Rocket Lab is an aerospace company with a satellite launch pad at the end of the isolated Mahia Peninsula on the North Island's East Coast.
It has brought previously Auckland-based engineers, many of them non-New Zealanders, to live in the small, rural town of Mahia. For locals, it has been an injection of young blood and enthusiasm in the area.
The Rocket Lab site Photo: courtesy Rocket Lab
Jobs have been created in the service industry, from those providing food, to those cleaning the rental accommodation the Rocket Lab staff are using.
Mahia cafe owner Janie Bowen has employed four more staff and her work now starts at five in the morning. Normally the cafe only opens in summer. She's ordering crate loads of food from nearby Nuhaka and, once its in season, will be buying stone fruit three times a week from a local orchard. Normally she'd only spend $25 a week.
The Maori Incorporation which runs Onenui Station where the launch pad is built has upgraded fences and roads, and Pauline Tangiora, from Rongomaiwahine, says it will change the thinking of the children at the local primary school.
"They will be able to think 'What can I do in later life?'. It will make them keen to be better educated."
Pauline Tangiora, Rongomaiwahine Photo: RNZ/Susan Murray
Shaun D'Mello (left) and Shane Fleming Photo: courtesy Shane Fleming and Shaun D'Mello
And the Peninsula has been life-changing for Rocket Lab staff, too, many who are from overseas. and the operations manager, US born Shane Fleming makes sure they're schooled up on the cultural and spiritual significance of the area.
His heart has been stolen by the place and people. He now calls New Zealand home.
Does he miss the big smoke of Auckland? "No" he laughs "although it's nice to catch a movie or go to a bar occasionally. But Mahia is gorgeous year-round."
Rocket Lab plans to have greater contact with the local school once the testing phase with the satellite carrying rockets is over. It is already funding a PhD student at Canterbury University.
