Russell, Northland

Russell, just across the water from Waitangi, is now a laid-back town with holiday homes and boutique restaurants. It wasn't always like this, though. The settlement, then known as Kororareka, was dubbed "the hellhole of the Pacific" in the early nineteenth century. It was a notoriously wild region where personnel of British and American whaling ships got drunk, went to brothels, and occasionally battled with native Maoris. Russell's past is visible in the modest wooden Christ Church. The Battle of Kororareka in 1845 was one of the numerous clashes in the area between Europeans and Maori, and the church was caught in the crossfire. The church's exterior still bears the scars left by musket bullets.

Russell is inhabited by the Maori because of its excellent climate and abundance of food, fish, and fertile soil. Russell was then called Kororareka and was a small settlement on the coast. Early European explorers such as James Cook of England (1769) and Marion du Fresne of France (1772) commented that the area was quite prosperous. Russell is the second most beautiful historical site on the list of most beautiful historical sites in New Zealand.

Location: North Island