko has helped keep the streets of Havelock North and Hastings safe. His dedication to the volunteer role was recently recognised with a 20-year-plus plaque for service with Community...

Sports park plans 8.5ha expansion

Parking, traffic flow, and improving the visitor experience are among the top priorities as Hawke’s Bay’s premier sporting venue looks to expand. Plans are under way to add 8.5ha to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park — now known as Mitre 10 Park —...

Arvida announces $230m retirement village plan

Another large retirement village has been announced for Havelock North as part of a $230 million project. Arvida has plans to build its second retirement village in Hawke’s Bay, less than 2km from its existing Mary Doyle retirement village in Havelock...

Waikaremoana settlement: Crown apology, Tuai renamed

Aero club warns planes could spook racehorses

Anearly 100-year-old aero club near a proposed $77 million racecourse in Flaxmere is concerned about the potential for conflict if its low-flying planes spook racehorses. Hawke’s Bay Racing is asking the Hastings District Council to rezone about 45ha...

Napier Port rolls out $20m self-drive fleet

Napier Port’s self-driving truck fleet has started to arrive and will be phased into operation later this year, marking a first for New Zealand ports. The port is investing more than $20 million to introduce 12 autonomous truck and trailer units at...

MAGPIES’ BIGGEST CROWD IN 3 YEARS?

The biggest McLean Park NPC rugby crowd in three years is a possibility as the Magpies play Otago on Friday night, going for a Hawke’s Bay NPC record sixth consecutive win. Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union commercial manager Dan Somerville says the union has...

Plan for multi-storey acute services building

Anew multi-storey building for acute services is planned at Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings. Health New Zealand’s head of delivery infrastructure and investment group Simon Trotter said it was progressing the hospital’s redevelopment as part of the...

‘Pretty horrendous’

Ten fatal crashes in Central Hawke’s Bay in 18 months have prompted a police crackdown on the main highway through the district. Central Hawke’s Bay officer in charge Sergeant Neil Baker said the six-month “Get Thru on 2” campaign would focus on the...

MMA club’s search for the next ‘Israel Adesanya’

Ceasar MMA in Hastings is celebrating its fifth anniversary by offering a free two-year scholarship to a promising fighter, in a bid to unearth “another Israel Adesanya”. Club founder and trainer Pane Haraki is rapt to see the club turn five. It...

Japan-bound

Devan Flanders was in white-hot form before signing a three-year deal with Japan’s Urayasu D-Rocks — a move that potentially cost him an All Blacks call-up. The 27-year-old Hurricanes and Magpies barnstorming loosie talks to Hawke’s Bay Today deputy...

‘Nobody expected that’

Hawke’s Bay’s sizeable and heartbroken Nepalese community is rallying to support the victims of an avalanche of ice and rock that triggered a deadly flash flood of scarcely believable magnitude. Nepalese Society Hawke’s Bay president Shankar Gc said...

Supermarket site sale opens door for housing

Woolworths has decided to sell a prime piece of land between Hastings and Havelock North once slated for a new supermarket. It says the property is now “surplus to our requirements” and for sale. In 2019, it was announced Woolworths (trading as...

Govt loaned local apple grower $13m . . .

A Hawke’s Bay apple grower loaned $13 million by the Government to get back on its feet after Cyclone Gabrielle is now in receivership and unlikely to repay the loan. South Pacific Growers is owned by Robert Sykes and entered receivership in...

Daughter’s recordings unmask her father’s crimes

PM’s public Napier meeting

An accuser of a high-profile former CEO has quizzed the Prime Minister about what his party would do about sexual harm to women in New Zealand. After feeling the heat from protesters in Christchurch on Wednesday evening, Christopher Luxon walked into...

County Hotel bookings axed amid receivership

Five-star Napier lodging The County Hotel has cancelled customers’ room bookings amid a receivership process at the venue. One customer was informed on Wednesday that he would not be refunded for his two-night booking at the end of August, which cost...

Fear ‘high-functioning addict’ will kill again

The family of a man who died in a high-speed road crash believe the driver who killed him is a “high-functioning addict” who may do it again now he has been released from prison. Marco Milliaccio, 45, died in the crash near Havelock North on July 4,...

ILLNESS STRIKES

Aspike in influenza and whooping cough is hitting the Hawke’s Bay region hard, with presentations at Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s emergency department rising and schools facing a wave of illness. One Hawke’s Bay school, The Terrace School in Waipukurau,...

