Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sandtrails Hokianga
( 09-409 5035;
www.sandtrailshokianga.co.nz
; 32 Paparangi Dr)
offers an inside
perspective on Mitimiti's tight-knit Maori community, with two-hour Sandscapes dune-
buggy tours, which head 12km along the beach to the giant dunes that form the harbour's
north head ($155), or personally tailored tours on which you can stay overnight in the
guide's house ($640 for two people).
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Motuti
It's worth taking a short detour from the road to Mitimiti to visit
St Mary's Church
(Hata Maria;
www.hokiangapompallier.org.nz
; Motuti Rd)
, where NZ's first Catholic bishop is buried beneath the
altar. Jean Baptiste Pompallier arrived in the Hokianga in 1838, celebrating NZ's first
Mass at Totara Point. He was interred here in 2002 after an emotional 14-week pilgrimage
full of Maori ceremony brought his remains back from France.
The nearby
Motuti Marae
( 09-409 5545;
www.motuti.co.nz
; 318 Motuti Rd; tours 90min/day $36/60, stay
$214)
offers
marae
tours and stays, including a traditional Maori welcome and, on the
longer tours, the opportunity to take part in flax-weaving, carving and stick games.
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Kohukohu
POP 190
Quick, someone slap a preservation order on Kohukohu before it's too late. There can be
few places in NZ where a Victorian village full of interesting kauri buildings has been so
completely preserved with hardly a modern monstrosity to be seen. During the height of
the kauri industry it was a busy town with a sawmill, shipyard, two newspapers and
banks. These days it's a very quiet backwater on the north side of Hokianga Harbour, 4km
from the Rawene car ferry (
Click here
)
. There's good eating at the local pub and on the
cosy deck of the
KB Cafaway
(cnr Beach Rd & Kohukohu Rd; mains $12-14;
noon-8pm Wed-Sun)
.
Village
10am-4pm, to 3pm winter)
is an excellent little art gal-
Arts
(
www.villagearts.co.nz
;
1376 Kohukohu Rd;
lery.
Tree House
(
09-405 5855;
www.treehouse.co.nz
; 168 West Coast Rd; sites/dm $19/32, s $60-70, tw & d $86;
is the best place to stay in the Hokianga, with helpful hosts and brightly painted
)
