Hopping on the old Coast Road from Quinn’s hood in Port Chalmers, an epic roadie rolled out ahead. With a carload of 5 amped on Port Royale coffee and anticipation of a craft market promising art/sundries/produce/baking/beats; we were excited enough. It didn’t take long though to realise there was MORE to this stretch of coast itself than rusted railway tracks, and feral chickens scratching at the roadside….
We piled out at Seacliff by the sign above. I reckon it’s one of the best things about warmer weather – seasonal markets that spring up around the place, where you get to see all sorts of projects that locals are busy nibbling away at through the year. Here that includes local bottled raw honey – yum – and some incredible local artists’ work (don’t let the guy below convince you either)
During the 80’s and early 90’s, Seacliff had a reputation as a home for skinheads, punks and Satanists whose extreme clothes, hairdos and attitudes made frequent NZ tabloid news. Those days were also the beginnings of Seacliff’s Winter Solstice Party, where thrash metal ruled. Though we could hear one guy rocking out on electric guitar from the bush up the hill, that all seems pretty distant now – many of those same people still live here, but as you might have guessed they’re now fashion designers, architects and artists. The Solstice party still happens, though it’s now accompanied by drum n’ bass and baked potatoes around a fire..
So onto the part of this town that noone can ignore – and secretly we were all a little excited – The Asylum. In 1884, the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum was opened. In its day it was the largest building in New Zealand (what does that say about kiwis?) With the coming of better treatment, and a more enlightened attitude to mental illness, it was later renamed Seacliff Mental Hospital. Today the site is divided between a picturesque reserve – if you can forget that it’s where all the patients used to wander – and the Asylum Backpackers which uses some remaining hospital buildings. Interestingly, the Backpackers says ‘open’, but is padlocked shut…never mind, something about the colour of that sign makes me uneasy anyway.
to be continued….
