We have a real treat in store today as we visit two recently completed pieces of major public construction in Hastings and then visit the subject of a recent episode of ‘Country Calendar’ (2024, Episode 15).
The Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts & Event Centre, to use its full name, is the recently completed major renovation of what was formally the Hastings Opera House and the Municipal Building next door. Not only has the area around the main auditorium and other performance spaces been upgraded, but the service alleys and backrooms have been linked up and re-configured to create new spaces welcoming new tenants. Our guided behind-the-scenes tour will take us backstage in the main Opera House auditorium and through into the new laneways and old council meeting rooms and the grand Assembly Room of the Municipal Building as well, concluding with a cuppa from Long Island Deli. From here we head just one block over to the new Waiaroha Water Discovery Centre. Here we’ll have a guided tour of the centre which tells the story of Hawke’s Bay’s water use ‘From the Mountains to the Sea’.
After lunch, with thoughts of our natural resources front of mind, we leave Hastings and head out into the Tukituki Valley to Matangi Station where Jamie Gaddum and his wife Nicky are breeding and finishing Angus cattle and bringing a new approach to how the farm is run. They market the meat from their operation themselves as Matangi Angus Beef and have their own butchers, a shop in Hastings and offer online purchasing as well. We’ll learn about what’s different about this farm before taking a look at the actual butcher shop as well.
This is a superb day experiencing some of what’s going on in our own backyard.