Ambitious venture backed by trust

A Maori trust which has bought the historic Taheke Tavern has a $5 million plan to turn it into a tourist stop with unique Maori attractions.
The Whakatere Kikoranui Trust aims to give the tavern, 19km south-west of Kaikohe, a "fully carved" exterior with interior renovations to include tukutuku panels and the whakapapa (history) of the area on the walls.
Sixteen pou (poles) are being carved to line the State Highway 12 approach to the tavern, which is to have stone walls and other features to give it a pa-site atmosphere. A new garden bar with facilities for bands and entertainment is expected to be open by Christmas.
Future development plans - to be disclosed in detail by trustees at a community meeting at the Taheke Marae on July 29 - include a service station and chalet accommodation in a nursery growing a variety of plants to produce timber, fruit, flowers, herbal oils and other vegetable products with commercial potential.
And on land alongside the Taheke River below the tavern, the trust will be looking at farming tuna (eels), kokopu (native trout) and kewai (freshwater crayfish) to serve in the tavern restaurant.
Trust chairman Peter Kitchen, of Kaitaia, who also leads the Tai Tokerau Maori and Cultural Tourism Association, said yesterday the tavern makeover would put Taheke on the Northland Twin Coast Discovery Route.
"Kaikohe and Horeke are on the Twin Coast Discovery map and Taheke will soon need to be included as the fully carved tavern will offer tourists something unique," he said.
The Taheke-based trust has assets which include about 600ha of pines on four blocks of land. It is a shareholder with the Waima Topu B Trust in Ambler Plumbing in Kaikohe, and Mr Kitchen said that business was running well.
Others at the helm of the Whakatere Kikoranui Trust are Harding Mutu, of Waimate North, Joan Whareaitu, of Kaikohe, Ipu Absolum, of Waima, and Pat Pearce, of Whangarei.
The tavern, believed to have been built in the 1840s, has a category 2 classification with the Historic Places Trust.
The Whakatere Kikoranui Trust bought the old building about two months ago from Tiny Pikare, who had owned it for several years. The tavern and the now-decrepit former coach house alongside it stand on 8.5 hectares in three titles.
Mr Kitchen said the trust's eight-year plan for developing the site at an estimated cost of about $5 million aimed to provide job training, create employment and promote self-belief in the future for people in the area.
The trust was working with the Ngapuhi Runanga, Te Puni Kokiri and the Ministry of Social Development, he said. Funding for the project had been arranged and would include trust money.