Hastings, New Zealand
Fruit Bowl Flatlands
"Where the apples outnumber the people, and possibly the opinions"
Official Coat of Arms
A shield quartered with apple boughs heavy with fruit, a stylised Art Deco facade nobody photographs because it's not Napier, a roundabout at the Karamu Road intersection, and a banner beneath reading 'Quietly Doing The Actual Farming' in Latin nobody asked for.
TripAdvisor Review
★★★☆☆ 3/5
"Visited during Blossom Festival and the orchards were genuinely stunning, but then I spent three days trying to find anything open past 6pm in the CBD. The Art Deco buildings are lovely to look at, ironically the same style Napier gets all the tourist credit for. Great cider, terrible nightlife, and everyone kept telling me to just 'pop over to Napier' which felt pointed."— Craig Pemberton-Hale, Auckland
Property Listing
Imagine waking up every morning surrounded by the fragrant bloom of stone fruit orchards, mere minutes from a charming Art Deco streetscape that tourists will occasionally wander into by mistake en route to Napier! This flat, fertile slice of Hawke's Bay offers unbeatable value, superb produce, and the quiet dignity of being the other twin city.
Twinned With
Napier — Forced into permanent sibling rivalry by sharing a metro area, an earthquake history, and an Art Deco aesthetic that everyone credits to the other one.
Supporting Evidence
Hastings produces a huge share of New Zealand's apples and pears, while neighbouring Napier gets almost all the tourist attention for the shared Art Deco heritage both cities actually possess.