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 Downstream from the bridge a concrete weir forced the water into a muddy pool. A pig farm upstream past the school pumped effluent into the river. A tributary flowed into the tidal pool through culverts carrying stormwater, petrol and occasional waste. At low tide the river shrank to a single channel, leaving eels burrowed in the mud.

On the town wharf a diesel bowser stood ready to fill the motor boats and yachts arriving from the coast on the high tide. Beyond the wharf the river opened into a harbour past an island with a sailor cemetery and a beach with a boarding house. At the harbour mouth a pā overlooked the beach from an island.

On the top of the island pits and pōhutukawa spread towards steep cliffs on the seaward side. The coast was flanked by large islands which opened onto deep green ocean and orca. All of it lay within the drowned crater of a vast volcano.

To the west of the river the town stretched north and south on both sides of the valley. Percy Street ran from the town up the southern slope past four churches until it reached a farm gate.

Past the gate a farm spread south along the ridge towards a stately home and an abandoned house which sat among trees below the road. The stately home stood beside a four-road intersection. To the east, one road curved down the hill past an abandoned mansion to the river.

At the end of River Road was a boatyard, the old cement works, and the rat-ridden town dump. The cement works stood on private land, but everyone swam in the deep quarry lake. In the heat of summer, half the town would be diving into the cool green water.

In the dump teenagers were shooting rats with slug guns. The rubbish slowly leached into the river water. At low tide it was a muddy walk along the river back to town.

Walking the river revealed treasure, like an old clay inkwell. The inkwell was light brown, with green weed stuck to it. It was machine-made, not hand-spun, slope-shouldered, with a neck that widened towards the mouth. When I found it, I wondered if it had fallen from a school boat. Whose hand had held it before it fell into the river, I did not know.

“Sarah, wake up. We’ll miss the boat.”

The two sisters bolted for the wharf.