Every month I write a local heritage-themed column, on behalf of The Treasury, for the
Grahamstown Gazette. Here's my piece for the January edition.
From The Treasury:
From The Treasury:
No summer holiday at ‘The Thames’ in the early
twentieth century was complete without a trip up the coast to Tapu. The area
was home to a number of small baches and cottages, as well as a popular
swimming hole and plenty of good spots to set up camp. Tapu provided an escape
from the hustle and bustle of life in Thames – still a major centre during the
period, although perhaps not quite as dominant as it had been in the days of
the gold rush.
Well known as the ideal spot for picnics and camping
on this side of the peninsula, hundreds of families made the trek up the Coast
Road by car, bus, bike or horse over the decades. Travelling the road itself,
however, was not quite such an enjoyable experience. In a lengthy letter to the
editor of the Thames Star in 1914, ‘Interested’ lamented the state of the road
up to Wood’s cottages (at what is now Ngarimu Bay) and on to Tapu. ‘Interested’
was particularly frustrated by the road works, wondering why they had been left
until the busiest part of the year to be completed. ‘At present it is cruel
going over parts of the road where the new metal is. The majority of horses
have to endure a lot of whipping to urge them on, while some are unable to get
through at all... the ordinary coach horse’s lot is hard enough in the summer
without having it added to.’
Nearly twenty years later, photographs of buses from
Grundlock’s Coast Service show the roads still made the trip up the coast a
rather intrepid one. The bridge crossing Tapu Creek was washed away in a storm
in the 1930s, and was replaced with a temporary structure. The ruins
of the old bridge made a great spot for the visiting children to go eel
fishing. The kids would also spend hours searching the coastline for kauri gum
to take home, as well as lumps of quartz rock - easily mistaken for gold.
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