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The Opua Stephenson's Store


It took me quite some time to write this post yesterday and I'll explain later on....but on a recent road-trip through Opua this building caught my eye on the way home. We drove down a small road and I was able to take a photo of this gem.

According to my research, and there wasn't much out there, this was originally the old Stephenson's Store on the waterfront which was a 2 storied combination of a boarding house and store. This is on 6 Beechy Street but apparently numbers 4-7 on this road were purchased by the Bank of NZ in 1883 and a couple of years later 2 retail stores appeared, the one above and one which was a bakery.

It is now being used as luxury rental accommodation and the rooms cost $110 nzd per night, there are some lovely reviews being left about it too.

Back to the first sentence. I often wonder how reliant we are on the internet. Since we've lived here in the last 6 months our internet throughout the far north has been cut off twice through no fault of our own. The first time about a month ago apparently someone accidentally cut through a fibre cable in another town, it took about 2 days to repair but our provider gave us free gigs through our mobile phones so we were able to connect through a hot spot. This time a road slip in Whangarei was the cause and the contractors had to repair the fibre cable for a 1km distance.

So how relevant is technology and the internet these days? Quite relevant I've found out - mind blowing considering when I was growing up we didn't need it for entertainment. We made our own and it was mostly through visiting friends, going bike riding, catching the bus places etc.

I wonder if we would ever be able to live without it? hmm...

Comments

William Kendall said…
I like the architectural style.

We have become too reliant on technology.
Billy Blue Eyes said…
Very nice and it is good it is being used rather than be torn down
KB said…
You can pretty much live without most things if necessary.
gz said…
Internet has its uses..how would I be in contact with so much family and so many interesting people without it...but it's downsides with so much business, local and otherwise being forced to go online, jobs being lost, banks and shops closing, fewer jobs around...
Love the white fencing and the porch.
Wayne said…
It's a lovely building, it looks Victorian.

The internet just turned 30 years old. While technology is wonderful, we, as users, have routinely give up too much personal information in exchange for 'free' services.
Bill said…
What a beautiful building, very nice to know it's being used.
We could live without the internet but it wouldn't be good for the world. Too much to lose. Communication, business, a chaotic mess it would become.
Yogi♪♪♪ said…
That's a nice building.
And, the internet is here to stay. My new Subaru sends me and subaru an email every month telling us how it is doing on 27 separate systems. I'm wondering how I can send it an email back.
Rhonda Albom said…
I think technology is ever changing and the next best thing is around the corner. I f I knew what it is going to be, I'd do really well in the shares markt.
PerthDailyPhoto said…
Love the architecture of this old building, the porch out front especially. I know what you mean about the internet, it is invaluable when researching for the blog but I have to say I have a love/hate relationship with it, Facebook in particular drives me crazy, I would give it up in a flash.
P.s. I was wondering if you've been getting my comments Amy, I know I commented on your last two posts but don't see them there?
Graham Edwards said…
I love the building.

Could we live without the internet? Of course - up to a point. Almost every facet of our daily lives relies on it one way and another from medical records and emergency services and government services. We could do without our social platforms. But in the short to medium terms until we realised that there is always an alternative, we would find life devastatingly hard. Well I would anyway!
It's a nice looking building.

All the best Jan
betty-NZ said…
I so enjoy finding historic places like this and then researching their history. Thanks for the info. Since we switched to wireless wifi, it's a lot better, but still has occasional moments of weirdness. Thanks for linking up at My Corner of the World this week!

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