RV Exchange Travel Destination - New Zealand - Raglan To Riches
On a spectacular part of the Waikato's west coast clings a seaside town with a lot of heart and a growing reputation.In the Salt Rock café, perched near the edge of the sullen grey water of Raglan’s inner harbour, jazz buffs were tuning up for the monthly meeting of the local Musician’s club. There were amateurs and professionals; among them some from the local band, Cornerstone Roots, others from out of town and plenty of onlookers.
A little further down Bow Street, other Raglanites and a few imposters from Auckland were ensconced in the hamlet’s iconic old pub, cheerfully barricaded against a brief south-wester that was battering in from the sea. Some of the faces around the bar bore the chiselled scars of old salts; others, much younger, the tan of long hours shooting the surf.
Standing next to me was Bill. He held out a roughened hand and grinned broadly from beneath a heavy moustache.
“Gidday, Raglan Bill’s the name,” he said. He’d been fishing but wouldn’t say where. “That’d be a local secret.” Like others in the bar, Bill was a committed Raglanite.
“Bin here all m’ life,” he said, and went on to tell me how, way back, someone had planted nikau palms down the middle of the main street. A local man guessed that they wouldn’t survive, pulled them out and donated phoenix palms instead. These, now grown to impressive proportions, give Raglan’s main street much of its exotic seaside character.
Bill remembers a long-ago Christmas when a lolly scramble rained down from a top-dressing plane that buzzed above the main street and most of the treats ended up on the fronds of the phoenix palms.
More recently, there was another scramble going on in this delightful little town that tumbles colourfully down to the water’s edge. There are no lollies growing on the trees, but Raglan was besieged by moneyed investors who had decided that its laid-back nature, expansive waterway and flaring sunsets were worthy of attention. House prices rocketed. There were whispers of seaview houses selling for over a million dollars. For a tiny population of just 1000 households and a little over 3000 people – who were used to doing everything on a shoestring – that was more often a source of alarm than good news.
“The last thing we want,” another Raglanite told me between extravagant gulps of his beer, “is a Mount Maunganui, with all its bloody hype and high rises.”
At the moment there is no similarity. Many of the old service buildings in the main street of Raglan have been turned into cheerful cafes and craft shops, which cater for weekend influxes of escapees from Hamilton and Auckland who mingle with the surfies and jazz buffs, giving the town a palpable but low-key joie de vivre.
And it is not just the village that is the lure. I drove south out of town to Wainui Point, located on a high cliff-edge and marked by four dramatic Maori limestone carvings. From here I could look across to Mt Karioi, dubbed ‘sleeping lady’ for its languid outline. Below was Ocean Beach, with its expanses of grey sand hummocks and lines of frothy breakers. Surfers bobbed about in the water like seals. But the top surf is found a little further south at Manu Bay, where swells, with their world-famous lefthand break, roll (for up to a kilometre on a good day) towards the land.
Around Raglan, together with the many beaches, there are bush and mountain walks, a worthy waterfall, some delightful homestays and self-service cottages, and good cafes and restaurants – riches galore for a weekend breakout from the city.
From Motorhomes, Caravans and Destinations. (www.motorhomesandcaravans.co.nz)
Author: Jill Malcolm
New Zealand - RV / Motorhome Exchange International Travel Destination.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
