For 32 years now local identity Ian Hardie has plied the waters of Whāingaroa Harbour at the helm of a distinctive wee blue-canopied cruise boat; and don’t expect him to weigh anchor on a job he loves any time soon.
As adventure and eco-tourism boom, he’s hooking – in his own laidback fashion – into a “growth industry” which includes regularly ferrying groups of cyclists across the harbour and even teaching foil surfing from his boat, the Harmony ll.
Come summertime he could also be offering the likes of tea and scones to visitors across the harbour at the 120-year-old Te Akau station homestead, the grand old villa which can be seen perched high on the hill across the harbour from the downtown Bow St jetty.
This is the old station manager’s house which Ian and wife Jo recently moved into, after having previously occupied the nearby woolshed for 15 years. The villa is now the focus of a restoration project which involves sanding, plastering, painting and myriad other jobs such as fixing up the sash windows so they work properly again.
It’s where the afternoon teas will be served up along with facts of historical interest that go right back to 1834 when the first Europeans – Reverend James Wallis and his wife Mary – landed on these northern shores of the harbour, an area historically known as Te Horea.
Ian loves this side of the harbour. It’s an area rich in history with “world class scenery”, he says, not least of which are the 30-million year old sedimentary pancake rocks formed largely from once-living organisms called zooplankton.
He recalls that early on he was “really enthusiastic” and would take visitors right up to Waingaro Landing and to the Okete waterfall, but his emphasis now is on the sights closer to home.
Ian praises Steve Reid from Raglan Kayak & Paddleboard as having done much to help promote the pancake rocks and unique cliff formations directly across from Raglan township. The AA Traveller magazine’s touting of the area as “this remarkable stretch of coastline accessible only by water” has also reinforced its must-see reputation.
Ian now does “lots of trips,” keeping things slow and focusing on all the nooks and crannies of the rocky outcrops. “To me, this is the nicest part of the harbour,” he adds. “It’s why I do this (job).”
Besides catering to tourists, Ian regularly takes local groups like the iHub centre staff and Raglan Ramblers across the harbour. In recent times he’s also ferried across harbour a growing cycling clientele typically en route down country from Auckland via the Nikau Caves and Te Akau Coast Rd, or vice versa.
The Harmony ll takes up to seven bikes and riders at a time and has become known – in part because of a recent mention in the Kennett brothers’ popular cycling guidebooks – simply as the bicycle ferry.
Ian himself came to Raglan way back in 1978 as a young surfie from Timaru, and ended up staying. The surf was pumping, he recalls, attracting mainly Aussies and Americans back then.
While he soon had work in the form of a floor-sanding business, a back injury forced Ian to focus more on his love of boats. Offering harbour cruises was to be something “fun” and “not too serious”, he said at the time.
He bought his first boat hull as an unfinished project and worked with a Tamahere boat-builder to get it done in time for the summer of ‘91. Meantime he gained a permit to take passengers on the harbour through what is now Maritime New Zealand, and a skipper’s ticket through Waikato Polytechnic (which was also to hold him in good stead when he later skippered the Wahine Moe).
Ian named his first vessel after Harmony, the original 1920s harbour cream boat, and Raglan Harbour Cruises was born. After 15 years plying the waters, Harmony ll was retired and replaced with its namesake – the boat which is a common sight these days at the Bow St jetty.
The original Harmony ll now sits in his backyard across the harbour in need of a little tender loving care – but he’s working on it to bring it back to life.
“It’s been on hold for a long time,” he adds nostalgically.
By Edith Symes
