'Killer' moves to warmth

Turangi identity Kelvin ' Killer' Cornish (pictured) has called time on 48 years living in the area and has moved north with his wife to warmer weather and a seaside bach.

When Kelvin 'Killer' Cornish arrived in Turangi at the age of 24 to take up a job as a butcher he had no idea it was going to be the start of a very long association that would leave a lasting legacy.

The forthright 71-year-old has made the most of his time in Turangi, playing an active part in the community, including a brief stint in the 1980s as a Turangi community councillor when he decided he was "not cut out for politics".

He was also instrumental in helping establish and develop the Tongariro National Trout Centre - one of the region's most popular visitor attractions.

The former King Country Rugby player played alongside rugby greats like Colin and Sam Meads in his early 20s when he says the side was a "force to be reckoned with".

He says the nickname 'Killer' was coined during his rugby days but insists it had nothing to do with having a killer instinct!

He continued playing for King Country after shifting to Turangi but quit to take care of more pressing commitments after falling in love.

Wife-to-be Keitiria hailed from Northland but was working in a supermarket and playing part-time in a local band in Turangi..

"In those days there was no money for rugby players. We had to pay for our own socks, boots and shirts and travel to Te Kuiti and Taumarunui, and being a butcher I had to get out of bed early."

He says Turangi was a vibrant town and everyone was fully employed.

Being a keen hunter, fisherman and golfer there was always plenty to do in what spare time he had.

That included a lengthy stint on the Turangi Lions Club and 12 years as chairman of the Turangi Golf Club greens committee when the club was in its fledgling years.

He also spent 40 years working with Search and Rescue. The couple, who had a young daughter, took an active part in the community and Keitiria had a reputation for opening up her home to any kids who needed a feed.

Killer's membership of the Turangi Lions Club and a love of fishing and the outdoors saw him come up with the concept of developing a trout hatchery viewing chamber and further development of a fishing pond.

"We did a road survey on how many cars went past the town and how it would increase, and what is here today grew from that."

Everyone's skills were utilised from local labourers to the Italian contractors working on the hydro development.

"We worked on the project every weekend for 52 weeks coordinating things."

In conjunction with the local prison, club members organised inmates to work on the hatchery development.

Excellent people skills and supervisory abilities led to Killer being offered a job working with the inmates.

He remained at the prison for the next 30 years spending 22 years as an intelligence and crime prevention officer.

One of the top velveting stags from Killer and Keitiria's Pukawa lifestyle block. The couple have sold up and moved to Northland after 48 years in the Turangi area.

He says the beauty of Turangi was the community spirit.

"I had come from a small town where people got together over a keg of beer and a feed and that's how it was done in all small towns, including Turangi."

Killer says a host of health and safety and other regulations have put paid to that and he laments the loss of that easy community camaraderie that saw things done easily without a lot of red tape.

In the early 1990s the couple bought a lifestyle block near Pukawa covered in scrub and blackberry and developed it as a deer block building it up to eventually run up to 40 velveting stags with a reputation as one of the top herds in the country.

Killer became one of the original members of The Oreti Fishing Club formed by a group of locals who got together once a week in an old garage before moving to clubrooms at Oreti Lodge.

Killer says although they have a lot of fun they have also also done a bit for the community, raising around $13,000 in donations for Search and Rescue, Turangi Coastguard and local pest management groups in Pukawa and Kuratau.

He says while they will miss their friends it's finally time for a change and he's looking forward to living in a warm climate by the sea at Tapeka in the Bay of Islands.

"It's a wrench to leave but friends can come up and see us."

As for full retirement, that's not on the cards. Killer is planning to do a bit of fishing and help out a couple of mates who own oyster farms and a beef unit.

Killer says leaving Turangi is just another step in life rather than the end of an era and they leave with no regrets.

"Turangi has been good to us.

"We've done our time and loved it."