KAITAIA

The region's Maori name means abundance of food, chosen for the prolific bird life that populated the once-thriving kauri forests and the plentiful supply of fish and shellfish.

The South Island is Rangi's mythical canoe while the North Island is the fish he hauled. The top of the North Island is the tail of the fish, the stingray or (some suggest) the flounder. Furthermore, New Zealand's northernmost township is the only place in the world where a sign welcomes visitors in English, Maori and Croatian. The symbolism of both succinctly define the district's history.

The landscape is loaded with forest, fish, avocados, vineyards and cattle and locals are quick to suggest Kaitaia has none of the pretensions of the more affluent and slightly larger Kerikeri an hour's drive southwards.

This is Ngati Kahu, Ngati Kuri and Te Rarawa territory and it was Te Rarawa leader, Nopera Pana-kareao, who invited missionaries to the area. In 1833 a mission station was established and the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by 61 chiefs on 28 April 1840.

Europeans began arriving in the 1850s and the settlement expanded between 1870 and 1900 as kauri gum diggers, many of whom were Dalmatians, moved north. The Yugoslavian Social Club is still active in Kaitaia and remains a legacy of the diaspora who settled there as many of the surnames, held by descendants of both Maori and Dalmatians, can attest.

In the 1920s Allen Bell laid out the town and his earnest 'go north, young man' became the catch-cry for the promotion of the settlement. He established a newspaper which is still in operation today - The Northland Age.

The region's most distinctive feature is the long stretch of Ninety Mile Beach. The Maori name is Te Oneroa-a-Tohe and it isn't 90 miles long but 55 miles or 88 kilometres. The misnomer is one of those quirks of history ... the most common theory being that when missionaries travelled on horse back, an average day's ride would be 30 miles and it took three days to travel the beach. The missionaries, however, didn't account for the slower pace of horses walking on sand. It only seemed like they had covered 90 miles.

The township benefits transiently from tourist buses that flit through while heading to the golden sands of Ahipara, Ninety Mile Beach and on to Cape Reinga via the kauri forest and yet the stunning and recently-built Te Ahu Centre is well worth a visit as is The Far North Regional Museum which holds an enormous anchor lost off the coast in December 1769 by the French explorer, Jean Franois Marie de Surville.