When Thames Met Mercury Bay
It’s a rival-schools-to-lovers story twice over: two Mercury Bay Area School boys and two Thames High girls end up living the quiet life together.
Geordie Hick and Noah Bowen both went to Whenuakite Primary School and Mercury Bay Area School. Their families are good friends, and they spent their childhood together down at the Purangi Estuary or the Cooks Beach store. Rata McMillan and Hannah Cook meanwhile were living out their school years together over the hills in Thames.
There’s a beloved Kiwi tradition of poking fun at other towns similar but slightly different to yours.
“This is highly debated between us and the boys,” Hannah mused, eyes rolling. “They think Thames isn’t part of the Coromandel … well, part of the ‘good part’ of the Coromandel.”
Fate would have it, however, that Thames is where Geordie’s orthodontist is, and it was on a trip to get his braces tightened that he met Rata through a mutual friend. One Fat Freddy’s Drop concert and one house party later, Geordie and Rata had fallen for each other. Two weeks later Noah and Hannah followed suit. Rata joked that she and Hannah wondered “if they should even bother with these guys”.
“They were all the way on the other side of the Coromandel, you know,” she said.
Before they were living the beach life they are now, Hannah and Rata both spent a little time in the outside world studying. Rata studied music at the University of Waikato and Hannah studied commerce with majors in marketing and tourism at Victoria down in Wellington. Rata found herself missing home, and Hannah had always planned to come back.
They both travelled back up north to live with Geordie and Noah, who were patiently waiting for them.
“I just found myself in Hamilton thinking, why am I here?” Rata said.
Now they spend the summers on the iconic Coromandel coast, and the winters chatting around one couple or the other’s dining table.
“It’s mainly the cruisy lifestyle that I like,” Geordie said. “I don’t think the hustle and bustle is really my thing. It worked out alright for us because most of our group in high school stayed here.”
A place like the Coromandel can be an absolute paradise for tradies like Noah and Geordie. Both are happily working for trusted family trade companies Geoff Hick Builders (Geordie’s family business) and Elements Contemporary House Design (Noah’s family business).
“It’s always fairly busy here because the people with baches kinda have money for renovations even when they don’t have money,” Noah said. “We do high-end building instead of speed building.”
In fact, they helped build the $4.6 million home on the Cooks Beach waterfront that went up in flames in December 2023. Rata, Hannah, Geordie and Noah were there the night of the fire: being heroic, trying to put it out, Noah said.
“You were trying to put it out,” said Hannah. “We were all yelling at you to leave it alone.”
Rata works for the New Zealand School of Music teaching music at four different primary schools in the Coromandel. She’s the first music teacher some of these schools have had.
“I teach one on one classes and small groups. So it’s really just cute, excited kids, which is really nice.”
She’s still studying while she works, getting a diploma in teaching music.
Hannah is working for Richardson’s in Cooks Beach. She reached out to them while she was thinking about studying and asked if they could recommend a good agency to study with.
“They just said, ‘Do you want a job?’”
She started in an admin role while she was studying with Toi Ohomai. She got her branch manager’s licence and is now studying for her agent licence.
“It’s great when you don’t have to go off to university. I’ve done all this training through polytechnic, and because it’s quiet in the winter time I can study at work and just work my way through those qualifications.”
The lifestyle is also why Hannah and Rata love the Coromandel.
“It’s just so beautiful here,” said Rata. “There’s nowhere else like it. Everywhere is just so gorgeous. “And I love the contrast between winter and summer. It’s funny how the locals tend to hibernate a bit when it’s tourist season. Then when it’s cold again they’re the friendliest people ever.”
Words by Sarah Morcom
This is the second article of the Sticking Around series, written by Sarah Morcom. Read the first part here.
More information about the writer below:
IG: sarahljmorcom FB: Sarah Morcom
www.youtube.com/@sarahmorcom8355
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