Pakiri people

In the first of a series of articles looking at life in some of our smaller rural communities, Sally Usher visits the beachside settlement of Pakiri. Well-known for its surf, fishing, camping and horse riding, it also has a rich Maori and Pakeha history.

Coral Clinton (nee Dennis) was born on a farm on Rahuikiri Road 62 years ago and is determined to end her days in Pakiri.

“I’ve told the kids that I want to be buried in the cemetery here,” she says. “If I went to the Marae at Leigh I’d not be able to keep an eye on what’s happening in the village.”

Coral, the youngest of 12 children, has only spent about six years away from the district, moving to Auckland in her late teens when her mother fell ill. She returned to the area after marriage to husband Trevor in her early 20s. She’s been back in the village she loves for the last 20 years.

The couple, who have three children, have recently become great-grandparents. Her family is her pride and joy, but Coral, known as ‘Auntie’ to the locals, loves all children and used to help regularly at the primary school as a kaiawhina, teaching Maori culture. She brought up one of her grandsons, teaching him to sing to the eels in the Pakiri River to tempt them onto their hooks.

“I think it’s important that kids grow up knowing about their roots, local traditions, and learning from their elders. That’s how they learn respect. In this community we all look after each other, Maori and Pakeha alike, and that’s what we’ve always done. I can’t think of anywhere better to live.”

The Pakiri School roll numbers 18 – a couple of children were away when our photo was taken – aged from five to 13. Principal Julie Turner is in her 11th year there, and says that because of the school’s size she’s able to have a unique relationship with the children.

“I don’t have any behavioural problems with any of them, they’re lovely kids – and very resourceful,” she says. “I love the way they interact with each other, and the creativity of their play, in particular. You get the older ones helping the younger ones and a feeling that they are just one big family.”

The use of the internet, and having broadband, has enabled her to widen pupils’ horizons by connecting with the rest of the world.

“We’re interacting with other students all over the world by blogging, networking, and by sharing stories. So, some of the barriers to learning that small schools have had in the past have gone.”

Julie’s biggest challenge is having enough time to complete work out of the classroom. “There’s just never enough time to get everything done. That’s true of Erena (Atkins) in the office; she’s always here working extra hours.”
Diane Greenwood relieves Mrs Turner from classroom duties once a week.

A few kilometres along the road, Sharley Haddon is frustrated that she is still running a business without high speed internet.

“I’ve voted for two prime ministers in the hope that we’d get broadband out here, but I’m still waiting – that, coupled with banks not understanding the difficulties seasonal businesses experience with cashflow, is a drawback of living out here,” she says.

However, Sharley has been running her successful horse trekking business for almost 30 years, with customers lured the one and a half hours from Auckland by the promise of the ride of a lifetime along Pakiri’s 14kms of white sand.

Sharley started in 1981 using her two children’s ponies to boost a flagging farm income. She’s always loved horses, and breeding them in particular, and now has around 102 on the property, which has been in husband Laly’s family “forever”.

Sharley’s Qualmark-endorsed visitor activity offers rides from one hour to seven days and caters for beginners to advanced riders.  Sharley’s business has been described as one of the “ Hundred Things to do before you die” with a write up in an international travel book on Pakiri Horse Riding sandwiched between walking the Great Wall of China and diving in the Red Sea. “You can’t get better publicity than that,” she says.

Retired Anglican Bishop John Bluck and his wife, Elizabeth, have found Pakiri to be their slice of heaven. They’ve lived in their 100-year-old cottage in Bathgate Road for two years and can’t imagine anywhere they’d rather be.
They bought the property with their children seven years ago, after son Nigel, a keen surfer, and daughter Jessica spotted it for sale on the internet. The family used it for holidays, snatching a few weeks here and there when their busy working lives allowed.

“We only spent a handful of days here in the winter, but enough to know it can be damp and cold, so we had an inkling of what we were letting ourselves in for,” John says.

However, walks on the beach, the amazing landscape, and enough land for developing a garden amidst a backdrop of bush, combined to make Pakiri an appealing retirement option. “We could see the potential, and every time we go out in the car, whatever the weather, wherever you go, it’s a beautiful drive,” Elizabeth adds. “Pakiri is a special place.”

Bishop Bluck’s reflections on adjusting to rural life were broadcast recently on National Radio, and while he has for the moment pulled back from regular writing commitments, he does have a book due for publication in September called Hidden Country – Having Faith in Aotearoa.

“The book takes a critical look at why it’s so difficult nowadays to talk publicly about one’s faith.”

Meanwhile, there’s plenty to excite this genial man who has spent most of his working life “in crisis management of one form or the other”. Now, his excitement comes from a different place, and “much more slowly”. Nowadays, crises revolve around “possums, drains and chickens”, he says. “I am learning to look at the smaller things more carefully, and to sit back and let life evolve. I’m still working Pakiri out, and have a real curiosity around the community and how it works.”