Worth the Detour
Often overlooked and bypassed, Helen Van Berkel finds some of our quirky towns are worth taking the time to visit
Haiku in the park, a mad Elvis museum, the gorgeous cottages, the thousands of steps to climb for magnificent views — it is the unexpected finds in quirky sidelined Kiwi towns that add the magic to a road trip around New Zealand.
State Highway 1 skirts Warkworth and will soon bypass it altogether, but a break in the colonial town is more than a respite from the never-ending queues of traffic. The old cement works down McKinney Rd on the outskirts of town is a lovely picnic spot and swimming hole. Or stop by the river in town for lunch on the bank and browse Warkworth’s boutiques and cute little art shops. Of Hand and Heart, tucked down a little lane off the town’s main Queen St has an impressive range of New Zealand-made ceramics and crafts.
Although often overlooked by holidaymakers headed to the eastern Coromandel beaches and places south, Thames is increasingly a destination in its own right. Turn left at the Kopu roundabout, park up and take a walk through the Arrowtown of the north. Spot the cute old miner’s cottages in Franklyn St and admire the grand old wooden hotels, some still in operation, on Pollen
St. Stop for lunch in the 150-year-old Junction Hotel, built when Thames was still the two separate towns of Shortland and Grahamtown. The School of Mines explores one of this country’s foundation industries with a display of old goldmining machinery and equipment plus an extensive range of different kinds of rocks. The Goldmine Experience on the northern end of town boasts a full-scale working stamper machine. The Thames Museum has a broader scope, taking in early Ma¯ori times through to the modern era and the impact mining, logging, rail and shipping has had on the town. Thames is also the gateway for the 197km Hauraki Rail Trail.
Katakati, on the fringe of the Bay of Plenty orchard belt, is famed for its main street murals. State Highway 2 passes straight through the town but instead of just blowing by, pull over at Haiku Park, where the words of poets from around the world have been carved into rocks.
Stretch your legs and get some culture at the same time then pick up a coffee and check out the town’s murals. Painted on many a wall around the town are scenes from the town’s past as well as modern images of today’s people.
Continue on State Highway 2 to Tikitiki on the East Cape, population 207. Now a town of crumbling relics from the days when dairy and farming supporting a population of about 6000, Tikitiki is worth stopping in for the magnificent St Mary’s Church. Built in the 1920s as a memorial to East Cape men who died in World War I, the heritage-listed church is an outstanding display of Ma¯ori carving and tukutuku panels. It’s built on the old Pukemaire Pa, site of a major confrontation in 1865 between Ngati Porou, colonial forces and the adherents of the Pai Marire religion.
State Highway 2 splits Norsewood into an upper and a lower village, both sides of which celebrate their Scandinavian heritage in architecture, street names, flags — and trolls. We met three of them sunning themselves outside a wellappointed pioneer cottage in Upper Norsewood. This end of town also has a replica of a medieval stave church.
Mangaweka is an absolute gem. It is probably best known for the Douglas DC3 cafe´ (now closed) but is starting to attract a little community of artists. Mangaweka was dealt a double blow with the diversion of SH1 and then the main truck line, but abandonment has left its main street in a very photogenic time warp. A curved rust-red corrugated veranda supported by wooden poles still shelters non-existent shoppers at the Hardware and General Merchants on Broadway. It’s been a long time since the peeling doors of Coal and Wood opened for customers. But the creative souls are taking over Mangaweka, adding wooden cutouts of people and painting murals. Browse the Yellow Church Gallery on State Highway 1 and the Mangaweka Art Project gallery on Broadway. Also near Mangaweka, the Rangiteiki River draws rafters and kayakers to its rambunctious currents.
Elvis has most definitely not left the building in Hawera, Taranaki. A local man’s obsession with the king singlehandedly makes a detour off SH3 worthwhile. The Elvis Presley Memorial Record Room is at 51 Argyle St, where possibly the world’s biggest fan of the king has turned his garage into a shrine for his rock’n’roll hero. Hawera-born KD Wasley has collected hundreds of records, original recordings, mugs, cufflinks, clothing since he first heard his idol as a 12-year-old. Then, put on your blue suede shoes and tackle the 215 steps to the top of Hawera’s water tower for spectacular views. Built as a source of water for the local fire brigade in 1914, the 54m gothic tower worthy of Rapunzel is no longer in use as a weapon against fire but on a clear day, the view of the Mt Taranaki’s perfect cone is unrivalled.