Kerikeri: just a beach short of perfection

Kerikeri in the winterless north is one of the most delightful small towns in the country. GRAHAM REID discovers its charms.

The guy at the garden centre turns on the weary but polite smile he probably reserves for such circumstances. The woman buying the fruit trees had gushed how much she loved Kerikeri and was thinking of moving here. She was from Auckland ... and he was very gracious.

He'd heard this before, and doubtless would again. Perhaps with even more frequency since this charming and historic town was voted the country's top small town in December's North and South. Especially now that five of its eateries - Fishbone Cafe, Kina Kitchen, the Marsden Estate Winery cafe, Marx garden restaurant and Rocket Cafe - have been written up favourably in Michael Guy's Eating Out New Zealand 2001.

Kerikeri is fashionably cool - and the hot place for jaded city-dwellers adopting a new lifestyle which can be a blend of semi-rural and engagingly aquatic, yet has all the amenities of a much larger town.

Kerikeri: it's Newmarket-by-the-Harbour, but with a more interesting history.

For the casual visitor seduced by the number of cafes and restaurants disproportionate to the township population of a little more than 4000 (and around 10,000 in the surrounding area), Kerikeri is a seductive haven of postcard-perfect scenery where fruit is still sold by honesty box on the roadside.

At a mere three and a half hours north of Auckland it is also within striking distance for those who want to escape for a long weekend. There are plenty of bed-and-breakfast places willing to accommodate the weary traveller as we discovered on a recent visit.

It was as unashamed day-trippers that we saw Kerikeri through rose-tinted sunglasses. From that view it is a small harmonious village in sun-kissed Northland with a microclimate which allows for tropical fruit to be grown in abundance.

Kerikeri boasts some unique attractions for the casual visitor. Even before you get there from the south you are tempted by the Makana boutique chocolate factory where you can see delicious confections whipped up before your eyes. This is the place to buy macadamia fudge and boxes of choccy treats.

And anyone stopping at some of the larger fruit and vegetable stores on Kerikeri Rd will also see on sale an excellent locally-made avocado oil by Olivado New Zealand. While most of us would like to be seduced by the spirits and liqueurs blended at Bishop's Wood Estate, also on the way in, the township caters for those with more modest tastes: the KeriPie and locally made ice-cream ("22 gourmet flavours") are the more wallet friendly mementos for the palate.

For Aucklanders who can't be bothered with the drive to Coromandel, Kerikeri is where there is the familiar in abundance - that ugly McDonald's, chainstore supermarkets - but also the quaintly historic in the form of the Stone Store and Rewa's Village.

The local attractions are legion: the Fairy Pools and wineries, the steam sawmill, handicraft outlets, potters, llama farmers, crystal worshippers, jewellery makers and outlets for natural cosmetics.

Kerikeri is also a place to make discoveries of your own, even if they are familiar to many. Rainbow Falls just outside of town, for example, reminded us of Hamilton Falls near Austin, Texas which is billed as a major tourist magnet by Austonians. The comparable beauty of Rainbow Falls goes understated in local literature which makes it all the more of a delight to "discover."

And taking the time to stop at the country's only fulltime kaleidoscope makers is worth it. But hardly a discovery since they have been there for about five years and can boast visitors from all parts of the globe.

However making kaleidoscopes for a living, or growing oranges, or turning swamp kauri into wall clock (if that's your thing) seem perfectly valid and comfortable ways of living your life, especially under sunny Northland skies.

What struck us once more was the sheer proliferation of such lifestyle businesses. It almost made us want to give up on the city life and head north.

But as with any casual acquaintance made on holiday, the relationship is seen through a gilded viewfinder. What the day-tripper doesn't hear are complaints from long-serving locals that their rates have increased as the well-heeled arrive in town and set up swanky homes behind manicured hedges.

Kerikeri is tempting but it also seems a beach short of perfection, so we drove home with a car full of chocolates and fruit trees, avocados and oranges leaving the healing crystals people in our exhaust fumes.

But if you are inclined to move to Kerikeri tell it to the nice man at Wharepuke, the subtropical gardens and nursery just up behind the historic Stone Store.

He's bound to smile politely. Again.