Ruakokere Church.

Guardian of the sea,
Standing upon the coast line,
Ruakokere  church.

Where we are spending this Christmas holiday at the eastern tip of the North Island is now very sparsely populated. However when the first missionaries arrived in the 1800's there was a large Maori population as there is an abundant supply of all seafood. So spread along the coast line are many of these similar small churches, a number of which have now closed. It was lovely to see how well maintained this still functioning church is.