Saturday, 4th May 2024 - Kerikeri

Off to Kerikeri (24km northwest of Paihai), this morning to their market, quite an extensive affair with a lot of it undercover.  A bit of shopping and breakfast at a vegan Mexican Stall.

Kerikeri has a long and colourful history. The area was home ground for the fearsome Maori chief Hongi Hika, who terrorised many tribes throughout the North Island in the early 1800s. Yet he was kind to missionaries, allowing Samuel Marsden to establish New Zealand's second mission station here.

After the market, we visited the Stone Store, which dates back to 1832 and is New Zealand's oldest stone building. Designed by Wesleyan missionary John Hobbs and built by an ex-convict stonemason from New South Wales, the store was meant to house large quantities of wheat from the mission farm at Te Waimate. When the wheat failed, the building was used as a kauri gum trading store.  It's built on a picturesque spot in the Kerikeri inlet which would have provided a safe anchorage for the shipping of the day.

We then visited Rainbow Falls just on the edge of town. A nice stroll along the riverbank to the 27m high falls which are quite spectacular.  There are three viewing platforms with the last near the weir at the top of the falls.  The weir supplied water to an early hydro-electric station further down the river and parts of the old water race can still be seen beside the track in places. Built in 1930 the hydro scheme initially produced electricity for just 17 customers.  George Alderton was a land developer of the area at the time and some of his customers were British civil servants who were keen to settle in Kerikeri.  However, they were used to living with at least three servants and the prospect of having no help in a strange land did not impress many of their wives.

“My mother on hearing that servants were virtually un-procurable said quite emphatically that without servants electricity was essential and she would not consider coming unless she was promised it”. 

So what did George Alderton have to do? - set up a new company to meet the expectations of settlers' wives so that he could sell land.

Back to Kerikeri for some grocery shopping.  A much bigger shopping centre here than in Paihia.  Then, after a sushi lunch, we headed back to Busby Manor for a restful afternoon followed by a wander down to Paihia wharf for the sunset.