The Port Underwood Road Information road sign at coastal Rarangi warned us: “Narrow windy gravel road for 25km. Not recommended for caravans or heavy vehicles”. Did that put Robin off making the trip? No way – he was always up for a challenge in the 4WD. The caravan was left behind safely on site in Blenheim, and he was raring to go. The road sign recommended a sedate 50km speed limit but with the combination of a narrow gravel road and a multitude of tight corners and hairpin bends, he didn’t get much above 30kms. We zigged and zagged up and over hills of the Robertson Range, and we came across one beautiful little bay after another, most of them with interesting stories to tell.
Whites Bay these days is known for the DOC Camp set amongst native trees, and the Surf Life Saving Club building looking out over the beach. Things were quite different in Whites Bay in the 1860s. The first telegraph link was established between the North and South Islands when a cable was landed from Lyall Bay, Wellington. The Whites Bay Cable Station still stands, with station staff operating from the building from 1867 till 1895. Whites Bay was named after a negro called Black Jack White, who deserted his whaling ship in 1828 and took up residence with the local Maori people.
Back in the 4WD we slowly made our way up the top of the next hill and pulled to a stop to look down on the blue waters of the sweeping curve of Robin Hood’s Bay. In earlier times a large Maori population occupied the bay leaving remains of extensive stone and earth walls on the flats where they grew kumara crops.
The bay was possibly named after a whaling ship, and a restored earth cottage was built as a whaler’s cottage for Captain Jackson who settled here with his young bride in 1848. The cottage, was built by “mud and stud”. Constructed of totara studs and braces, and manuka stakes, with a cob mixture in between and finished with a lime wash on the outside walls, this is very similar to the wattle and daub construction of cottages in England. The cottage, which still has a mud floor, also served as part of a boys building school, and a farm labourer’s cottage.
Our next stop at Ocean Bay had a history of whaling when Captain John Blenkinsopp commenced whaling in the bay in 1830 from his schooner Caroline, setting up a temporary shore station. A Sydney lawyer purchased the Captain’s assets 10 years later and failed in a bid to farm cattle after his workers died in a boat accident at Wairau Bar.
Up and over yet another hill we came down to Kakapo Bay, which sadly had no beach access. This bay also had a whaling history, and John Guard of Schooner Waterloo moved from Te Awaiti to this bay and set up a shore whaling station here.
Lunch time was calling, and we stopped off to enjoy our picnic lunch at pretty little Tom Canes Bay. What a lovely peaceful place this was. The sound of bird song filled the air, and a lone yacht bobbed about on it’s mooring. We sat and watched as one after another a pied shag flew in and attempted to land in a large tree across the bay. Quite often, the birds seemed to fly in too fast, and had to try again for a second time before they could successfully roost.
Oyster Bay was by far the biggest bay we stopped at, and as a working bay, was not as pretty as those we had seen earlier. Fishing boats were moored at the small wharf and we saw a dinky little house boat at the other end of the bay.
Climbing yet another hill and leaving the coastline behind us, we stopped at Karaka Point which was the site of an early Maori Pa (fortified village) in the 1700s. Raiding parties attacked the pa over the years, and in the 1820s the Te Atiawa tribe attacked with muskets, but the defenders had no previous knowledge of firearms. Frightened by the noise and devastation, they opened the gates to escape and were all killed by the assailants. The pa was burnt to the ground and has not been occupied since.
Arriving in Picton, it was an easy drive back down SH1 back to Blenheim, with not another zig zag in sight, to complete the round circle of our road trip. We had to have a quick stop at our favourite South Island bakery Couplands to purchase some delicious hot cross buns, because sadly there are no Couplands shops in the North Island, and who knows when we will come across another one again?
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