TRAVEL
RIWAKA SPOTLIGHT ON:
Words and Photography: Brendan Alborn.
First, a disclaimer: I live in Riwaka and believe it to be the most splendid place on this planet. I have been something of a nomad for most of my life so have lived throughout New Zealand and in a handful of other countries. After all of that tripping about and living away there is no other place in the world I would rather live than Riwaka. So, if you’re expecting an objective review of the tiny village that sits just outside of Motueka you should probably look away now. While living overseas in the early 2000s my wife and I purchased a property in Riwaka, but it took us another ten years before we finally moved back to Aotearoa. During one of our holiday visits before we moved ‘home’ we had a group of friends come down from Auckland to join us for our holiday in Mārahau. We happened to be driving along Main Road Riwaka in a minivan on a cold and dismal rainy July evening having picked up our mates from Nelson airport to bring them over to Mārahau. I mentioned as we passed through Riwaka, and let me tell you it wasn’t looking its best in the dark and cold, that this was where we had purchased a house. Somebody in the van asked me if I was joking and questioned out
42
loud why we would move from Shanghai to this rather bleak, tiny little freckle of a place in the South Island. At that moment I may have questioned our decision too, but I need not have worried. Riwaka has done nothing but become more wonderful in the ten years since we arrived to take up residence. Riwaka is a hidden gem, a gem that is so well hidden many people local to the area don’t realise there is much more to the place than the bit they see as they drive along the main road enroute to Golden Bay, Kaiteriteri or Mārahau. The estuary area flanked by Wharf Road and Green Tree Road is a wonderful spot with many (cont’d)
Riwaka Estuary, moorings and boat sheds.
43
