History & Heritage- Bay of Islands; Part 1

Catch-up

Kerikeri- 'It's So Nice They Named it Twice!'

With so much to see and do around the Bay of Islands, the NZMCA Park at Rainbow Falls
in Kerikeri made an ideal base to explore from.  The park is located just a few kilometres from the Kerikeri Basin Reserve where a number of historic buildings including the iconic Stone Store, New Zealand's oldest stone building (1832) are. A Mission Station was established here in 1819 and it is one of the first places in New Zealand where Maori invited visitors to live among them.

The last time I visited the Stone Store the road ran past the front of the store and over the Kerikeri River, that's been removed and now a rocky weir cuts across the river where the bridge used to be. The Heritage Bypass (I like that name) now connects the town that a river divides.

You can still access the Reserve from the south side via road or the north side from a carpark and over a lovely wide pedestrian bridge...

...which delivers you to right outside the Honey House Cafe, the perfect place to have a bite to eat or buy a large icecream on a hot summer's day! Once the administration building for Historic Places Trust, the 1970s building was turned into a cafe and transformed in keeping with it's historic neighbour, Kemp House.

Now this is New Zealand's oldest building. Kemp House was completed in 1821-22 by missionary carpenters and Maoris sawyers for Charlotte & James Kemp and their family of 8 children. Charlotte was a teacher and their home was also used for schooling and residential care, including the daughters of Maori leaders.

Just yesterday, as part of the Waitangi Day celebrations, the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited Kemp House to be shown two writing slates with the very first example of written Te reo Maori etched on them. The slates were discovered in 2000 under a lean-to at Kemp House and are included in UNESCO's Memory of the World heritage documentary register. One of the slates was used by Rongo Hongi, daughter of the renowned Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika, it is inscribed with lines and signed 'Na Rongo Hongi, a(ged) 16".

Kemp House's heritage garden and orchard is of course NZ's oldest European garden. 

It was lovely to be able to wander amongst the gardens smelling the heritage roses and checking out what vegetables and herbs were being grown; the cafe has a ready supply of produce to choose from.

The Stone Store (1832) was once the base of the missionaries trading post, selling produce to passing ships and European goods to Maori. Stone was used to protect the wheat from rats, for defence against Maori and to reduce the risk of fire. The Store has also been used as a mission library, a magazine & barracks, a kauri gum trading operation and to house a boys' school, before eventually being bought by the Kemp family in 1874 when it became a grocery store. 

The Store, purchased by Heritage NZ from the Kemp Family in 1975, is now an up-market craft and gift shop (click photo to enlarge). Purchased tours can be taken of upstairs in the Stone Store and through Kemp House.

Across the other side of the road from the Stone Store is an old Blacksmiths shop (oldest in NZ of course) and another 'oldest' specimen; a pear tree!

And overlooking all the 'oldest buildings' lining the Basin is the historic (but new based on all it's neighbours) St James Anglican Church built in 1878.

The church is located in a very quite spot, away from the tourist traffic and with peaceful gardens and seats to rest awhile.

Later on during our stay at the Rainbow Falls Park I walked the 4kms River Track which passes right alongside the park and finishes in the Basin.

Sunset- Rainbow Falls

It's a lovely walk alongside the river although in places the edges are rather overgrown with weed and pest plants amongst the native bush. About 2kms upstream from the old river crossing at the Basin, the track passes underneath the Heritage Bypass. I also pass by the remains of a historic power house along the way and then stop to take photos of the woven flax flowers someone has made on a living flax bush.

There is another waterfall, Wharepuke  on the River Walk and some deep green pools known as the Fairy Pools along the way.

The track eventually exits out onto a large grassy expanse dotted with huge shade trees in the Basin Reserve, an ideal place to have picnic. One of the locals didn't seem too concerned with my presence...

... unlike the few dozen handsome roosters who also inhabit the reserve and hang out around the carpark looking for handouts. They really have their wits about them, taking off at a mere sideways glance. I'm sure people will have tried to grab them many times as they are so easily spooked. 

