When you come into Pirinoa you see a dear little church, just sitting there, with a lovely white fence around it. That’s Burnside Church. It’s like a beacon. Built in 1875, it’s the second oldest building in the area and has always been a meeting place for locals. We don’t have so many church services there now, but that’s what it’s like all around the country. These little churches often get run down and sold off, but this one’s not going to go that way. Over the last fifty years many, many people have given hours of their time to help with the maintenance of this special building.
All religions can use the church. We’ve had funerals there and we have lots of weddings. There are no fancy glass windows, it’s quite plain, but people like getting married there because it’s right out in the country. You look out the main window onto farmland. Lots of people stop just to take photos of it. We’ve put a little donation box on the front lawn and it’s wonderful to see how many people put money in.
My husband Alastair – who I met at a twenty-first in Wellington – was born and bred in the area. We have been married for fifty-five years, which means I’ve been in Pirinoa for fifty-five years now. Time goes very quickly when you’re having fun! Our three sons went to Pirinoa School. A good country school, it has always been the central pivot of the district; if the school is doing well, so is the district.
Most parents take a turn on the school committee. That’s how you meet people. Because most people know each other, it’s a nice community to live in. You mightn’t see some people for months on end, but you keep in touch. Even the children – they may leave the district, but they still keep in touch over the years. When I pop into the Pirinoa Country Store I’ll probably bump into someone I know and end up having a good chat with them. It’s a typical country area where people care for each other.
Pirinoa is a little township. The general store, which first opened in 1882, still supplies us with essentials and household items. The main and only change to it has been the addition of the sale of petrol and alcohol. We call Carmen Harrison, who runs it, the “mayor” of the district. She’s very good.
Early settlers around here had large stations which, over the years, have been subdivided into smaller blocks. The better country has gone from sheep and beef to dairy farms. Before we got old and retired, Alastair and I farmed. Our sons were very lucky to grow up on a farm. There was plenty of space, plenty of trees to climb. They helped around the farm, trapping possums and doing jobs with their father. They also played a lot of tennis and cricket on the front lawn. I recall more than one broken window as a result of sixes trying to be hit over the house! When we retired and sold the farm we kept about one hundred acres, to keep ourselves busy.
Pirinoa is only a ten-minute drive from the coast. You first reach Lake Ferry, named so because in the early days people had to be ferried across Lake Ōnoke to reach the spit or the western shore. When I first came to the area there weren’t many people going down to the coast. Alastair, the boys and I would go on day trips all the way around the coastline, to Ngāwi fishing village and to Cape Palliser Lighthouse, where you could get pāua off the rocks. We’d also go up to the Putangirua Pinnacles. It’s a very rugged coastline, full of geography lessons. Nowadays, on the weekends and even during the week, there are a lot of people going down to the coast. It seems they’ve discovered South Wairarapa! The road over the Remutaka Range is a lot better than it used to be, and the cars too.
There used to be an old blacksmith shop between Pirinoa and Lake Ferry. It has been turned into a cafe, called The Land Girl. Quite often you’ll find a whole lot of Red Band gumboots parked at the door; that’ll be the local farmers who go in for smoko. Looking through the cafe’s visitor book you can see that people from all around the world have visited, as well as from all around New Zealand. It’s a nice meeting place – I’ll ring up a friend I haven't seen for a while and suggest that we go have a lovely cup of coffee.
Alastair and I went to a school play the other day at Pirinoa Hall. There must’ve been over 200 people there, it was absolutely chocka-block! We don’t have grandchildren at the school but we go along to keep in touch with the district. There’s always been great community spirit here.
This story appeared in the Raumati Summer 2022/23 Edition of Shepherdess. You can find your copy at one of our stockists or order one here.
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