A new town emerged briefly in Hauraki District yesterday after a spelling boo-boo was made on Turua's new sign. Photo/ Karma Vitasovich
A new town emerged briefly in Hauraki District yesterday after a spelling boo-boo was made on Turua's new sign. Photo/ Karma Vitasovich
A Hauraki District Council typo gave the tiny town of Turua a new name for a brief period overnight.
Turua had a population of 1137 at the latest census, but it and other towns in the district are becoming a bit of a hotspot for Aucklanders wanting to find cheap housing.
But the spelling of its name got the best of a council employee who was tasked with writing the new sign at the northern end Hauraki Rd, near the intersection of State Highway 25.
Somehow the Tuarua sign was installed by council contractors on Monday without them also batting an eyelid.
But it was too much for resident Karma Vitasovich who picked up the mistake and posted it on Facebook.
"A new suburb?? Well done Council, very clever. Not!!," one posted.
When contacted, acting Mayor Toby Adams admitted the botch-up was a result of human error. The employee could be reprimanded by having to shout a morning tea, he said.
"It was a mistake by us. Obviously the sign has come out wrong and we're not sure how that happened but it has been picked up and we will be putting in a replacement one. It was just human error."
He said it was likely the result of "Peter not talking to Paul".
"It's a boo-boo."
When suggested it may have been on purpose so Aucklanders wouldn't find the small town, Adams disagreed, saying everyone was welcome in the district, especially those with money from the country's largest city.
He said staff picked up the error on Facebook and believed the sign was only on site for half an hour.
However, residents said it was in situ overnight and were surprised to see it gone so quickly this morning after watching contractors install it.
They said they had been waiting for the new sign since Christmas after the previous one was taken out during a crash.
Turua Dairy owner Narinder Singh hadn't seen the sign during its short tenure and hadn't spoken to any customers that had.
However, he said whoever made the mistake should have known better.
Before finding out that his team made the mistake when contacted by the Herald, Hauraki Mayor John Tregidga, who is in China, said it was a "rather embarrassing mistake and it really shouldn't happen".
"It's a great little town. It's got a great little subdivision going on there and it's close to Thames."
