As the rain pelts down in Pūhoi, Jayne Rankin and Kevin Hirst are clutching lunchtime gold: $17.50 newspaper-wrapped oysters and chips, which they’ll spirit home to Mangawhai.
They’re outside the Pūhoi General Store, surveying the small village. Across the road, the historic, one-room wooden library is surrounded by fencing, the building still under repair after being flooded last year.
There are a dozen or so cars in the Pūhoi Pub carpark – including a couple of 1950s Chevy Bel Airs – but their owners are nowhere to be seen. The pub’s garden tables lie empty under the persistent rain – patrons have been forced to cosy up inside.
For decades, Pūhoi – 50km north of Auckland – has played host to weekend and weekday road-trippers, with collectors’ cars and motorbikes a regular sight.
However, over the past 18 months, since the opening of the new Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway, and before that, with the closure of the cheese factory’s cafe, some local businesses have seen a sizeable drop in customers.
“It’s famous and it’s beautiful,” says Jayne Rankin of the village, which was settled by Bohemian immigrants in 1863.
“People should be coming here. We’re not coming as often as we used to – it used to be three or four times a year.”
She says it’s now a logistical nightmare with the way the motorway interchange at Pūhoi has been constructed.
There’s an off-ramp for motorists coming north from Auckland and an on-ramp heading back south.
But there’s no on-ramp to get back on the motorway to go north and there’s no off-ramp coming south.
It means if you’re stopping in Pūhoi as you travel from Auckland to Northland, you can’t get back on the new motorway. You have to use the old road for 17km.
Meanwhile, motorists travelling south from Warkworth can’t get off the new motorway at Pūhoi – they either have to use the old road from Warkworth or travel all the way down the new motorway to Ōrewa, through the toll gates, and then come back north.
Some locals squarely blame NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) for what they say was a baffling decision not to have four proper on and off-ramps – two on each side.
They also say there needs to be better signage on the motorway – especially at the Warkworth end – advising motorists of the most direct way to Pūhoi.
Pūhoi Tea Rooms owner Steven Roach talks of the “vibe” of Pūhoi.
“It’s magic – people are awesome. Everyone sticks together. When we had the floods last year, it was a huge community [clean-up effort].”
People helped the owner of the flooded general store while others had their tools and chainsaws out, clearing away slips and fallen logs.
“There’s always politics but on the surface it doesn’t appear to be there. Everyone gets on. I couldn’t name a feud in Pūhoi. People like to live their lives.”
Roach and his wife Stephanie first bought a property in Pūhoi about 13 years ago. After Covid, they decided to sell their city home and live permanently in Pūhoi. They bought the tearooms about two and a half years ago, for lifestyle reasons. “My commute at the moment is about two metres,” says Roach.
The tea rooms’ scones are renowned. Roach didn’t have a set recipe handed down from the previous proprietors. Instead, it took some weeks of trial and error, before he landed on the right mix. “There was lots of testing of recipes – the chickens got really fat,” he laughs.
But over the past year, business has not been where it should be. On the very worst day recently, the Pūhoi Tea Rooms had no customers at all. Roach estimates business is down about 20% overall.
He says it’s not sustainable. “We will wait for money to run out and then get a job. It’s a lifestyle choice.”
There are rumours the cheese factory – now owned by Goodman Fielder – may reopen its cafe further up the road. That will bring more visitors.
He says locals have appealed to NZTA to rectify the roading system.
At the Slow Water Trading Post, owner Sheryl Papprill is confident the village is slowly bouncing back. She’s been in the village about 40 years and started her landmark, well-known business 15 years ago. “It’s a neat little town and it’s got so much to offer. Even in the rain, it’s pretty.”
When the motorway first opened, the number of visitors slowed considerably. “We have lost a lot of customers from up north who haven’t realised they can’t get off to Pūhoi. It’s been a bit tricky.”
But she’s now starting to notice more tourists visiting her shop, specialising in Native American and other American products, which she imports on annual visits to the US.
“We have to keep reinventing Pūhoi, keep pushing it and realise what makes Pūhoi unique.”
That’s certainly what’s happened across the road at the local pub.
Gary Levert and Bernie McCallion bought the pub in 2019 - the first ownership change in 60 years - and their daughter Jena Murtagh manages it. Locals have said they love the fact it was bought by a family, not a corporation. It’s been upgraded without losing any of its charm or nostalgia.
An NZTA spokeswoman confirms the agency is looking to improve its motorway signage.
“There have been a number of upgrades to signage to better highlight Pūhoi, including additional southbound signage at the roundabout,“ she says. “Further changes are currently being considered.”
But the bigger issue of the on- and off-ramps is more complex – and expensive.
“There are a number of factors NZTA considers when finalising the design of its projects. These include cost, geography, environmental impacts, demand, community views and links with other relevant infrastructure, amongst other factors,” the spokeswoman says.
“We do not expect enough demand for north-facing ramps in the near future and therefore they were not included in the Ara Tūhono-Pūhoi to Warkworth project. South-facing ramps were added following feedback during the consultation stage, to preserve the access to the motorway south to Auckland.”
The spokeswoman does say the current designation has enough space for future ramps should they be required, “and the design is capable of retrofitting northbound and southbound off-ramps within the designation”.
“North-facing ramps present a number of engineering and environmental challenges, and would require another bridge over the Pūhoi River, at significant cost. This would only be considered if there was significant growth or change in the planning environment.”
Where emergency vehicles are able to use part of the old road at the Johnstones Hill tunnels as a ramp, this was not possible for other vehicles. “To achieve safe access for general traffic at this location would require an on-ramp to motorway standards. This would require significant engineering works.”
Part of the issue might be in the laid-back nature of locals. Undoubtedly, some locals probably love that there are fewer travellers passing through, but as one resident says, the tranquillity isn’t going to pay the bills.
Pūhoi has always been a destination – and that’s where the marketing secret might lie.
Back at the general store, with oysters and chips in hand, Jayne Rankin and Kevin Hirst tell of happy memories visiting the pub, meeting friends and enjoying the hot rods and other vehicles that pass through.
“It’s a fabulous spot, a taonga.
“Look at Waipū – when they changed State Highway 1 years and years ago, Waipū suffered for years but now it’s a completely different town.”
She urged authorities to think about the impact their planning decisions had on small towns and villages.
“Think about the access to smaller areas that are such an integral part of New Zealand. Make them accessible but also keep them precious.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor
Fire and Emergency was on standby for an early flight from Auckland to Napier today.