The arrangement is not unique in the world, but Kawakawa is highly unusual in having the main railway running down the main street.

Gabrielle en route to Opua. Photos Johnson Davis.

However it was not the original plan. The town centre was up the hill by the old courthouse, which unfortunately burned down, and the railway as constructed actually ran along the river bank. So all of the north side of the main street is where the river used to run.

Today the railway line only handles the Bay of Islands vintage railway, which trundles a couple of coaches most of the way to Opua and back on a 45 minute journey.

During the school holidays the line operates daily.

Back in the ‘forties New Zealand rail still considered the line to be a ‘mainline’ and had constructed three air-conditioned coaches for its services.

These lasted until the railcars took over in 1956, although ironically the Opua/Kawakawa service ended, and only the Kaikohe branch was served by the ‘improved’ service.

Kawakawa developed during the 1870/80s as a coal mining town, which led to its rail link to the deep-water port of Opua.

The coal was worked out by the early 1900s, but not before the town had become the biggest centre in Northland for a while.

The entrance to the mine was close to the railway station, and a network of tunnels ran “all over the place”, according to local historian Margaret Waikare.

Following the end of coal, the town found a niche as the service hub of the surrounding district.

The Freezing Works at Morewa, the old Bay of Islands County Council, four banks, a major hospital together with a dairy works and a telephone exchange all ensured the town was kept busy and prosperous.

However after about 1985 all of that began to change, and the town started a steady and sad decline as all the major employers began to pull out.

By 1998, as the fourth bank left, the town held a big community meeting to decide what to do.

“People quickly realised we had three vital ingredients to attract tourists,” Margaret said. “We had the train, which had operated successfully for some years despite a hiatus, the Hundertwasser toilets, and plenty of traffic thundering through to the Bay of Islands.

“So although things continued to go downhill for a while, the tourist seed had been sown and things began to turn round albeit slowly.”

Today Kawakawa has an air of bustle and activity, in keeping with its growing reputation as a tourist town.

The Hundertwasser toilets are one of the most unusual and attractive facilities in which to have a pee, and quite justifiably famous.

They were designed by the Austrian architect, artist and ecologist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser who described straight lines as evil and lived in the town for 25 years.

Looking at them today we can only be grateful he got his drawings through the Local Authority planning applications processes intact.

The radicalism of the design might well disqualify them today, but luckily they survived together with their wonderful onomatopoeia. In fact their design is proving to be a magnet for art and design in the area.

A centre dedicated to the man’s life and work in New Zealand is planned, and Richard Smart, a trustee of the Hundertwasser Estate has been completing mosaics in the main street in keeping with the architecture.

On the opposite side of the street, behind the Train-spotter cafe a little museum for the area has opened recently.

It may not be open all the time as it is still manned by volunteers. They are probably from that dedicate band of people with big hearts – as Ali Edwards of Sport Northland said of Kawakawa – “It’s a real community – a small town, with a big heart.”