Only 40 min from Invercargill and off-the-beaten-track, is a beautiful little village called Riverton, the Paua capital of New Zealand and more.The Cultural Heritage Te Hikoi Museum, is just one of many reasons to stay here for a while. Riverton does have it’s very own Peter Jackson, Mr Dave Ussher, a man with endless skill for re-creating a visual story – the faces of the mannequins are so real!
The Te Hikoi Southern Journey is told by film in the Sailing Ship Theatre where actors relive a vital part of Southland history. From there, visitors walk through exhibits replicating the film’s journey. There’s a continuous video of elderly folk (many of them now deceased) telling their story – like the sixteen year old with toothache who bike 16 km to the dentist to have her teeth pulled and just made it home in time to milk the cows! The Riverton locals never retire. Ex-farmer and mother-of-six, Catherine Hill, now edits the Riverton’s local paper.
The true essence of Riverton lies in it’s people – the locals, who in the 3 days we’ve been here, have been so incredibly helpful and friendly. Just in the space of one morning, we’ve met the Manager of the Te Hikoi Southern Journey, Carole Power, the town nurse who just happened to be passing by and Benita Dudfield, of Paua Shoppe…
… and I had no idea how versatile Paua can be. Here, beautiful and original Paua jewellery is made on the premises at very affordable prices.
Riverton is fantastic trout country but I love the fact that is great for biking. Michael swept aside the bedroom curtains this morning to reveal a beautiful blue-skied day… and a grumpy wife woken from a sound sleep. But it didn’t take me long to see that it was not the day for sleeping in. Folks, I just gotta say, biking a short distance from the town and coming across these scenic sights just swept me away from a world of worry.
Biking onwards and upwards around the coastline, we came across a walking track from where we walked down to this:
The birdlife around here is plentiful and in such an underpopulated area, they fly quite close to you. I’ve just spotted a group of shags sunning themselves on a these rocks in the background and like me, enjoying the dramatic surf.
Magical moments are made of these…sea swallows, with angel wings and such elegant fliers.
Riverton is a little ‘ripper’ of a place to stay and although we’re glad it’s not attracting the ‘selfie-stick brigade, we’d like to see more FIT travellers stopping for a while along this beautiful route to experience a piece of authentic heartland. I’ve become used to being away from the crowds and that’s such a sweet thing.
Happy Travelling.
