Quality time
Northland highlights, from clocks to kauri
With the weather on the turn, Northland remains one of the best bets in the country for a beach holiday.
Yet, even the supposedly ‘‘winterless north’’ isn’t immune to autumn showers.
Luckily, the region isn’t short on rainy-day options, as it has some of Aotearoa’s most intriguing museums.
First on a road trip north is the magnificent Mangawhai Museum.
This modern facility has a roof line reminiscent of a stingray, which is a subtle nod to the town’s name (meaning ‘‘stream of the stingray’’.
Inside, large murals provide a vibrant backdrop to displays about the town’s surprisingly turbulent history and the local environment, including the fight to save the critically endangered fairy tern.
Once you’re done, head to the sunny cafe for some country-style baking. Continuing north, Waipu Museum starts with a fascinating backstory – that of a town founded by dispossessed Scottish zealots – and brings it to life through film, holograms and a recreated ship’s interior.
The museum was founded by descendants of the original migrants who, after they were plunged into poverty during the Highland Clearances, decided to follow their charismatic minister, first to Nova Scotia in Canada, then to Aotearoa.
People come from all around the country to trace their ancestry through the museum’s extensive migration records, the value of which has been recognised by Unesco, which has inscribed the collection on its Memory of the World New Zealand register. While Whanga¯ rei waits for its new Hundertwasser Art Centre to open, nearby Claphams National Clock Museum keeps ticking. . . and chiming and cuckooing.
It started as the 400-piece collection of loveable local, Archie Clapham, who transferred it to the city council for a nominal sum in 1961. There are now more than 2100 timepieces crammed into the Town Basin building, ranging from a stately English grandfather clock from 1690 to all manner of kitschy novelties.
The history-rich Bay of Islands has the north’s best known and most impressive museums, and the new Te Rau Aroha museum (focusing on the Ma¯ ori Battalions) and Te Ko¯ ngahu Museum of Waitangi, both at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, shouldn’t be missed.
Equally essential are the Kerikeri Mission Station Kemp House and Stone Store, Aotearoa’s oldest surviving wooden and stone buildings, respectively.
Also worth a look is the cute Russell Museum, mainly for the huge 1:5 scale model of Cook’s Endeavour.
However, the pick of the bunch is the Pompallier Mission and Printery in Russell.
Built by Catholic missionaries in 1842, the rammed-earth building once housed a printing press that churned out a remarkable 40,000 books in te reo Ma¯ ori.
Entry is by way of an entertaining hands on, guided tour that follows the entire publishing process, from the tanning pits out the back to the printing, stitching and trimming that took place upstairs.
Another immersive experience is offered at Gumdiggers Park in the Far North. In the early-20th century, thousands of men from the Dalmatian coast of present-day Croatia found themselves trudging through knee-deep Northland mud searching for kauri gum, which was highly valued at the time for making varnish.
The hardship of their lives is evident at this outdoor museum, which winds through bush tracks to rudimentary gumdiggers’ huts, massive preserved logs, and numerous dug-over holes and trenches.
Dalmatian gumdiggers also feature prominently in the Museum @ Te Ahu in Kaitaia, where signage is trilingual (in English, Ma¯ ori and Croatian). The museum’s extensive Ma¯ ori collection includes beautiful pounamu weapons and wooden carvings dating from the
14th century.
There are more gumdiggers at the Dargaville Museum, with a recreated camp set up adjacent to the pa¯ site, which now displays the masts of the ill-fated Rainbow Warrior. Inside this large and much-loved hilltop complex are displays of precious Ma¯ ori artefacts, musical instruments, maritime memorabilia, and a model railway that’s sure to keep the kids entertained.
Last on the Northland loop, but definitely not least, is Matakohe’s extraordinary Kauri Museum.
You might think that a museum focused on a single industry would be one for enthusiasts only, but you will be pleasantly surprised.
Most industrial and agricultural museums seem to presume that visitors will be fascinated by walls lined with rusting tools, but the Kauri Museum ups its game with a recreated sawmill, bushman’s hut, Victorian villa, and boarding house.
There’s gorgeous kauri furniture, intricate marquetry and the astonishing Gum Room, bathed in the amber glow of carved and polished kauri gum.
With trips to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London currently off the cards, think of this as the New Zealand equivalent.