Ferntown to Farewell Spit
by Carol Dawber and Cheryl Win
rrp $49.95 + $6pp
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Seafood and coal were the resources that first brought people to the northwest shores of Golden Bay. From the north bank of the Aorere River to the tip of Farewell Spit, the warm, shallow waters and low-lying sand dunes were home to shellfish, snapper, flounder and seabirds. Pakawau, the home of the shag, was a staging post on the greenstone trail to the West Coast and many Māori passed from Puponga to West Wanganui and beyond. From the 1850s the rich coal deposits in the Whakamarama range attracted new settlers and investors, and many of the families who stayed to farm came first as coalminers or goldminers.
Today there is little evidence of the industrial past. The timber mills, flax mills, wharfs and railway lines are gone, the lighthouse on the tip of Farewell Spit is automated and only fishing boats and pleasure boats venture along the shallow northwest coastline of the Bay. Land and sea are farmed and harvested, and people come from all over the world to enjoy the isolated beauty and tranquillity of Pakawau, Wharariki, Kaihoka and other special places from Ferntown to Farewell Spit ISBN: 0-9582252-6-5 |