Hokianga weekend:
highlights in the winterness north

Horeke Tavern @julieharris18

Records of a pub selling beer dates to the 1820’s. Although, there is the inconvenient fact that the pub did not have a liquor licence, that did not stop business. The interesting part of this story is that the Northland settlements already had bureaucrats issuing liquor licences. The Horeke Tavern was also the site of the first government organised hui. Governor Hobson trudged for six day to reach Horeke with the freshly inked Treaty of Waitangi. The balance of the Northland chiefs signed at the nearby Mangungu Mission station and then it was celebration time in the pub grounds.

“This meeting has been described as the ‘first government funded hui’, setting the scene for today’s sausage roll morning teas in government departments. The Postal Service also has its origins here, with a horseback service between the Hokianga and the Bay of Islands starting three months after the Treaty signing.” as described by NZPlaces. Definitely a place to visit to check out where New Zealanders got the idea of sausage rolls as a food group.

Koutou Boulders @jeckzelle_cruz

Cyclindal natural sculptured rock forms make for a great photo moment. It has been estimated that the largest of the boulders may have taken 5 million years to grow. The boulders are concretions, or hardened nodules formed within sedimentary rocks. Moeraki boulders are the poster rock boys for this type of rock formation. Hokianga Harbour does it one better with hundreds of them and an isolated beach for you to stroll on. You’ve viewed the boulders from the harbour now you want to check them out via road. Drive around Koutu Loop Road, through the settlement of Koutu, and from where the seal ends another Km will bring you to Waione Road on your left. Drive about 100 metres along Waione Road past the Macrocarpa trees on the corner, and park on the left near the old cattle yards. From there walk along the beach. The further you walk the bigger the boulders get.

The walk is an easy one for all ages, best done within the two hours either side of low tide. At any time you can walk along the beach but at high tide it can be a bit of a scramble.

A second access to the harbour and the really big boulders has recently been provided by Council. Drive to the end of Waione Road, and where the road forks take the right hand fork, Cabbage Tree Bay Road.Drive about 750 metres, almost to the end of the road. Just past the entrance to number 76 you will see where a small parking area has been created on the right hand side of the road. Park your vehicle here.

Mangungu Mission @ruthjacksonz

A hill top stunning view over the Hokianga Harbour is a strategic position for the newly established Wesleyan Mission station in 1828. The mission station is the site of the largest signing of the Treaty of Waitangi with over 70 chiefs in attendance. It was estimated over 3,000 were witnesses on 12th February 1840. Another first for Aotearoa was the importation of honey bees, with the subsequent contribution of bees to the pollination of newly introduced fruit trees and development of a pastoral economy. The first grapevines were also introduced at Mangungu, and throughout time our wine industry has developed into our 9th largest export.

Mangungu Mission Station visit, via the harbour, is dependent on the tide. You will hear stories about how an ancestor Thomas Cassidy played a part in the signing of the treaty and his role in the establishment of Catholicism here in Aotearoa. The significance of trans-Maori sovereignty and the importance of identity and culture in current society.

Address: Motukiore Road, 3km from Horeke on the shore of the Hokianga Harbour

Contact Information:

• Phone: +64 9 405 9734 (c/- Te Waimate Mission)
• Email: tewaimate@heritage.org.nz
• Mangungu Mission Station

Opening Hours: Closed for Winter for scheduled maintenance.

Summer opening hours to be determined.

Admission: fees apply.

Your jet ski tour finishes with a return to Opononi jetty. Lenny can assist with advice where to go and what to see depending on your interests. Remember to check our guide to Hokianga for inspiration.

Opo the dolphin statute @davidkerrphotography

Located at 17 State Highway 12, Opononi. A stone statue of the dolphin playing with a child by Russell Clark was erected in Opononi in 1960. Following vandalism this was replaced by a bronze casting in 2013, with the restored original put on display at the Hokianga Historical Society’s Museum at Omapere.

Exploring Rawene @Fullers GreatSights

Quirky Rawene, departure point for Hokianga ferry and home of The Boat Shed Cafe. Allow several hours to amble around Rawene, popping into the local cafe / art gallery, the puzzle shop and simply walking around the town absorbing the sense of community. There is a wetland walk past Clendon House well worth a detour.

Shops such as:

• Simply FUN – Home, the puzzle store owned and operated by a world class puzzle maker. The building was rented by the local barrister, David Longley, the vaunt for his papers former PM of NZ is still on the premises.
• No 1 Parnell . Rawene – Home, art gallery and cafe is a community hub, a place to watch people coming and going on the ferry, browse through art on display and available for purchase.

Clendon House, Jane Clendon and husband sculpture

Clendon House Clendon House | Northland | Places to Visit | Places, check for details as it is not open every day.

Clendon Cottage, a pretty cottage was built in the bustling 1860s by James Clendon, a trader, shipowner and magistrate.

After his death, his 34-year-old Māori widow Jane was left with fourteen children and an enormous debt of £5000.

Nothing like determination and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Jane managed to clear the debt and her descendants remained in the house until 1972.

It’s now administered by Heritage New Zealand.