Heartland - Kaipara

The eighth wonder of the world is the way I see it, yeah. It's a sheltered harbour, and further out it's pretty wild, but up in the rivers and bays here, everyone can drop a line over and catch a fish...

– A Kaipara resident explains why he loves the area, at the start of this episode

The Dalmatians of Dargaville settled the northern reaches of the Kaipara over a 100 years ago. But they're not the only people to settle the harbour: the Māori built their pās on the headlands. The Europeans came to exploit the great stands of kauri, and the Kaipara was their food basket.

– Presenter Gary McCormick on the settlement of Kaipara, early in this episode

Helensville sits at the southern end of the harbour, and people passed this way en route to the gum fields and kauri forests in the north. The boom period ended when the kauri finally ran out. In 1947 the harbour was officially closed and Helensville, the town with its back to the water, became a backwater.

– Presenter Gary McCormick on Helensville's history

Well I feel the Kaipara is a challenge because it's not an easy harbour to work, because of the large rise and fall of the tide. It is quite satisfying that you can work it and be successful in it . . . it's not an easy harbour by any means.

– 'Queen of the Kaipara' Flora Thirkettle on fishing in the Kaipara Harbour

We came up from Christchurch about 20, 30 years ago, and we got to know the harbour, got to enjoy the place. And we bought a little houseboat and a fishing licence, and headed off down the harbour, and probably spent about three years doing that I suppose, living on the boat. Had a few kids and things in that time, it's good isn’t it, good years?

– Peter Yardley on moving to Kaipara for the lifestyle

It's ever-changing. The wind comes in and blows another sandhill, it changes all the time with the elements . . . It's the sort of scenery and vastness that not all people like. But if they do like it and it turns their crank, well, they want to come back and bring their friends.

– Logan Forest on the remarkable Kaipara landscape, at the end of this episode

It's been overfished in the last few years, and that causes a lot of tension and strife amongst the fishermen. What I've got here is big mesh flounder nets, five-inch mesh. The legal limit is four and a half inches for flounder and it's too small — the fish caught are too small . . . You can't guarantee the fish have had a chance to breed, and if they haven't bred and you catch them, well you know, you’re just killing your resource.

– Fisherman Peter Yardley on preventing overfishing