Posted on 01st September, 2015


The farm is known as 'Tawapou" named after a reasonably rare coastal tree that grows on the coast. It is also the name we gave our native plant nursery. The value of owning a property along the coast line has certainly changed and not only in monetary terms. For example, the first house on the farm which was built perhaps a hundred years ago and is now only a pile of bricks and an old chimney was just inside the front gate with absolutely no view of the sea at all, the second house which later became our woolshed is further up the drive and also didn't face the sea, but of course when my parents built the family home the view was paramount.

Old-shed-front-paddock
Original old shed in the front paddock.

The drive out from town in those days seemed long, slow and dusty. Areas along the way were named after local farmers e.g. Dobson's straight, now known as the Golden Mile, Mollard's corner and Murphy's corner where I remember the start of the metal road winding along the edge of the Ngunguru river. Today it is a much quicker and prettier drive through the Hugh Crawford Reserve without the thick coating of dust over the roadside plants and of course that is much healthier for the plants. My mother was the local GP for many years and "call outs" day & night were not uncommon, occasionally she would require a ride, one of my first cars had so many rust holes in the body she would need to wear a coat and bathing cap to keep the dust off.

Where there were once farms with one house and one family along the coast there are now life style blocks supporting multiple families. People are not buying the land for the farming value but for the privacy and spectacular views out towards the Poor Knights islands and the Pacific Ocean.