Where to look?

Parakai

I must admit I have a little history with Helensville and Parakai. Many happy days spent with a good friend in the district many moons ago. Swimming in the river (probably not advisable these days) and a few days hay baling that still make my arms ache with the mere thought. My parents also built a house there in the 90's and with regular visits over years, including lots of hot pool visits I have an affinity with the place.

After an appointment up there today I started thinking about the best places to do some detecting.  The Parakai area was the first place I contemplated. I like history and old things so I have decided that while investigating possible search sites I might as well document what history I know and can uncover from various media and if possible first hand from those that remember, that gives me enjoyment and may help other detectorist's decide were to go swinging. So here is a quick rundown on what I could discover about Parakai as it grew up.

Parakai Domain enjoyed by the public for 140 years

Parakai simply got it's name from the word 'Kaipara' being reversed to avoid confusion with the names of the Kaipara River and the Kaipara harbour.  The first European settler was Charles Fordyce, who moved to the area in 1875. Fordyce Road, up where I did my hay baling was named in his honour at some stage.

The Hot Springs Reserve was recognised under the Public Domains Act in 1881 - although at that stage the "springs" were merely a mud hole set among ti tree and bush in the reserve. In 1883 the first recognised public baths in Parakai were very basic and made by boarding up the natural springs with large kauri planks. In 1908 the first public boarding house was opened by the "Helensville Hot Springs", the same year the town officially became called Parakai.

The Kaipara Dairy Company, established in 1911 soon became the towns largest employer.

The first large public bath was opened in 1912, along with tennis courts and bowling greens in the Parakai Domain. Shortly after a sports pavilion, though I'm not sure where yet, was built, and the towns now two boarding houses were always full as the town became more and more popular with visitors.


Parakai House in 1920. Burnt to the ground in 1956.

Around the Great War two more boarding houses were established, and by the mid 1920s Parakai was in the midst of a boom. The natural thermal springs had gained a reputation for relieving many health problems.

In 1926 the Helensville Swimming Club settled on the Parakai baths as its official venue. During the second World War, the pools became very popular with visiting American servicemen.

Across the road from Parakai Springs is Craigwell House, the only reminder of Parakai's bustling 1920s and 1930s spa era. The house, originally built as a spa retreat, is now a retirement home, with thermal bathing facilities still available for its residents. I worked on the phones inside this beautiful building back in the late eighties. I remember the individual spas had very old blue and white tiling and the main building was built in original art deco style. I recall the old musty smell mixed with a taint of sulpher or chlorine as I worked on the old black bakerlite phone, itself a relic from another era.

Disaster struck the town in the 1950s, with the two main boarding houses burning down within a year of each other - Parakai House in 1956 and Springside the following year.

In 1958 Parakai Primary School was opened on large grounds in Fordyce Road. A major program of rebuilding over the past decade has seen the school totally modernised and I actually worked there last year assisting with the move into new buildings.

So this area shows a great deal of potential. There is also within the big hot pool complex a paddock beyond the big slide where summer concerts were/are? played. I remember, though hazily, being entertained by some of New Zealand's finest bands and some not so fine back in the mid to late seventies. I asked at the office for permission to be able to detect this area but was refused by the duty manager.

So the history of Parakai and it's domain goes back 140 years and I'm sure there are a lot of relics and old coinage awaiting to be rediscovered. If I don't find anything good luck to others.

See you out there.

Addendum : After perusing a 1917 copy of the 'Kaipara & Waitemata Echo' from 1917, I found this advert :  A Ruby and Star brooch has been lost at Parakai. Reward offered.
Be nice to return that wouldn't it.

Music in Parks 2013

lt looks like another hot summer with the Auckland council continuing for the 20th year with 'Music in Parks 2013'.
Music in Parks 2013 runs from January to late March and all the information you need is at the link below.

http://www.musicinparks.co.nz/events/docs/download.pdf

While I'm sure the concerts will be great to attend I'm thinking I'll have more enjoyment once everyone has gone home. I'll be trying to visit a few of the venues with my trusty detector and gather up all the lost treasure that will be left by the crowds that do attend. There are 42 concerts at over 35 different venues all across Auckland.  It may pay to visit the venue just before the concert or indeed stay and enjoy it as it would help to see the positioning of the stage, the food and ice cream vans to know the best areas to detect. I expect that some concerts will be very big so some local knowledge would be handy. I presume all the concerts will be on public parks and domains so there should be no problem with permissions. In fact by removing all the trash targets you are helping clean up the parks as you go.

Dingle Dell Park - Solid Gold 

Remember to leave all excavations in a better state than when you started. This leaves no avenues for those who oppose public metal detecting to complain about.

The next concert is at Dingle Park, St. Heller's on the 2nd of February. I might do a recce of the park, search the beach, have a swim then return to hit the venue. It is an opera concert so the chances of pocket spills from gyrating heavy metlers will be slim. But I'm sure there will still be plenty of targets to hunt down.

See you there if not over there.

Playgrounds with a bark surface

If you have just spare hour or so to spend swinging the detector I recommend your local parks. These days most parks are mostly barked and it is easy digging and you will be surprised how much material can be found under the surface.
I have been amazed at just how many parks there actually are in Auckland. Some very small while others have several play areas. To date I have never left a park without a finding at least one coin most give up a few dollars. I have found a number of foreign coins too which is a strange phenomenon. I often wonder how a 1924 one Franc coin could end up in a small playground in Huapai in 2013.
I have been hitting the parks regularly and although the monetary returns are not as high as the beaches, it's less travelling time for me, as easy digging and the country air is as fresh as seaside air.


This park was quite trashy

The amount of potentially dangerous rubbish  we remove such as nails, screws, torn cans (canslaw) and sharp objects is quite frightening and I'm sure we will have saved the council from a few law suits in the future. We aim to visit as many of these parks as we can find and I have requested a list of parks from the authorities with a cheeky idea they may want to reward us for removing hazards. Hey, you never know. Full time Council Park Injury Prevention Detectorist seems like a good position for me :)



The link below takes you to a list of all the parks in the Auckland Council area. Unfortunately the surfaces of the parks is not given and it's bloody hard to reinstate those rubber covered parks. But I think if you do a search on the A.C.C. website under 'General' and 'Sports' you might get more info. eg search for parks with playgrounds, skateboard ramps or softball pitches. Or google the parks name and look under images. It's amazing how many pictures of parks are posted.

http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/parksfacilities/parksall/Pages/home2.aspx

A previously undetected park can be quite fruitful, my best so far is $20.50 from Moire Park in Massey. Better than minimum wage and it helps to pay for the batteries.

Under Washing Lines

Always check under washing lines.