90 Stornoway Street, Karitane, Dunedin City

Karitane

Dunedin City Walks

If you are travelling on the main north-south road from Christchurch to Dunedin, take the time to deviate from the highway and follow the coastal road through Karitane, Seacliff and Warrington.

You meet the main highway again at Evansdale where the well-known cheese factory originated. These villages to the east side of busy State Highway 1 are infrequently visited, despite the beauty of the scenes around them. Perhaps this is why they retain their sense of isolation and peacefulness.

The winding and undulating nature of the road forces you to slow down and appreciate the stunning views of the coast. Make sure you stop at the lookout point on the hill above Karitane for a superb view of the Karitane and Waikouaiti beaches and the Huriawa Peninsula.

Karitane is bounded on two sides by beach and the Waikouaiti River where fishing boats anchor. The beach is beautiful, or a reserve near the mouth of the river makes an ideal picnic spot. The Huriawa Peninsula rises steeply out of the sea at the north end of the beach. Maori recognised the commanding position and other attributes of this area long before Pakeha arrived, and several Pa were located here including Te Pa a Te Wera the remains of which can be visited, and Huriawa Peninsula, which is a Wahi Tapu (sacred) area, even though it is partly given over to residential purposes.

In 1837, Karitane became the site of a whaling station. With that came drunkenness and violence. Three years later Johnny Jones, a whaler and local landowner, brought out from Sydney a Methodist missionary to raise the tone of the area. The Reverend James Watkin found his task daunting. He described Karitane as ‘Purgatory’ to Charles Creed who succeeded him. Watkin had, nevertheless, made some progress with conversions and establishing mission schools. On the terrace above the riverbank reserve there is a cairn where Watkin delivered the first Christian sermon in Otago on 17 May, 1840.

Image Credit: Derek Smith and Maclean Barker Photographers and Benjamin Allcock

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