It's one thing we noticed throughout the the Bay of Islands area, every reserve or rest area  has dozens of chickens, mainly roosters but sometimes hens & chicks too. Either the council have a 'no catch & destroy' policy or there are many more than the usual backyard chicken farmers who abandon their rooster chicks in the district.

I crossed the bridge and walked around the river edge, past Kemp House again and along the track up to the Koripiro Pa lookout over the Basin...

...and the Maori pa site where I also had to fight off a couple of dozen school kids who wanted to read every word out loud and then draw their pictures of what they'd learnt while leaning on the information panels! 

That finally sorted, I had to head off another lot on my way back past the Stone Store (lucky I took my photos inside on the previous visit)...

But I did stop to take a photo of these two characters, Te Araroa Trail walkers (the trail passes by the Stone Store), I think they're having a good time, not a quick time over the trail. We saw them again a few days later, they were passing through Waitangi, a mere 22km (on foot) from the Basin. 

To be continued... Part 2

Keep Calm & Op Shop

I can add some new jobs to my résumé, yesterday I was tour driver & parcel loader for Mum & five of her girlfriends (God help me!) Every month a group of ladies go ‘op shopping’, alternating between Napier & Hastings and they make a day of it. Some of the ladies, Mum included, have stalls at Napier’s Marine Parade Market every Sunday morning where they sell their crafts & wares. Op shopping gives them an opportunity of picking up reasonably priced material including beads, wool, old jewellery & clothing that they can then sell or use to make articles for their own stalls.

Some of the group come along just for the outing, picking up the odd bargain for themselves too. One lady has an obsession with jigsaws and yesterday managed to find about five or six brand new 1000 piece jigsaws still wrapped in cellophane. I guess you’d want brand new, imagine getting to the end of the puzzle and finding piece number 999 & 1000 missing!

Most of the op shops we visited yesterday had 1/2 price sales on and were very busy. Half price I ask you? Half price meant a lot of things were $1-$2. Just ridiculous I say, but what a bargain for those that frequent op shops. And I suppose every little bit adds up & helps the causes.

I had a laugh at the mannequin head, it reminds me of a couple Mum had in her craft shop which she used to have at Bay View. Although Mum is a much better artist than the person who drew the face on this one. I called to Mum “Look familiar?”. “Yes, except her shoe for a nose” she said. That had me giggling for awhile.

I was very surprised that the ladies didn’t spend too long in each shop, they were on a mission and the trip was run with military precision, nobody lingered. When the racks and shelves had been perused they were out the door and onto the next shop. It helped that a few of the shops were near each other. We managed to visit nine op shops plus another 3 stops along the way, travelling from Taradale to Havelock North, back to Hastings and home via Waiohiki.

The most important stop (for me) was lunch. Lunch and a cool drink at, wait for it, the Hastings RSA. These ladies know value for money. The meals were large, tasty and very reasonably priced.

Excuse the photo quality- it’s my camera phone and inside- I didn’t think I could haul my Nikon around all the op shops. That’s Mum (Veda) on the left, then Robyn, Yvonne, Jan & Judy. You will notice that being the tour driver I was the only one on the soft stuff.

The second to last stop has us salivating as soon as we stepped through the doors followed by lots of oohhs & aahhs. The Silky Oak Chocolate Company is located out in the countryside near Waiohiki and is a very well known tourist stop, some of the vineyard cycle trails pass by it too. There’s a cafe and chocolate museum along with the chocolate shop on site. 

After spending most of the day visiting op shops it seemed rather obscene to spend $4-5 on a small piece of fudge or a fancy truffle or $2-3 for a piece of chocolate but……just look at that display! How could I not buy a couple of treats to sample later? All in the name of research of course.

I really wanted to scoff the lot or at least sample one of each. There’s no way on earth that I could have a job here, the temptation would just be too much.

Last stop was just around the corner at the Waiohiki Arts & Craft shop located in an old dairy factory. This shop has an amazing array of arts and crafts, many based on Maori culture, both modern and traditional.

