Oparau Roadhouse open

Phillipa Yalden, Apr 11 2020, Stuff.co.nz

At 69, Bill and Brenda Rogers are keeping the doors of the Oparau Roadhouse open to keep their isolated community ticking.

Three times a week Bill Rogers drives the 170km round trip through the winding Waikato backcountry to load his truck with supplies. 

Fresh milk, bread, flour - if he can find it - and frozen meat are among the staples he sources from the larger supermarket chains in Hamilton. He hauls the load back to the seaside hamlet of Kawhia on the region's rugged west coast.

Image: MARK TAYLOR FAIRFAX NZ

Three times a week Bill Rogers drives the 170km round trip through the winding Waikato backcountry to load his truck with supplies. 

Fresh milk, bread, flour - if he can find it - and frozen meat are among the staples he sources from the larger supermarket chains in Hamilton. He hauls the load back to the seaside hamlet of Kawhia on the region's rugged west coast.

There, he and wife Brenda spend seven days a week manning the till of the Oparau Roadhouse. For a couple a year off 70, it is no easy feat. 

"I'm on the verge of shouldn't be here," Bill Roger says during the second week of the Covid-19 lockdown. 

The couple have run the iconic yellow store on the straights into the bay for 40 years.

Image: MARK TAYLOR FAIRFAX NZ

Source: Stuff