The bay belle

By ALISON HARWOOD

It was the coastline of Eastbourne that inspired Katherine Mansfield to write one of her best-loved short stories, At the Bay.

"As the morning lengthened whole parties appeared over the sand hills and came down to the beach to bathe. The beach was strewn with little heaps of clothes and shoes: the big summer hats, with stones on them to keep them from blowing away looked like immense shells," wrote Mansfield, whose father built a family bach at Days Bay.

Although Mansfield helped to put the area on the literary map, the coastline had been a popular recreational venue for Wellingtonians since the mid-19th century. A settler, J.H. Williams, bought the land at Days Bay for sterling 100 and used his ferry, the Duco, to take people to his picnic grounds and pavilion.

During the summer the shoreline was littered with changing sheds for bathers who where modestly dressed from head to toe for their sea dip. Picnics on the lawn, parties and balls were organised at Days Bay House, a smart 50-room hotel which now houses Wellesley College.

By early this century the entertainment included a water chute, donkey rides, sideshows, boat hire and, for the daring, a ride in Captain Noah Jonassen's hot-air balloon.

The construction of the Rona Bay wharf in 1906 gave visitors access to Eastbourne village and to the surrounding bush walks.

Today, some charming examples of the old Kiwi bach remain but as real-estate prices soar, many have been knocked down. For Aucklanders visiting Eastbourne, it may feel like the Devonport of Wellington, surrounded by bush. The middle-class jostle with the bohemian, the wharf is a popular place to eat fish and chips, visitors eat ice creams as they walk the promenade lined with cafes and galleries, and the tight community (population of the Eastbourne area is around 5000) is made up of fiercely loyal families who will probably never leave.

Some locals boast that the area enjoys its own microclimate which refuses to toe the line with Wellington's miserable weather. Agapanthas, introduced as a firebreak, flourish unaided, as does regenerating flax, ngaio, rhododendrons and bromeliads. Tui and kereru are plentiful.

Like Devonport, the drive to the city is about 25 minutes, but a trial in peak-hour traffic. Many locals commute by catching the ferry into Queens Wharf in Wellington, which takes about 30 minutes and costs about $14 return. The crossing is made up to eight times a day and sometimes stops at Matiu-Somes Island in Wellington Harbour.

The island was once a large Maori settlement and became the site of a prisoner-of-war camp in the world wars. It is now a Department of Conservation reserve and a favourite with picnickers, historians and bush and wildlife lovers.

The East Harbour Regional Park, on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour, comprises the public land between Wainuiomata, Eastbourne and the coast to Baring Head. It has walks to the popular Butterfly Creek, and tracks around Lowry Bay, Days Bay, York Bay and Pt Howard.

Eastbourne is the gateway to the Pencarrow Coast, which offers a rugged walking and mountain-biking track to New Zealand's first lighthouse, built in 1858 on the hilltop at Pencarrow Head, and Baring Head, one of the southernmost points of the North Island. The walk from Burdan's gate, just past Eastbourne, is two hours to Pencarrow and three to Baring Head.

The track passes several wrecks, including the Devon from 1913 and the Inconstant from 1849, the remains of a Maori fishing village and a freshwater and saltwater lake.

EASTBOURNE


GETTING THERE: Eastbourne is about 25 minutes drive from Wellington city. The ferry from Queen's Wharf to Days Bay sails up to eight times daily and takes 30 minutes.

WHAT TO DO: There are good beaches, shopping, cafes, and bush walks and biking trails along the Pencarrow Coast.

ACCOMMODATION: Pencarrow Lodge, on an 800ha sheep-station overlooking the Kaikoura Ranges, offers a day venue for conferences, weddings, parties and lunch groups. Visitors can watch sheep mustering, go horse riding, trout fishing or bush walking. Ph (04) 564 8801.

The only overnight accommodation is bed and breakfast at Days Bay, (self-contained) Lowry Bay and York Bay.

MORE INFO: 0800 733 327.

For a comprehensive outline of what to do in the capital visit the city's Tourist Website. It boasts 10 must-dos for our capital city: Take a helicopter flights over the city, catch a theatre show, visit Te Papa, ride the cable car ad walk back through the botanical gardens, stroll around the waterfront, climb to the Mt Victoria lookout, sample the nightlife at Courtenay Place, take a morning coffee in an open-air cafe and drive around the bats to watch the surfers at Lyall Bay.