Russell - Kororareka

Image Credits: Anchorage of Kororareka (Bay of Islands) Mouillage de Korora-Reka(Baie des Iles), 1842, by Louis Le Breton, Leon Sabatier. Purchased 2002. Te Papa, Kororareka Beach, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, circa 1840, by Thomas Gardiner. Purchased 1993 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

The question 'How sweet is the little blue Penguin', is the question posed by the Maori name for Kororareka, a fortified pa turned settler town which also bears several other dubious honours. Upon the arrival of the first Europeans, before a name change to 'Russell', the town was known as the "Hellhole of the Pacific", haunt of British and foreign whalers, renegade seamen, criminals and various other of humanity’s offscourings and for the debauchery that took place there despite the early establishment of strong Christian missions and the strong culture of Northern and Southern Ngapuhi. Today’s Russell is as far removed from its early history as it is possible to be – beautiful, tranquil, and centrepiece of the equally beautiful and tranquil Bay of Islands. Among the attractions in the town are Pompallier House and the flagpole felled four times by Hone Heke.

Russell is an easy 31/2 hours’ drive from Auckland via Whangarei, Kawakawa to Opua and car ferry to Okiata. An alternative route is the now fully tar-sealed Old Russell Road north of Whangarei. This is a picturesque, if sometimes winding, road travelling past coastal bays and in parts through native bush. Many visitors travel to Russell by one route and return by the other. Russell has enough “must see” places that the town is virtually a museum in its own right. The Duke of Marlborough Hotel, for instance. The hotel stands on a site purchased in 1827 and still holds New Zealand’s No 1 hotel licence, first issued in 1840. The present building is the fourth structure and was built in 1932. The Police Station, next door to the hotel, was originally the Custom House. It was built in 1870 of heart kauri. The huge tree on the roadside outside the station is a Moreton Bay fig.

There are several short walks around Russell of historical and scenic interest.

ACTIVITIES AROUND RUSSELL

Russell Bay of Islands by Peter Morath

Panoramic Poster of Russell, Bay of Islands by Richard Hume