NZ Posters: How is hawke's Bay to Live in?

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How does it compare with the rest of NZ in terms of climate, nature and scenery, what are the people there like? How is their economy doing? My sibling is moving there end of October, I was the one who encouraged the move as I believe living in another culture broadens your spectrum. How is the recreational fishing scene there?
Would love to get your opinions on the board here. Obviously, they will do their own research but it's nice to get people's opinions on the ground.

There is family in Whangarei, is that a better place than say Napier for example?

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Never lived there but
It's sunny and warm compared to most places in nz
It's brown (farm land with brown grasses and lots of drought),
orchards,
and wineries.
not so much green, but there are oceans
Big on sailing (or the richer people are)
And fishing (my cousin catches marlin)
Mix of sub cultures
The towns are pretty small really. There are some good food places.
People don't swim at Napier because of the undertow - people have died.
But there are sandy beaches in the region.
You can get to greenery elsewhere in nz.
It's a few hours from Taupo/ Rotorua which has lakes and greenery and thermal things.

The poeple, it's hard to say.
I live in Wellington where people are more open minded Thant the rest of the country. This is important to me. I don't like discrimination or bigots. But then wellingtonions are pretty much city folk, and hipsters, which also has downsides.

People in Hawkes bay are more adventurous, sporty, though there are some hipsters.

There are rich people and poor people. And the rich people can sometimes think they have all rights to the world and are better than everyone else (this includes some of my extended family), but then there are other rich people who are pretty cool. Who you interact with depends on what you do. Maybe you could elaborate on what they might get up to. all the people are louder than wellingtonions, pretty much.

The rugby team is pretty good.

 

[unrated]

Thank you for a very insightful response, would you say because the towns of Hastings and Napier are so small even when combined that the place has a very rural farmland style feel?

Sad that you can't swim there but I guess the water won't be so warm anyway, people love to go to the Durban beach often as it's very warm.

I hear New Zealanders can sometimes be very Xenophobic? Are there still elements of this? The SA immigrants between the 90s and 2000s were the ones who fled the country due to them not wanting to live in an ANC-run country, they tended not to integrate well, and were very conservative. Where on the contrary The ones coming in this generation are disillusioned due to the corruption and looking for safer spaces for the kids. They tend to integrate much better and are more progressive, most are skilled professionals with the means to pack up and move across the world, but since this generation does not have as much disdain towards SA such as the 90s - 2000 group, they tend to have a strong nostalgia of Home and travel back quite often, or setup nostalgia shops such as Biltong shops as an example. Remittances back to SA tend to be more when compared to the other generation. I wonder how the former dynamic will influence the NZ response to the Immigrants.

I hear that as soon as New Zealanders hear that someone has a South African accent they assume they are racist. It's a generalization, yes, but stereotypes generally have an element of truth I have come to learn. That would make integration difficult because you don't want to come over and live in a bubble, you want your kids and your family to integrate and learn the culture.

Heck, I moved to Johannesburg from Durban, and I find myself living in a Bubble with people who come from my former province/area I just find the shared experiences are a good stable base to reach out from and explore the local intricacies. All about uncertainty reduction.