Wednesday - across the Hokianga Harbour

We woke up to a beautiful day, and had breakfast on the terrace. 

Our drive south from Ahipara took us through some beautiful countryside, spectacularly lit by the morning sun, and with the grass almost glowing green after the recent rains.

Gradually the clouds started to appear as we drove south towards Hokianga Harbour. We stopped several times for photos, knowing that there was no hurry today.

We got to the ferry across the harbour at about 11.30, ready for the 12.00 crossing to Rawene. Most of the traffic was going in the same direction as us, so we had a full boat.

Rawene was a delightful place and we stopped for a coffee, a muffin and a delicious onion tart, topped with wedges of small sweet tomatoes and capers. Leaving there we drove through Opononi to Omapere where we stopped at the museum to see the videos made in 1956 about Opo the friendly dolphin who, for one wonderful summer, played in the harbour with children, boats and balls and became a national phenomenon.

A maori get together/fair was happening at the local school grounds next door, and we could hear them performing a haka, but decided not to intrude.

From Omapere we drove out to the Arai te Uru Reserve and Signal Point, where you could see the harbour meet the Tasman Sea. The sand bar across the end claimed 23 wrecks whilst the harbour was in use, and the dunes on the other side provide another venue for sand tobogganing.

We carried on driving south until we came to the Waiotemarama Bush Walk. The map was little help in working out where the path went, but we had about 15 mins up to a delightful waterfall, then another 30 minutes up to a loop track that went through a stand of kauri trees. Not big by kauri standards, these were still impressive trees, and it was so nice to see several in one area. At a guess this one was probably only about 500 years old. We'll be seeing and learning a lot more about kauri trees in the next two days.

Our home for the next two nights is a restored ancient kauri cottage, surrounded by flowers and vegetable gardens. It's simple and plain, and very quiet. No shower or internet, but a nice metal bath and a well equipped kitchen.

It also comes with it's own share of wildlife!