Then is was home to unload the passengers & the rear of the van, which was by then filled to the brim. A quick sort & de-brief and then it was inside for a welcome glass of wine and chat (as if they hadn’t already chatted enough) before they all headed off to their respective homes where, if our house was anything to go by, the men had a very light dinner!

Job done. Until next month when Mum will be back in the drivers seat. The plans are already underway with a few new stops on the itinerary.

Time Standing Still- Langford Store

We were disappointed to find the Langford Store closed when we passed through Bainham on our way to the Heaphy Track a couple of weeks ago so I was looking forward to returning once the shop opened again for the new season.

Langford Store is thought to be the oldest operating shop in New Zealand, it opened in 1928 and has been in the same family for four generations. The original owner, EB Langford’s great grand-daughter now runs it with her partner. Before the latest family member took over, the store was run for a whopping 61 years by Lorna Langford, a grand-daughter of EB, she finally retired in 2008.

It was great to see the tables & chairs out under the veranda but unfortunately nobody having a coffee. In fact other than the owner we had the place to ourselves once again.

Stepping through the door was like stepping back in time, an Aladdin's Cave of nostalgia, a walk down memory lane. The first thing that surprised me was the actual size of the store inside, it was so tiny. And so full. There are three sections; the shop is located in the middle section, a kitchen and private area are through an opening behind the counter on the right hand side of building and in the narrow left section is the Post Office with it’s entry from the veranda.

Here’s a selection of shots from inside the store, I’ve left them single so you can click to enlarge them to check out all the familiar items.

Memorabilia, grocery items, books, handkerchiefs, gumboots, sweets, posters, old price lists and crockery compete for attention around the stacked shelves and walls in shop. Along side the memorabilia there are everyday items for sale, it was actually hard to work out what was current and what was not.

I loved reminiscing over all the old china, I once had a collection to match this lot but I sold most of it when we were downsizing for our life on the road. I kept just a few treasured pieces that belonged to my grandmother.

There was plenty of retro items for sale too, I was given a fondue set just like the cacky yellow coloured one (calf poop colour we used to call it) on the top left, for a wedding present many years ago. I love the named boxes, especially the tea cosy ones! And I bet inside the crocheted bowl cover box would be covers exactly like the ones I have that belonged to my Nana and were crocheted by her.

The “spy hole” in the wall above looks through to the “Post Office”, below. What an amazing amount of “stuff” is in there! Again, it was hard to work out what was current and what was from the past.

When Lorna started working for her grandfather in 1947 she was still at correspondence secondary school. The mail came into the shop three times a week & she was postmistress and accounts clerk. She would bike to the store and home each day with her typewriter on her knees.

The store room, to the side of the shop, has been converted into an art gallery with art work on sale from local artists. There is more nostalgia lining the walls and more table and chairs to sit at.

We decided to have a late lunch/afternoon tea at the store, I ordered a coffee & scone and David had a pie. It was great to see it served on china in keeping with the store’s history.

Some of the items on the wall in the Store Room Gallery.

I love the “midget sausages”- I wonder if those are what we now call cherrios. And Ham & Chicken Paste, I’m sure we had that when we were kids. The pàte of the past!

From the rustic and worn look on the outside to the dozens of shelves stacked with hundreds of items from today and yesteryear inside, Langford Store is definitely one of a kind and a New Zealand historic icon which I hope survives the test of time. It has become famous by standing still.

Heading for Heaphy

Exploring Golden Bay is made much easier by the fact that there are very few roads with just three longer than about 30kms and they all head inland; two ending in the Kahurangi National Park and the other one on the west coast at Anatori (that’s if you don’t count the 4WD road that can take you further on past Anatori). The rest are reasonably short and usually service the beach settlements and farming communities in the area.

The Heaphy Track, another “NZ Great Walk”, begins right at the end of one of the longer roads, at the head of the Aorere Valley. And while we aren’t going to walk the 78km, 4-5 day walk we wanted to check out the beginning of the track and explore a few areas along the way.

First things first though; it’s lunch at the ‘Naked Possum’, a well known cafe at the end of a side road surrounded by cow paddocks. Lucky the sign points down the road to the café otherwise we might just have thought this was it. There's sure to be a few very naked possums in there though.

