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National Jazz Festival

WHERE: Various venues around Tauranga
WHEN: Thu, April 05, 2012 to Mon, April 09, 2012

The National Jazz Festival turns 50 and celebrates with a fantastic array of concerts, parties and events.

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Tree house of dreams

Pohutukawa Lodge, Kuaotunu, Coromandel

When Cyclone Bola hit Coromandel in 1988, it blew over a pohutukawa on a hillside at Kuaotunu. 20 years later, John Buchan and his wife Wendy built a two-storey house whose upper decks are nestled amongst the foliage

By Bachchat Staff

When Cyclone Bola hit Coromandel in 1988, it blew over a pohutukawa on a hillside at Kuaotunu. The tree continued to grow along the ground, and 20 years later, John Buchan and his wife Wendy built a two-storey house whose upper decks are nestled amongst the tree’s foliage. It’s a big tree – its trunk is 1.6 metres in diameter – and when you’re on the top deck, it’s like being in a tree house, John says, surrounded by tui and bellbirds. The house was a long time in the planning for the couple. Everything starts with a dream, according to John and the sequence of how theirs unfolded was almost unbelievable. He recalls surfing at the beach when he was a teenager, and looking back up the hillside and saying to the friend he was with, “One day I’d like to own a piece of...

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Russell

Russell, photo Charlene Quandt

A picturesque seaside village rich in history

Russell, formerly known as Kororareka, was New Zealand’s first permanent European settlement. In the 1830s, this was a lawless trading centre where whalers, seafarers and merchants mixed with adventurers, deserters and escaped convicts from Australia. Kororareka was nicknamed “the Hellhole of the Pacific”, hard to imagine now, as with time, Russell has become a picturesque holiday destination. Historic places in Russell include Christ Church (1835-6), the oldest existing church in NZ, which is still used today. Before the church was built, missionaries from Paihia used to row across the bay to take services in private homes. They purchased land in 1834 from Kororareka chiefs Rewa, Wharerahi and Moka, and agreed that Maori and Europeans should have equal rights of burial. In 1841 the capital was moved from Kororareka to Auckland, a change that led to a downturn in power and economic advantages for Ngapuhi chiefs. Maori grievances led to the Battle...