New Zealand Odyssey: Korner Shoppe, Reefton, Westland

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

I imagine that the Coca-Cola people said to the store owner in 1989, 'We'll paint your shop for you for nothing if you'll let it be one enormous ad for our fizz.'. 

I happened to be there on the very day they were painting it. 

The Coca-Cola corporate moguls have never minded being a blot on the landscape but what Reefton's modest citizens thought of it intrigued me; fancy having to look at that outrage every day. 

One thing in its favour: all artists, I suspect, love a genuine opportunity to use red straight out of the watercolour box; I'm no different.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: Two Historic Buildings at Okarito, Westland

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

Okarito and its lagoon are west of the main highway that runs from Haast to Greymouth. Its first claim to fame was as a destination for gold-hungry prospectors in the 19th century but now it is visited because it's the home of white herons (egrets) whose Maori name is Kotuku.

Two old buildings caught my eye in the late 1980s: Donovan's Store (no relation to me) and the local youth hostel.

Donovan's was obviously much older than the YHA house and was probably set up to sell everything imaginable to the gold miners. I don't know when it closed down but Coca-Cola, which, I think, only started distribution in New Zealand in the 1960s managed to get its name up so the shop lasted at least until then.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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Open 7 Days 18. Te Horo Store

I wrote and illustrated ‘Open 7 Days’. It was published in 1991. It’s a series of freeze-frames of some historic New Zealand general and convenience stores as they were preserved in the last decade of the 20th century. Bit by bit, on this blog, I re-publish some of the entries from that book.

TE HORO STORE
Main Road, Te Horo, Horowhenua.
Proprietors: Alan and Ann Stead

The Te Horo Store is the reddest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s far redder than the ‘The Korner Shoppe’ in Reefton. It’s almost as if a secret ingredient had been stirred into Coca-Cola’s reddest-of-red paint especially for Te Horo. It glows like a red pepper at the peak of perfection.

Since 1988 the store has been the postal delivery centre for the area, and it also supplies dairy products, groceries, fruit and vegetables, newspapers, magazines and petrol.

It’s hard to imagine that Te Horo once boasted four stores, a dairy factory and a cheese factory. Like all the little settlements up the Horowhenua coast, it was much affected by the railway that ran like a life force between Wellington, Levin and points north. In 1990 the store probably seems more isolated than it really is; a quick stop on a long, straight, frightening piece of highway, where much of the traffic exceeds the speed limit.

Alan and Ann Stead have been at the store since 1977, having moved a few kilometres south from Levin. Alan estimates the Te Horo Store to date back to about 1910, and although the shop front has obviously been modified, the style of the modilions under the eaves at the side of the building, and the residential portion at the rear, would confirm that date.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz
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Open 7 Days 17. Waverley Fruit Supply

I wrote and illustrated ‘Open 7 Days’. It was published in 1991. It’s a series of freeze-frames of some historic New Zealand general and convenience stores as they were preserved in the last decade of the 20th century. Bit by bit, on this blog, I re-publish some of the entries from that book.

WAVERLEY FRUIT SUPPLY

39 Weraroa Road, Waverley, Taranaki.
Proprietors: Rob and Colleen Hayman

With pinpoint precision, Rob Hayman dates the establishment of his shop as 20 October 1916. It was a Loan and Mercantile stock and station store and continued as such (although later owned by Dalgetys) until 1971, when it was turned into a fruiterers by Parbhu Patel.

Patel - nicknamed ‘Boxer’ - was one of Waverley’s characters. He was particularly famous for a very potent curry powder of his own blending, which is still sold in the Waverley Fruit Supply to gourmets who pop in for it from all points of the compass. ‘Boxer’ Patel lives in Huntly now, having sold the store to Rob and Colleen in 1988.

The match-lined inside walls of the store and the front verandah are original, but the thing that appealed to me most was the colour scheme, which owes nothing to Coca-Cola or Four Square - it came straight out of paint pots of Rob Hayman’s choosing.

Since 1977, when the Haymans moved here from Taihape with the Post and Telegraph Department, Rob has built up a horticulture business growing export melons for Japan and other crops for the local market. This dovetails neatly with his Waverley Fruit Supply, and no doubt accounts for the high quality of the produce.

Creative spelling!

Waverley is a peaceful little town, but there was a particularly nasty battle in the district during the Maori land wars of the 1860s. The town was called Wairoa then, and remains of a redoubt can be seen just along the road from the store.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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