Paekakariki Travel Guide

Get your fish and chips at the chip shop at the Northern end of the railway station, near the fire station, not at the takeaways in the village! The village ones aren't as nice.

Fish and chips cost about NZ$3.50 per person everywhere in NZ (US$1.50, UK£1).

The main stuff to buy in Paekakariki (besides icecreams, petrol, and veges), is art and craft kinda stuff.

In the village is an art gallery called One Eye gallery, sort of above the garage. This has exhibitions and so forth. Paekakariki is renowned for the various artists living there (stone carvers, wood carvers, painters, photographers, silversmiths, etc), so this would also be a good place to enquire about anything you're particularly interested in looking at. They may be able to organise for you to visit the artist's studio.

There's also another shop across the road that sells arts and crafts which would also be able to give you info in this regard. It's run by a childhood friend of mine and her Mum, who works for the art faculty at Whitirea Polytech, so knows most of the artists around.

My Mum is a jeweller too (working mainly in silver). She sells her stuff at various places including at the Lush gallery which is 10 minutes up the main road in the next town, Raumati. (She also sells at Te Papa in Wellington and at Kura in Wellington and Auckland -- both good places for art and jewellery).

What to pay: Those from overseas will probably find art cheap here, due to the exchange rate. Be warned though, if it's too cheap then it's probably poor quality and/or made in Asia. Buy local and support our artists! :-)

You'll get a good feel for prices of the sort of stuff you're interested in by going to a few shops and galleries and comparing until you get a sense of what's junk and what's a real artwork.

If you hear this terrible wailing and shrieking at night, as if a donkey is being murdered, don't worry -- it's only the penguins.

Little blue penguins come up and live under people's houses in Paekakariki. They make a pretty dreadful noise, mostly at night.

Penguins won't hurt you unless you grab them or something. But you probably won't see them -- just hear them.

The ones under my parents' house get annoyed if we make too much noise during the day, and bang on the floorboards with their beaks and shriek!

Don't go on the nasty fly by wire! They put that thing up despite local opposition due to the noise levels and it really spoils our lovely peaceful environment by making a big roaring noise constantly all summer!

And it's ruined the lovely little valley that we used to go up to play in the stream!

Locals send bad vibes to whoever is up on that thing, so DON'T DO IT!

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Favorite thing: During the Second World War Paekakariki served as a major base for US Marines fighting in the Pacific Campaign. There were three main camps, all situated in or adjacent to present-day Queen Elizabeth Park. At the height of the occupation there were over 20,000 Americans stationed in the region, significantly outnumbering locals. The camps were used for training purposes, as well as rest and recreation for those returning from the Pacific combat zone. Paekakariki's steep surrounding hills proved suitable terrain for marching and mortar practice, whilst its beaches were used to stage amphibian invasions.

There is a memorial in place here in the park to commemorate the US Marines who passed through the camps. Like the tramway it is based in Queen Elizabeth Park.