Unfortunately there aren’t too many people about at the cafe. Well in fact, there’s only us but we had an enjoyable visit, we both had their signature venison pie which was very tasty indeed. Apparently during the summer (and over the weekends) this is a busy place, the cafe is also located at the start of the Kaituna Track, a 15km tramp up and over the Whakamarama Range ending out near the west coast (we’ll pass the other end later in the week). But for the moment it’s just us & the lunches they supply to the builders of a new dairy shed down the road.

After lunch we’re back on the road and heading towards Bainham and the ‘famous in NZ’ Langfords Store. The store is thought to be the oldest operating shop in New Zealand. But it was not operating when we visited. It’s been closed for winter, reopening this week. The store first opened it’s doors in 1928 and it’s still in the same family with the original owner's great, great grand-daughter running it now. 

With no visitors and the shop shut, it gave me a good opportunity to take photos. But I’d love to see inside so I’m hoping to head back there this week sometime to check it out.

Further down the road a sign post pointed down another side road towards a historic bridge which of course we had to check out. The Salisbury Bridge was a suspension foot bridge that crossed a narrow gorge over the Upper Aorere River. But all that remains of it, is one of the supports (middle right), the 37m long wire bridge, built in 1902, was swept away in a huge 14 metre flood on 28th December 2010, only 6 years after being fully restored and becoming one of Golden Bay’s tourist icons.

It would seem that the 2010 flood (the biggest in 150 years) was horrendous and probably the cause of all the new embankments on rivers and streams, and a couple of new bridges, that we’ve seen in the area and also why there are so many whole trees and huge tree trunks littering the estuaries in all directions. A tour guide we spoke to told us that the Aorere River has an average water flow of 80 cubic metres per second and at the height of the flood it was 8000 cubic metres per second.

What an interesting little gorge; very narrow with deep clear pools of forest green water. I can imagine the water raging through here in a flood, it would be quite terrifying crossing it on the swingbridge (especially if it was during the 2010 flood!). Can you see our shadows on the rocks? A short side walk to the end of the gorge reveals the Salisbury Falls located on a stream that enters the river near the bend. After nearly a month of little more than a few light showers, Golden Bay needs a heavy dose of rain, that would be certain to increase the flow of the falls. The whitebaiters back at camp are also wanting a good dousing to flush out the rivers, they think this will improve their catches. Going by the quantity we’ve seen some come back with we aren’t convinced the lack of rain is the reason others haven't started to fill their freezers yet.

The road to the Heaphy Track has now turned to gravel and narrows down considerably, it seems a long way in too. Travelling a dusty winding gravel road always feels twice as long as it actually is. It must be to do with all the bouncing about in the cab at half (or less) the usual speed & the taste of dust. I know David curses everytime we hit gravel as the wellside fills up with dust leaving a thick coating over everything we store back there and he’ll have to get out with the hose when we get back home. But needs must, and gravel roads are very much a part of our journey. We wouldn’t have explored half the area that we have if we kept off them.

This is Mt Olympus (1519m) and for LOTR fans this was the "Rugged Country south of Rivendell Eregion Hills"

Finally we reach the Heaphy Track carpark and as it’s getting on into the afternoon we decide to walk to the first hut only; Brown River Hut. Once again it’s deserted although there were 3 vehicles in the carpark.

This hut is very clean & tidy compared with most of the others we’ve visited but it still doesn’t make us want to stay over anytime soon. The next hut is 17km further on and the walk to it is the steepest on all the Heaphy, climbing from 500m above sea level, here at Brown River Hut, to 3000m at Perry Saddle. It’s the reason we’ve decided we’ll do a day walk on the Heaphy Track from the other end, when we get to the West Coast early next year.

I walk a little further on up the track to a wooden bridge that crosses the Aorere River, no swing bridges here. I wonder how this one faired in the flood.

Then it’s back down the track to the ute and a quick shot of the sign board at the carpark. What? You weren’t expecting us to put in a long walk late in the day were you? Our shortest walk ever! Just what we needed at the end of another day exploring.