Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ruatane in Real Life: My Old Home Town



The wide sweep of the Bay of Plenty stretched to the edge of Amy’s sight, and straight in front of her ocean met sky all along the horizon, broken only by White Island with its constant puff of smoke.

- Sentence of Marriage, Chapter 1

Many small bays and harbours are held within that wide sweep of the Bay of Plenty. I slipped in one more, and called it Ruatane.

Ruatane is my own invention, but it's inspired by the real-life small town of Opotiki. Earlier this month I paid a visit to my old home town.

Apart from a hurried trip twelve years ago for a funeral, it was my first visit in decades. I left Opotiki at the age of 17 to go to university, and have spent little time there as an adult. But I grew up there; went to school there; fell in love and married there. The early memories are buried deep, but they're part of my core.

Opotiki never grew very large, its growth overtaken by towns to the west that were closer to the railway and to major highways. Partly thanks to this, many of its old buildings have survived, including some that (in their Ruatane versions) play a role in my books.

The Anglican church was built in 1864. Old photographs show that it had a more open setting in its early days, with plenty of room for buggies to pull up in front. I got married here (and many of my characters are in the congregation of Ruatane's):



The Courthouse - a little newer than Ruatane's version, but the building that I had in mind. The marriage that gives Sentence of Marriage its title took place here. I voted for the first time in this courthouse, as did the women of Ruatane in 1893, the first election after women gained the vote.



The Royal Hotel! Just don't go round the back and up the stairs (I should add that I have no reason to believe there's anything scandalous about the real life version):



The wharf has a boat ramp that's popular for launching pleasure boats, but it's a quiet place compared to the years when it was the hub of coastal steamer traffic linking Opotiki with the rest of the country.



Opotiki's theatre was built in 1926, and it's one of New Zealand's oldest purpose-built cinemas still in use.



Opotiki holds an annual silent film festival, and this was one of the motivations for our visit. We thoroughly enjoyed the film, complete with piano accompaniment, patrons dressed in period costume, and sweets rolled down the aisle.



The cinema is from a later period than my books have (so far) covered, but I suspect it will make its way into a future work. It'll be interesting to see what the people of Ruatane make of it.

We spent much of our brief visit just wandering around the town, searching for the familiar and adjusting to the unexpected. As so often happens with a return to childhood haunts, everything seemed far smaller than I remembered. It's a pleasant town for walking, the town land nestled into river flats and the streets almost empty of traffic. There's even a very nice place to eat in what used to be a shop: Nikau Café, where we had excellent venison for dinner and a fine breakfast the following morning. Espresso on the main street of Ruatane!

It's a strange sensation, seeing again places that are distant but exquisitely clear in memory, like images seen through the wrong end of a telescope. An unsettling experience, but also a rather wonderful one. I think we'll be back, and this time it won't take us so long to return.

16 comments:

  1. Shayne - I just started reading your books (on the B&N Nook) and I LOVE your stories! I have already got a few friends hooked, and I wish you all the best success in the future! I must confesss to knowing very little about NZ, but now I want to visit!

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  2. Oh, that's great, Kb, thanks so much! It's lovely people like you who keep me motivated. :-)

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  3. Shayne,

    I have never felt the need to contact an author before, but I have never felt so deeply touched by a story before. You are one of the greatest story tellers of all times. I simply could not put your books down, they consumed my days and nights until I had read the whole series. I loved the characters, their trials & tribulations and the compassion instilled into them to forgive and love even the most unloveable of persons. The bible tells us that we should love those that hate us and it seems as if you wrote that into your stories and showed that people who continued to do good even though evil was done to them changed the hearts of the evildoers in the end. Brilliant! Now that I have completed the books, I miss the people you created in them and do so hope that you will continue their stories and I, a now forever faithful follower, will soak them up like a sponge. Thank you for all the years it took you to write and publish, it was well worth the wait and I will anxiously await more great things from you..... Sheena Eaton

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  4. Sheena, thank you so much for your *very* generous praise! I love your comments on forgiveness and compassion, and the effects they can have. Yes, that's an important theme, and I'm so glad you perceived it.

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  5. Dear Shayne
    I also got your full set of book for my Nook and absolutely love them. Just this morning, I finished reading the "Promises to Keep" series for the second time. I have laughed, cried, loved, and hated throughout the whole series. I am thankful for you for such a wonderful story and for the way you write it. I am looking forward to the 5th book and will get it as soon as I can. I tend to have a hard time to find books I enjoy reading but your books hooked me from the first few pages. I thank you for your stories and look forward to your future work.
    -Kerri Nickell
    Yucaipa, Ca. USA

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  6. Thanks so much, Kerri. Your response to the books is wonderful to hear. My goodness, you've read the series twice - that's well over a million words!

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  7. Oh my goodness!!! Shayne, I love reading - I actually just discovered that fact about two years ago and I've been reading constantly since. Amazon.com's recommendation's list had your books listed as ones I would enjoy. That is an understatement! I'm reading Settling the Account right now (started on book one only a few days ago). I have enjoyed coming to know all of your characters so well through these books, and I love the way they have grown. You are among the very few I consider my favorite authors of all time :) I am amazed at how drawn in to the books I am, and how I've laughed and cried throughout. I don't know what I'll do when I'm done reading them! (I suppose I'll go back to being a productive member of society, heaven knows I've been of little use since I started reading these - just can't put them down!)

    Mary Wardlaw
    Buchanan, Michigan USA

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    1. Mary, thanks so much for your wonderful comments! I'm honoured to be one of your favourite authors, and to have removed you from productive (or at least modern) society for a while. :) Lizzie might disapprove of all that time spent with books, but Amy would understand. :)

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  8. I can only echo the above comments. I've been an avid reader since childhood. Despite the thousands of good books I have read, I have never written an author. Yet I feel compelled to let you know how gifted you are - although I do understand there is a 'bit' of hard work involved! I love the complexity of your characters especially Susannah. She's particularly difficult but it is all born out of her life experiences. I love how you peeled the layers of her character back bit by bit for readers to enjoy. Please keep sharing your stories with us.
    Waiting for more, Lola in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma USA

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    1. Thank you, Lola! That's wonderful to hear, and I'm honoured to be the first author you've written to.

      Complexity of characters is exactly what I hope to achieve, and Susannah is a particularly mixed-up and maddening one - but with reasons for being the way she is.

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  9. I have read over 100 free kindle books, most of them hope to convince you to purchase a second, third or more in a series... well congrats! You are the first one to get me to pay up for book 2

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth! It feels good to be one in a hundred. :)

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  10. I am on the second book of the series and its one of the first series of books I have really enjoyed,thanks for writing them. I am looking forward to more. Thanks Ginny Roy

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  11. Shayne, I have devoured your books, except for Daisey's War which I will start today. I am also recommendinf to all my bookie friends Keep writng.

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    1. Thanks so much, MLYs! That's great to hear - and thank you for recommending my books to others, too.

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