Russell (Kororareka)

Russell faces the Bay of Islands across a short stretch of water, a single waterfront street of timber verandahs, old trees and boats on moorings. In the 1830s this was the busiest European settlement in the country, a whaling and trading port with a permanent population and a great deal of shipping. Two buildings from that time still stand. Christ Church, finished in 1836, is the oldest surviving church in New Zealand, small and white with a walled graveyard. Pompallier Mission, a rammed-earth building of the early 1840s, was a French Catholic printery and tannery, and its restored workshop still holds a press, curing pits and binding tools. The rest is a village that quietly stopped growing.

What you actually see

• Christ Church - the 1836 timber church and its old graveyard, the oldest in the country.
• Pompallier Mission - the rammed-earth printery with press, tannery pits and bindery restored.
• The Strand - the waterfront row of colonial timber buildings under pohutukawa trees.
• Long Beach - the sheltered ocean bay a short walk over the hill behind the village.

When to go

Summer is the obvious season, with warm water and the full ferry timetable, but it is also when the village is fullest. Late spring and autumn are gentler and everything still opens. Ferries from Paihia run frequently through the day and less often in the evening, so check the last sailing before settling in. Pompallier's guided tours have set departure times.

Honest expectations

Russell is genuinely small and a couple of hours covers the historic buildings without hurrying. Off-season a number of places close and the village can feel shut. Prices on the waterfront reflect the location rather than the size of the town. Bringing a car means the Opua vehicle ferry and a slow road, and most visitors are better off walking on from Paihia and leaving the car behind.

Nearby

Paihia and the boat trips out into the Bay of Islands are a fifteen-minute crossing away.