By Rhonda Bartle

Heart of the community: the Whangamomona Pub

The publican who wondered what she'd done

Publican Clare Grant has a standard retort when asked what she does 'out there in Whanga all day.'  She says, sometimes, when she's not busy, she goes to the toilet.

'I'm only half joking,' the look in her eye says.  She and husband John have been running the pub now for three years. It was common in those earliest days to have people ring and be too busy to talk to them. There's one description for a Whanga publican, she reckons - flat out. 

'For the first two years we just worked so hard. We were busier than we ever thought we could be,' Clare says.

But from the first day they arrived, people were 'just brilliant.' And extremely curious.  'The first Saturday night, you couldn't even move in here. There were two rugby teams and just all these people who came.'

Adding to the chaos of unexpected custom was the mistake of inviting all the family to see what they'd bought, though it did have a beneficial side. 'They all brought food with them; that was good!  It was a walk-in, walk-out deal so we didn't know where anything was.' 

She believes it was only previous experience in a Wellington catering business that got them through.  'I arrived out here with a ham, a whole lot of bread and bag of salad mix,' she laughs.  'We did ham sandwiches. That was our first weekend.  There was no way of knowing what there was or what there was to buy.' 

But generally, the family were horrified with their purchase. 'The hotel was very run down. They were, like, 'What on earth have Clare and John done!'  They've come back since and gone, 'Wow!'' 

If the first step in sorting out the place was to accept the help of three friends, 'two builders and one very handy man,' to help bash it into shape, then step two was smoothing down a few ruffled local feathers.

'We stripped everything off the walls in here and everyone was worried about all their treasures.  The rugby photos used to be in here and we moved them, and they'd come in and say, 'The rugby photos are gone!'  We'd say, 'No, we've just moved them.' This is a museum as much as a pub,' Clare says.

Pub or museum? - a visitor inspects the pub's photo wall

And the hardest thing of all was keeping staff.  'Those first two years, we worked 15 to 18 hours every single day, and still do a lot, but staff is better now than it's ever been.'

A couple of locals now work the bar, along with a girl from Iceland, one from New York, and someone returning to Taranaki after a long stint in the South Island.

Clare Grant pauses long enough to sum the people, the place and the pub up. 'They're just neat people, here. They tend to all mix together, which is very nice. We believe people don't come to a country hotel unless they want to meet people.  Sometimes people ring up and say, 'Have you got pokie machines?'  And I say, 'No.  We talk to each other around here.'

Republic Day a benefit for all

Tania Bedwell knows the Whanga pub well.  As secretary for Republic Day, all meetings are held here, and on Saturday nights she pulls pints behind the bar.  'We arrived 19 years ago, went away for eight years, came back seven years ago.  We shouldn't have left,' she says.

Husband Warwick's family has farmed in the area for 22 years.  Now that his dad's retired, Warwick and Tania have bought half the farm.  'It's natural for sons to come back here,' Tania says.

She's pretty much been involved in Republic Day from its conception in 1989, after a bureaucratic bungle aligned Whangamomona with Wanganui-Wairarapa instead of Taranaki where it had always been.  Upset by the local body restructuring, residents decided to cede from the rest of New Zealand and become Whangamomona Republic.

Tania describes the most recent Republic Day, held on 15 January 2005, as 'Fantastic, successful and sort of chaotic!  You don't ever know what's going to happen, what people are going to do!'

For example, the advertised possum skinner went away to Auckland and no one knew when or if he was coming back.  'We don't have contingency plans,' she says.

During Republic Day, volunteers and committee members welcome in the hordes of bewildered visitors and sell Whangamomona Republic passports for $3, with the option of paying another 50c to have them 'officially' stamped.  'There were lines and lines at the passport office,' Tania says.

Although a head count wasn't actually done, it's thought the usual township population of 14 (or 40 if you move the lines out a little) swelled to a massive 4000, if passport sales were anything to go on.

Republic Day crowds outside the pub

'Passports ran out at one end of town around 1.30pm.  After a mad dash up to the other, we managed to have enough,' Tania says.  'We had nearly 3,000 passports and then we had the train passengers, who had passports as well.'

Four special trains pulled into the station that day, from as far away as Hamilton and Auckland.  As a cool interactive stunt this year, the Whanga Payroll was travelling by rail, only to be 'stolen' when it reached town.

This provided a good reason to stage a 'shootout' in the main street, with gangster cars and the sheriff riding in on his horse to corale the baddies.

Combine this theatre with the traditional events such as Whanga's famous Gumboot throwing competitions, the Gut Buster hill climb, the Sheep races, and Republic Day 2005 went down just fine.

It's a way of collecting money 'first and 'foremost' for the two district schools - Marco and Whangamomona - as well as for the hall and camping domain.  With Republic Day run as a charitable trust, funding is allotted to fill community needs. 'People put in quotes for their club or whatever and we're able to give them what they want,' Tania says.

With just 20 pupils between them, both schools are struggling.  'It's hard to attract teachers here. We advertise and end up with bugger all applicants.  I don't think people realise that once they get here there's heaps to do.'

While Republic Day is the biggest event of the year, the old Whanga Road, a 20km stretch of rutted papa track between Whangamomona and Aotuhia is one of the biggest draw cards with 4WD vehicle, quad and motorbike riders lining up to go the distance. 

The landscape on either side is awe-inspiring, with stands of native bush, vertical drops down to the river, two swing bridges and the impressive Bridge to Somewhere. 

Whangamomona also sees endurance riding, dog trialling, and the Great New Zealand Horse Trek which was held last year. 

According to Tania, 'Access is no longer difficult; it's all reasonably good road. Okay,' she smiles, 'It's a bit of drag if you have to go back and forth to Stratford or New Plymouth, but I wouldn't swap it.' 

Though Whangamomona is a shadow of its former self, the Republic Day committee hopes to make improvements that will count.

'We would like to see the whole town done up nice and tidy, and in its own style, as much for the people who live here, as for visitors,' Tania says. 'The pub's been all done up. It's beautiful. That pub is what makes the town.  It's a great place to come for dinner.  And now we've got Marg's (M&M's Bed and Breakfast and café) across the road.  We've got two choices.'

Whangamomona isn't diminishing as much as standing still.  In 1940, the town boasted a railway station, post office, three churches, school, police station, public hall and council chambers - everything it seems, including the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.

No sale: the shops have long closed

These days only the B&B and Café and the garage is operating, though of course, there's always the pub, 'the main artery of the place,' to keep pumping life blood and beer throughtout the district.