Middle NZ: Sun shines down on Hawke's Bay after Napier floods

Sculpture 'No Bull' by Philipp Meier, at the Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition, at Round Pond Garden in Hastings. There were surprises around every corner. Photo / Warren Buckland

What a stunner of a weekend. I bet the people affected by the floods were happy to feel the heat the sun threw down on us.

It was so nice to see the children from Henry Hill school on television on Monday evening smiling and so happy to be back in class.

The school was hit hard by the flooding but as principal Jason Williams said on television on Monday night "we had hundreds of people on site on Thursday and Friday" working hard to get the school back up and running.

The school in not back to full capacity, using their main hall as classroom space but thanks to a huge community effort they are open.

Children have already missed a lot of school this year and been through an unsettling and anxious time to say the least. So well done to all those people who put in the hard work and managed to get the kids back to school within a week.

It was a busy weekend in Hawke's Bay for not only all the volunteers who turned out to help flood victims clean up but for the organisers of some big events.

We have all given up a lot to be at the point we are with Covid and supporting our local businesses, artists, musicians and theatres is so important.

With that in mind (and a bit of wine on my mind) Mr Neat and I headed to the F.A.W.C! Hawke's Bay Wine Car Boot Party at the showgrounds on Friday evening.

There we found 40 local wineries showcasing the best of their delicious varieties. Off course we couldn't possibly taste them all — so we decided to try ones we hadn't come across before.

I really didn't realise how many outstanding wineries we have on our doorstep. There were the big names most of us are familiar with and then the smaller boutique wines such as 39 Below, Alchemy Wines and Hopes Grove to name a few.

All of them passionate about their delicious wines.

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

It was a really nice couple of hours wandering around, chatting with the winemakers and other people obviously enjoying themselves. Very casual but it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into organising it, so well done Hawke's Bay Tourism.

On Saturday it was off to the Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition with the schoolgirls, one of them with two grandchildren in tow.

Although this is the seventh year this event has been held, it's my first visit. I was blown away. What a spectacular place Round Pond Garden is. The design, the flowers, the hedges, — it is just stunning. To make it even more stunning were the incredible sculptures and artworks dotted throughout.

Each one was numbered so we could look it up in a booklet we were given on entry. The information also gave us the price — school friend Nana spent a lot of time saying "Don't touch that".

The event is a fundraising for Cranford Hospice so it was great to see hundreds of people supporting it. The place was packed.

Another extremely well planned event .

Tomorrow night I'm off to Footrot Flats, by Theatre Hawke's Bay at the Playhouse Theatre.

I'm really looking forward to it, should be lots of fun and a chance to 'get in behind' and support community theatre. Might need a rest this weekend.

Linda Hall is Hawke's Bay Today assistant editor.