Thirteen things about the place where I live

http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/about_hb/image_gallery/image_gallery.htm this site gives the viewer a bunch of photos to look at

1 The Hawkes Bay is New Zealand's main food and wine area. In fact we have grown and produced wine here longer than any other place in New Zealand. We have won adwards for our red wines. Much fresh local produce is grown here.

2 We have over 2200 hours of sunshine a year. We have long hot summers and clear blue skies in the middle of winter - good for the washing. The rainfall and humidity are low. We have the second highest sunshine hours and the lowest rainfall in the North Island.

3 Much of the architecture is Art Deco in design - and a lot of the area has been rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake.

4 The National Aquarium of New Zealand is within our region and is well worth a visit

5 We have a regional daily newspaper

6 We have a tertiary education institution where one can study

7 Our population is 151,000 approx which is made up predominantly of 80% Europeans

8 Within our region is the world's largest most accessible mainland Gannet Colony

9 The Bay has all sorts of tourist attractions available from visiting vineyards, art galleries or playing golf to water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, parasailing, hot air ballooning, caving, mountain biking.

10 We have a hospital and an airport

11 Hawke’s Bay is home to the longest place name in the world: ‘Taumata whakatangi hangakoauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu’. In English it means: ‘The hilltop, where Tamatea with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau (a type of flute) to his beloved’.

12 History of the area
In about the 9th century, Maori settled here in the Hawke’s Bay. Captain Cook and his crew were probably the first Europeans to see Hawke's Bay in October 1769. The area was named by Cook after Sir Edward Hawke, First Lord of the Admiralty (the court which oversaw all maritime cases). 30 years later whalers and flax traders arrived as well as a few Europeans. The first permanent resident was Austrian naturalist Frederick Sturm. In June 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi arrived in Hawke’s Bay for signing. In 1844 missionary, botanist, printer and politician William Colenso, arrived to establish his mission station. One of the high schools within our area is named after him. In 1851, French Catholic missionaries arrived, bringing with them the first vines to plant for their communion wine.I wonder what they would think that this probably lead to the fact that the Hawkes Bay is now the wine country of New Zealand.
Farming started in 1848/49 when 2 farmers leased 50,000 acres of land for 3,000 sheep. In 1851 the Government appointed Donald McLean as Land Commissioner to prevent uncontrolled purchasing and leasing of Maori land. By the 1870s, impressive homesteads were being built by pastoralists. Meanwhile, the bulk of new settlers, more working class in origin, were arriving in greater numbers, sometimes taking jobs on sheep-stations and more often settling in the towns which were being established.
Railway construction began in 1872. Cars arrived in the Bay about 1912.
In Napier and Hastings, the Councils were building amenities including swimming baths, theatres, parks, electric lighting systems.
The Great 1931 Earthquake
In 1931, New Zealand’s greatest natural disaster struck Hawke’s Bay. At 10.47am on Tuesday February 3rd, an earthquake of magnitude Richter 7.8 struck. In a minute and a half, in two separate shocks, the centre of Napier was almost totally destroyed. Fires quickly broke out and reduced to ashes or gutted what the tremors had left standing. Damage in Hastings was also devastating, although the fires were contained. There were 258 deaths – 162 in Napier, 93 in Hastings and 3 in Wairoa along with many injuries.
The reconstruction of Napier and Hastings were costly but the benefit was two modern cities.
In 1934 James Wattie started a small cannery, which was to grow into a giant. Tins of Watties food can now be found in most New Zealand kitchens.
A period of great population growth followed the Second World War. The Hawkes Bay has truely made a name for itself within New Zealand.

13 This is where I live and I love it :)

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