The town of Kerikeri, for instance, has long provided a leafy retreat for the artistic, eccentric and retired and is often referred to as the most culturally sophisticated centre of Northland. Long ago, well before any Europeans arrived, Maori discovered the resources and mild subtropical climate that the area around Kerikeri provided. How well they chose when they decided to settle on this spot on the banks of the winding Kerikeri River, which is today surrounded by productive gardens, undulating farmland and citrus orchards that flourish in its fertile soil.
Although Kerikeri avoided much of the debauchery, the European whalers who came ashore in the Bay of Islands turned the settlement of Russell into a man-made hell. News of heaven first came to the area with Samuel Marsden’s 1814 Christmas Day sermon at Rangihoua on the north side of the bay, about 35 kilometres from Kerikeri. He established his first mission station there, but conditions eventually proved inhospitable and in time the mission was moved to more hospitable ground on the western extremity of the Kerikeri Inlet where fresh water from the river of the same name enters the salty Pacific Ocean.
The missionaries called it Gloucestertown, but thankfully the name did not endure. The Maori word ‘Kerikeri’, which means ‘keep on digging’, is correctly pronounced with a rolling “r”.
The burgeoning town and its ever-expanding margins hold many historic treasures, including the country’s oldest wooden dwelling, missionary-built of pit-sawn kauri in 1821, and its neighbour, the old Stone Store. Kerikeri was in fact one of the cradles of the nation and in the nick of time New Zealand raced to preserve and restore what was left of its Maori and pioneer heritage. Kemp House, the Stone Store, the Mission House at Waimate and several pa sites give us vivid glimpses of our nation’s beginnings.
The first ploughed sod was turned here and the first man-planted grass in New Zealand took root.
Kerikeri is well placed as a starting point for the attractions of the North – the history, peninsulas, beaches and islands, Cape Reinga, the green pastures of the hinterland, the Hokianga Harbour and the great kauri forests of Puketi and Waiapou; but tourism has not yet conspicuously disfigured the town as much as it has in Paihia. Although in some places it appears to be changing with alarming rapidity, it is still a service town for the surrounding area, with good restaurants and coffee houses, fruit and vegetable shops, boutiques, and a sizeable supermarket.
Conservationists struggle to preserve the natural attractions of the town and its surrounds, but a new development on the outskirts is shaping up to look like a city-style megacentre, which I am sure dismays some locals, many of whom moved there for serenity and isolation from the mainstream.
A local writer, Keri Malloy, once told me about the mixture of people who live there. “Some have lived here all their lives,” she said. “Others have come from different parts of New Zealand or the world and have chosen to be here. People are motivated and vocal; everyone’s got an opinion because many of them have made a conscious decision to live here.”
Still today, some casual visitors to this honey-trap of a town find the blend of sun, sea, solitude, the sophistication and the cultural mix so intoxicating that they never want to leave. And who can blame them?
From Motorhomes, Caravans and Destinations. (
www.motorhomesandcaravans.co.nz)
Author: Jill Malcolm