Carjacking ends with police spikes

Aman has been caught by police on a Hawke’s Bay highway after allegedly carjacking a work ute by dragging the employee from the vehicle. The man’s arrest was the culmination of a police operation that spanned about 94km over two regions and ended with...

Hawke’s Bay worst at children’s dental care

Hawke’s Bay is the worst in New Zealand at providing timely dental care for children, with more than half of the region’s children still overdue to see the dentist. Kerri Nuku and Lewis Ratapu, cochairs of Iwi-Māori Partnership Board for Hawke’s Bay...

THE YEARS AHEAD

A71-year-old Havelock North woman moves through her threebedroom house with the ease of someone who knows where everything belongs. Laura Bakker has lived on her own for the past 13 years, and every day she makes her breakfast and lunch, chooses her...

Rescue after steep 25m fall

Ahome gardener who fell 25m down a Napier Hill cliff-face was rescued after a resident on the road below heard cries for help and called emergency services. He escaped with cuts and bruises after the fall from an isolated Chaucer Rd North property,...

300-home housing bid clears fast-track hurdle

Alarge Havelock North subdivision proposal for more than 300 new homes could receive fast-track consent, despite Hastings District Council opposing large-scale housing on the land. Major developer CDL Land New Zealand has announced a “positive step”...

The day our water betrayed us

In the dark streets of Havelock North on the night of August 12, 2016, then - Hawke’s Bay Today photographer Paul Taylor took this photo of some serious-looking workers studying the mains supply and wondered what was happening. Over the next week, the...

High-rise threat to $110k solar system

ANapier family who spent $110,000 on a premium solar power system for their home have fears the sale of a $9 million Kāinga Ora residential property opposite them could cast a literal shadow over their investment. Lyndon Watson, who is the family...

Road project hits land snag at Waikare gorge

Land acquisition for a major roading upgrade in Hawke’s Bay has hit a hurdle, with the Crown unable to reach agreement with a landowner over the purchase of farmland for the project. The Crown has been trying to buy private land for the construction...

CAFE OWNERS SLAM ‘BRAZEN’ TIP-JAR THEFT

AHavelock North man who admitted stealing tip jars from several Hawke’s Bay hospitality venues says his offending was driven by a gambling addiction. Joshua Condliffe, 35, appeared in Hastings District Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to four theft...

Region’s drivers face new drug tests

Police in Hawke’s Bay say roughly 3% of drivers they’ve pulled over for roadside drug tests have tested positive for illicit drugs. Eastern road policing manager Angela Hallett said roadside drug tests started rolling out in June, with road policing...

Winter wonderland hits

Hawke’s Bay residents awoke to a winter wonderland in the region’s hills on Wednesday morning. Snow settled a few hundred metres above sea level, from Tararua to the Napier-Taupō Rd and, most notably, atop Te Mata Peak. Havelock North locals were up...

Pipes leak more than 15m litres of water daily

Leaky pipes in Napier and Hastings waste more than 15 million litres of water every day, a new report has found. The Network Environmental Performance Report for the 2024/25 financial year, produced by the Water Services Authority, Taumata Arowai,...

Tributes flow for visionary leader

When To’osavili Nigel Bickle was preparing to move to Hastings he gave a simple description of what public service should achieve. Quoting former Prime Minister Norman Kirk, Bickle said in his first media interview that people wanted “someone to love,...

Boardwalk disappears from popular track

Aboardwalk has quietly disappeared from a popular walking track in Napier, leaving locals “confused” and wet underfoot. The Ahuriri Estuary Walking Track is a popular Department of Conservation (DoC) managed loop track around Pandora Pond. It includes...

Food or teeth?

How should life look after retirement? For a growing number of Hawke’s Bay residents, life after 65 could still stretch another three decades. Those years can bring freedom, new hobbies, and fresh opportunities, but they can also come with financial...

Lawrence steps in after Nash resignation

New Zealand First’s new Napier candidate says she has “some sympathy” for Stuart Nash amid his rapid political downfall. Te Kira Lawrence, 41, a Napier city councillor, was announced as the new NZ First candidate for Napier on Thursday. Nash resigned...

Bay councils back unitary authority plan

Central Hawke’s Bay councillors have agreed to one unitary council – but they still want a local mayor or chair. Three of the regions’ four councils met on Thursday to discuss the next steps in the Government’s May ultimatum for councils to come up...