The ‘Tavi’
I often feel that buildings are like people, you never really know them until you get a little up close and personal. That’s when you see them as they truly are, flaky paint and all or with wrinkles where you’ve always suspected they’d be but were too polite to look.
The trouble with extreme makeovers these days is that they attempt to cover over what can essentially be some seriously insecure flaws in the original structure. I’m talking people AND buildings! I’ve seen my fair share of under-bench pipes that start out with a small leak and finish up with your feeling like you’re standing under the Huka Falls and electrical wiring that would give you a boot with the back legs any self respecting horse might wish they could emulate, mould that would make a frog green, running toilet cisterns, I’ve seen the whole kit and kaboodle. Like the song says, “it ain’t pretty!”
On a different tack and if you’ll bear with me, I’ll get to the point momentarily, the difference between a ‘thriving’ country town here in New Zealand and a barely survivng one is how well the local people understand their marketing potential in proportion to their ability to cultivate what is uniquely their town’s story and without it looking too much like a dog’s breakfast! Waipukurau is fortunate, it has good bone structure.
The Tavi
There are a few ‘watering holes’ in the township of Waipukurau today but none of them quite like the grande ol’ lady they call The Tavistock Hotel fondly known to locals as ‘The Tavi’ at the end of the town’s main street (Ruataniwha Street) heading south toward Wellington. “In the 1800’s H. R. Russell decided to establish a private township on the site of Waipukurau to a plan of his own devising and in 1860 the town of Waipukurau was laid out and provision made for future amenities.
It was also around this time that the first accommodation house license was granted to a George Lloyd. Enter the grande ol’ lady. It was afterwards conducted for the next 25 years by Mr Peter Gow who was for years the head and front of Caledonian Society matters in Hawke’s Bay and who was later succeeded by George Ross (aka Boss). Interestingly, it was in early 18th century Caledonian Society notes that I stumbled upon a reference to Waipukurau in Hawke’s Bay as the ‘City of Shrubs’.
Communications with Napier were improved during the late 1850s and, in 1867, a regular coach service had begun. During April 1874 the Napier-Wellington road via the Manawatu Gorge had been completed and soon afterwards, a regular coach service was being maintained throughout.
Railway Line Reaches Waipukurau
Railway construction began at Napier in 1872 and by September 1886 the line had reached Waipukurau. In March of the following year the gap between Woodville and Palmerston North was closed and through communication with Wellington was achieved. In 1897 the line to Wellington via the Wairarapa was opened.
The Tavistock Hotel had been rebuilt and was described as a large two-storeyed wooden building, with a verandah in front, and a balcony on two sides. On the ground floor there were two large dining rooms, capable of seating over 100 guests, a well-appointed commercial room, several comfortable sitting rooms, and a bar stocked with the best wines, spirits, ales, and other beverages. On the first floor there were about thirty comfortable bedrooms, two well-furnished sitting rooms, and convenient bathrooms and toilets.
The Porangahau Coach
A large billiard room occupied a detached building, and there was also a commodious stable that contained twenty stalls and ten loose boxes. Horses and vehicles were said to be able to be obtained on hire. The Tavistock Hotel was the stopping place for the Porangahau coach and a small farm was carried on in conjunction with the hotel. The whole business at this time was under the personal supervision of a Mr Coneys, of whom it was said, exercised a great deal of care in attending to the needs and wishes of his numerous guests.”
A Billiard Room
The mention of the Billiard Room reminded me of learning and playing billiards with my father (who in my youthful mind had a distinctly unfair advantage because he was ambidextrous and whom I rarely felt I could put in a jam unless by a complete and utter fluke) and who also taught us to play tactically respectable games of snooker and pool. Some might consider that misspent youth, I didn’t, it was where I learnt the fine art of placement strategy. I applied it later in my life to tennis, table tennis, squash, badminton, volleyball, tenpin bowling and lawn bowls. I didn’t fare so well against worthier opponents playing air hockey, I was trounced!
We learnt in the Wallingford Hall (where I also learnt to Smallbore Rifle shoot). I fondly recall having to stand on a plastic milk crate just to see over the top of the table and to line the shot up as best I could in the circumstances. I used a bridge head for two years before I was tall enough to see over the top of the cue stick. Happy days!
Having come this far I have to confess now I’ve forgotten the point entirely (the problem with both a short and aging attention span!) but probably I was just showing off. Showing off a grande ol’ lady that I felt deserved her day in the sun just because.
So if you’re passing through Waipukurau you can’t miss her and by the time you do she may well have reinvented herself as a ‘Breakers’ Restaurant. Okay, so she’s a quirky gal and the nearest beach (the business model of the Breakers franchise being the surf and beach theme reflecting the Kiwi lifestyle is a bit of a stretch but we DO have the friendly relaxed atmosphere by the truckloads!).
