Three days plus two friends multiplied by one TrailLite motorhome equals a chance for a short break in the Waikato, writes Helen Van Berkel The first place I wanted to show my friend was the historic Pukekohe East Church, on a windy ridge between Waikato and Auckland. On September 14, 1863, one of the first battles of the Waikato wars was fought here. Unlike many other significant sites around New Zealand, there is little explanation of what happened here more than 160 years ago but the scars are visible: bullet holes pierce the wooden walls of the pretty little church and the shadow of earthworks are also still visible in green banks between the structure and its graveyard.
The tiny cemetery next to the church is crowded with marble crosses and carved tombstones that mark the tragedies of local families, listing the deaths of the young and the old. Slightly off to the side is a large rock, on which the six Māori warriors who died in the battle are remembered with a memorial plaque, although their actual graves are unknown..
