THE BEACHLIFE ARCHIVES:
A selection of our favourite people and feature stories archived for history.
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The Golfer: Peter Rouse The term “living legend” is often over-used these days but in some instances the description is apt. Never more so for one man who lives amongst us—the Wainui Beach man who can best be described as “The Golfer”.
Tragedy in the Tropic of Capricorn: The mystery death of popular local man Ian "Snow" Francis while surfing a remote location in Western Australia.
The Day The Whales Died: On a stormy day in March of 1970 59 sperm whales swam into the shallows at the northern end of Wainui Beach and died in a seething bloody mass.
The Muriel Jones Story: Keeping up with Mrs Jones. Looking back at the remarkable life of Muriel Jones.
The Surfing Way of Life: An exploration of the surf culture and the history that defines life at our beaches. Plus lots of old photos.
The Bob Rasby Story: Once at the forefront of the world’s surfboard industry our Bob has been knocked down, but he’s not out.
The Season of the Orca: Amazing photographs by Tom Grimson and a look back at the visits from the orca pods in the autumn and spring of 2008.
A Place By The Sea: The history of the settlement of Wainui and Makorori beaches from pre-European times.
California Dreaming: They dream of California as it used to be – but know the place they loved has changed forever. Sarah and Peter Dixon are an American couple, with recent New Zealand residency, who discovered Gisborne six years ago and have found a facsimile of their old Californian lifestyle here at Wainui Beach.
General and People Stories: Peter Stewart, Trevor Herk and the Big Water recording; Tom Dalton; Laurie Lautmann and Frank Russell; Rogan Houghton; Darnelle Timbs; Christie Carter; Stephanie Brown; Ila Robertson; Lauren Marriott
The Joan Coates Story: Joan Coates has been a well-known personality in Gisborne or over half a century, most of those years spent living here at Wainui Beach.
Last Wave for Salty Dog: An obituary for Ray Hawthorne, a Wainui character and one of our oldest surfers
One of Nature's True Gentlemen – John Moxley: An obituary for John Moxley, a Wainui character and a legend in the New Zealand wool industry.
Daren's fight against foreign fishers: Okitu man and fishing consultant Daren Coulston is so outraged at the current direction of the New Zealand fishing industry he has started a national campaign to bring about change.
Isobel believes in yesterday: While most of us are thinking about what tomorrow brings, Isobel Coulsten of Winifred Street loves to immerse herself in yesterday. As part of her big interest in things historic, Isobel is currently busy with an ongoing local project researching and archiving old school admission records in the Gisborne, East Coast and Wairoa areas for the New Zealand Society of Genealogists.
