Taste of Deep South up north

By COLIN MOORE

Travellers to the Far North were puzzled by the strange structure that rose from a swamp on the northern outskirts of Kaeo in the winter of 1998.

When a floor went down on its wooden piles it created an octagonal platform which was eventually surrounded by wooden walls. On top was a small tower that was too far from nearby Whangaroa Harbour to be for observing ships.

Had Kaeo, which has seen better days, been chosen as the temple site for some New Age religious sect?

When a sign went up announcing Janit's Texas Diner, the best little roadhouse south of Texas, it was just as intriguing.

Kaeo has managed to hang on to its hospital, and a fish-processing plant in the old dairy factory is being expanded. But the town, close and all as it is to Whangaroa, hardly seems a likely spot to start up a restaurant - octagonal or not.

The intrigue was finally dispelled when, in deference to the promised exodus from Auckland, we delayed our Easter departure north and arrived in Kaeo in time for breakfast.

Now there is one thing that I will concede that Americans do better than anyone and that is cook a breakfast. Crisp, streaky bacon leaves the Pommy variety for dead and when you ask for eggs sunny side up, that is exactly what you'll get. And it's usually a relatively cheap meal, in a land where the price of restaurant meals tends to be high.

We might have been fewer than 30 minutes from the bach but the roadside blackboard announcing Janit's all-day wonderful breakfast was irresistible.

And so it proved. Two eggs, bacon American style, griddle-fried potatoes, toast and marmalade, along with a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and finished off with fresh coffee. Superb.

The diner is the creation of Texan Janit Wade-Ferrell and husband Greg, an ex-pat Sydneysider.

They arrived in New Zealand 20 years ago, he to take up a partnership in a long-line fishing boat during the snapper-fishing boom, she to take a rest from the rigours of her chilli restaurant in Los Angeles.

The restless Janit ended up working as a deckhand on the same fishing boat as Greg, and when her restaurant was run into the ground by the manager she left in charge, the choice between LA or Kaeo and Greg became no contest.

The couple bought their own fishing boat and lived on it for seven years, following the catch up and down the coast. They came ashore when their son was born 13 years ago, buying 6.5ha on the outskirts of Kaeo.

Their land is on either side of State Highway 10, half of it a hill on which they built their home, the other half swampy terrain fronting the Kaeo River that soon flows into the familiar fishermen's haven of the Whangaroa Harbour.

The Wade-Ferrells grew hydroponic flowers, vegetables and native trees. Six years ago, when they began to sell produce from the roadside, they needed to wrest a carpark from the swamp.

So they bulldozed out a lake to obtain fill and the idea of a miniature theme park was born.

Janit's Texas Diner is the centrepiece of what will eventually be a pleasant tourist diversion in a region where there is not a lot to do apart from photographing the scenery and fishing.

There will be Canadian canoes and punts on the lake and the chance to canoe the Kaeo River. (I've done it and it is ideal for novice paddlers.) The former swamp is now blooming with young trees.

The couple also have plans to sell vegetables from the back of a covered wagon.

The diner has been underwater on the odd occasion but it is safe to suggest it is indeed the best little roadhouse south of Texas.

We went back for an evening meal - Texas-style chilli, huge Texas hamburgers, a barbecue beef sandwich and a Scotch fillet steak and bottomless cups of Columbian coffee.

The diner closes after Queen's Birthday weekend for more development but you can be sure we'll be back again when it re-opens in October.