Portal:New Zealand/Selected article/Week 48, 2006

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hastings City is a city in Hawke's Bay, close to the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Less than 20 kilometres separates the centres of Hastings City and Napier, and as such the two often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities".

Hastings is the largest city in Hawke's Bay. Now the region's main centre of commerce, industry and trade, as shown by the ever-expanding skyline of multi-story office buildings in its centre, Hastings has grown rapidly with the help of the smart and tidy gridiron city planning system, crisscrossed by the railway line running north-south and the main east-west artery, Heretaunga Street, which also links the city with its suburban centres of Havelock North and Flaxmere.

Commonly referred to as the 'Fruit Bowl of New Zealand', the main industries are largely agricultural, with food processing plants and canneries being major local employers. Honey is also a well-known local product.