Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HOKIANGA
The Hokianga Harbour stretches out its skinny tentacles to become the fourth-biggest in the
country. Its ruggedly beautiful landscape is painted in every shade of green and brown. The
water itself is rendered the colour of ginger ale by the bush streams that feed it.
Of all the remote parts of Northland, this is the pocket that feels the most removed from
the mainstream. Pretension has no place here. Isolated, predominantly Maori communities
nestle around the harbour's many inlets, as they have done for centuries. Discovered by le-
gendary explorer Kupe, it's been settled by Ngapuhi since the 14th century. Hippies arrived
in the late 1960s and their legacy is a thriving little artistic scene.
Many of the roads remain unsealed, and, while tourism dollars are channelled eastward
to the Bay of Islands, this truly fascinating corner of the country remains remarkably unde-
veloped, just how many of the locals like it.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
HOKIANGA
I love the north of the north island, the beaten, bloody and beautiful landscape and
wairua
. The small towns up
north, where I grew up, reach out all along the moody west coast. As kids, my brother and I would sneak in to
Ngawha Springs and have our mud baths in the morning - smelling of rotten eggs for the rest of the day. In
Opononi we'd go crab hunting on the rocks with Uncle Rata, then take the car ferry from Rawene home. At Pawar-
enga - a dusty old Maori town - we'd go horse riding with the cuzzies, learn Maori with my Grandpa, eat
karahu
and oysters, and, as we grew up, drink with the aunties and uncles. We'd drive to Kaitaia to buy all our food for the
next week, and hang at the local pubs. Then further north for the Mangonui fish 'n' chip shop, the best
kai
in
Aotearoa. When we were tired, we'd drive to Ahipara and sleep on the beach.
Anika Moa, singer/songwriter
TOP OF CHAPTER
Mitimiti
The tiny community at Mitimiti, which consists of only 30 families and not even a shop,
has the unspoilt 20km stretch of coast between the Hokianga and Whangape Harbours all
to itself. The 40km drive from Kohukohu via Panguru (14km of it unsealed) is quite an ex-
perience: prepare to dodge cows, sheep, potholes and kids.