Retiring Councillor On Visiting Royalty, The Big Quake And A Food Flying Mission

Thursday, 25 September 2025, 4:30 pm
Article: David Hill - Local Democracy Reporter

Hosting the former Prince of Wales and Boris Johnson in Kaikōura are two of the highlights from Julie Howden’s time as deputy mayor. 

Mrs Howden will step down in October after four terms on the Kaikōura District Council, including nine years as deputy mayor. 

Her 12 years on council were eventful, including the earthquake recovery and the future King Charles III visiting Kaikōura in November 2019. 

‘‘I visited Buckingham Palace in July and I couldn’t help telling the staff I hosted him when he was in Kaikōura,’’ Mrs Howden said. 

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a flying visit to Kaikōura in July 2017, in his capacity as Foreign Secretary, to thank the community for hosting British tourists stranded after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in November 2016. 

Julie Howden (nee Smith) was born and bred in Kaikōura, but moved to Picton after training to be a chef. 

After getting married she moved to Australia in the 1980s, before returning to Picton in 1991 to run the Americano Restaurant. 

She returned to Kaikōura in 2006 and bought Bendamere House Bed and Breakfast off her parents.

‘‘Mum used to host people in the house and we’ve built on to it. We had three boys, so we needed more space.’’ 

Her sons attended St Joseph’s Catholic School, so Mrs Howden stepped up to be the board of trustees chairperson. 

She then decided to stand for the council in 2013 ‘‘to extend my thinking and learning and my governance skills’’. 

Her election took a few people by surprise. 

‘‘When the results went up, a couple old guys said to my mum, ‘who’s this Julie Howden?’. And she said, ‘that’s my daughter’.’’ 

The main issue in her first term was the building of the new civic centre, a project inherited from the previous council term. 

There were issues with the design and weather tightening and the costs quickly blew out. 

The new civic centre finally opened in November 2016, but the official opening never happened due to the earthquake.

 Mrs Howden was in St Arnaud at a retreat for the newly elected council, when the earthquake hit.

Unable to return home, as Kaikōura was cut off by road, Mrs Howden and some of the councillors headed to Blenheim where they sat in on Marlborough District Council briefings until she could get a flight home. 

Once back in Kaikōura, Mayor Winston Gray quickly realised there were a lot of staff and volunteers and no way of feeding them. 

Mrs Howden and Mayoress Mary Gray, then the St Joseph’s School principal, popped down to New World and found some bread and tomatoes to make sandwiches. 

‘‘Then I ordered food from my suppliers in Christchurch and got my brother to pick it up and the Canterbury Aero Club flew it up in the plane. 

‘‘And then they wanted to know how we were going to pay for it. 

‘‘We fed 80 people a day over five or six days, and then the army came in.’’ 

Mrs Howden said one of her highlights is the council managing a $50m rebuild on time and under budget in just four years - which only cost ratepayers $2m, thanks to insurance and Government assistance. 

Her advice to new councillors is to remember ‘‘you are there to represent the community’’. 

‘‘Everything has to be centred around the ratepayer and you’ve got to listen to them.’’ 

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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