A Tale of Two Towns

After a fond farewell to Arkles Beach we headed off for Pukoi, less than half an hour away, also known as a Bohemian village in the rural Auckland area.  

The museum is the star of the show, and tells the story of Captain Martin Krippner, who founded the settlement, and invited others to join him.  Fifty one other adults, and thirty one children, arrived from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in1863.

In the middle of the nineteenth century there was general unrest in much of Europe and, at the same time, the Provincial Government was offering land to immigrants.  These pioneers had been used to wide expanses of farmland at home and really had little idea of what awaited them in their new country.  They found they had to clear thIck forest and try to drain the swampy areas.  Life was hard.

Krippner could speak English but the rest of the settlers could only speak German, so he did all of the negotiating necessary for acquiring a variety of infrastructure for the village.  Most of the settlers were also illiterate so he wrote letters for them, became the first postmaster and also set up a school for the children, becoming the first headmaster.  

The settlers were all Catholics and the church remains.

The museum has all kinds of records relating to the original settlers, their descendants, photos and artefacts illustrating the way of life that they brought with them.

Examples are the musical instruments, like the dudelsack.

The Thompson sewing machine and the articles made by the women.

The style of the classroom.

The numbers involved in felling trees and the timber industry - "rafting" the logs to Auckland.

The museum is run by volunteers, two of whom were most welcoming to Dave and me today.

Our second museum visit was at Waipu.  Again - very interesting, and also founded by a group of immigrants, this time from Scotland and led by Norman Macleod.  Unofficially he was a preacher and this, in addition to difficult economic conditions in Scotland, and harsh treatment by the landowners, led him to think about emigrating.

Judge Halibrton said of him, "Norman Macleod had complete belief In his own interpretation of God's word."  "He ridiculed his enemies and claimed That there were no true ministers of God in The entire Church of Scotland."  "Outside his community he was often regarded with derision."

He and his group arrived in New Zealand by a circuitous route via Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Melbourne, before landing in Waipu.  

The town has a distinctly Scottish flavour, even now, and boasts the largest Highland Games in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is always held on 1st January, unless that is a Sunday, and 2015 was its one hundred and forty fourth.  

There is even an official Waipu tartan.

Both museums were fantastic - but Dave and I agreed we were "museum-ed out" and our brains couldn't take any more!

Relieved

On a completely different note, and returning to the subject of toilets, we visited the public toilets at Kawakawa, not far from Opua, our base for two days, but almost missed out as we failed to take the correct turning to the town centre.  

We were relieved to come upon them.

You may feel that we have relied on this subject too heavily over the past few weeks, but I couldn't resist this particular example.  It was built by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, apparently an internationally regarded architect.  He was an Austrian who came to New Zealand in the 1970s and decided to settle down on a farm near Opua.  He was commissioned to design the toilets, which turned out to be his last creation.

Would you recognise the following exterior as being a toilet block?

The interior is even better.

Books and boats

Dave writes:

Spent sunny 20 minutes by Arkles Bay before leaving the peninsula and heading north for Opua,  the penultimate stop on our New Zealand leg.

Diverted into the historic township of Puhoi and happened on its delightful public library.

It's  not much more than a small hut, around 10 metres by 5, serving the local populace.

But it still features on the front cover of that bestseller of some years back "New Zealand's Smallest Libraries."

Remains in print, I was told.

It's the smallest library still in service so it deserves a big shout-out as they say over here.

Glad to report that all the lending is done on the old-fashioned card system with borrowing detail neatly tucked away in filing cabinets.

Only real problem is flooding from nearby river but with enough warning they can move all the books to safety.

A real gem of a place and I bought one of the books they had outside for sale - for just 50 p !

Big bonus at Opua tonight is free membership for visitors at the local sailing club with its superb views over the water.

Enjoyed dinner/wine looking out from the clubhouse balcony with nobody seemingly bothered we were tourists, or worse still, Brits.