KEY POINTS:
I love Piha. In fact, I love west coast beaches in general.
Compared to the sissy white sand beaches of the east coast, Piha is rugged and unrelenting.
There is absolutely no doubt as to who's the boss when you're dumped unceremoniously into the black sand bottom of
a west coast beach after being caught unawares by a rogue wave.
I love the fact that the houses and baches at Piha, for the most part, blend into the environment. The olive green or the bark brown of the homes seem to say "Don't mind us; we're not really here". Contrast that with the garish pinks and aluminium of the houses and multi-storey apartment buildings that have utterly destroyed Mt Maunganui. Far from complementing the seascape, the buildings shriek at one another, "Just guess how much I sold the farm for".
No, I know where I'd rather spend a day at the beach, so I can understand why so many long-term Piha residents are appalled at the prospect of Marc Ellis's all-day cafe. They fear Piha will become just another Ponsonby, peopled with latte-drinking, designer-wearing, breast-enhanced refugees from reality shows.
They're no doubt fearful that European cars, leased not owned, will be driven far too fast and loudly down the narrow goat tracks that are Piha's roads, shattering the ambience. And God forbid that that should happen.
The late Neil Roberts, who spent considerable time out at Piha, used to call those opposed to change the Ngati WeWereHereFirsts - people who'd found paradise but didn't want anyone else to have it. Which, while amusing, is not really fair.
The Ngati WeWereHereFirsts may have moved out to Piha, but they've kept the village pretty much the same as it was in the 50s, and indeed as it was in the 20s, and they're not opposed to people moving out to Piha - they just want them to think the same way they do.
However, planning commissioners say the site is suitable for a cafe and they're happy for it to go ahead. Protect Piha Heritage, the organisation formed to fight the establishment of the cafe, is considering an appeal, citing the traffic, the noise level and creeping urbanisation of their beautiful beach.
They may be right. It may well be the thin end of the wedge. It's all very well for the cafe's developers to say they love Piha too and they don't want to see the village over commercialised - course they don't.
Having the only cafe in Piha that produces decent coffee and fabulous food will be a licence to print money. I'll just bet they'll fight any more developers wanting a piece of the organic spinach, feta and pine nut pie.
But even Great Barrier Island - which is more Piha than Piha - has cafes that serve decent food.
I know its location deters many visitors - but so too will Piha's. The thought of a decent meal at an iconic beach might initially drag a few more visitors out from Auckland but once they've been stuck in a traffic jam on those long, winding roads for a couple of hours each way, they'll be hightailing it to Takapuna faster than the kids can say "Are we there yet?"
Besides, you can bet that the anti-cafe brigade will be policing the licence better than any council-appointed inspector. Any transgression and the place will be locked up, shut down and recycled into a native bird hatchery.
I think the cafe should proceed - with the utmost of caution.
But then what would I know? I thought lowering the drinking age was a reasonable proposition, too.
