Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
as a gateway to the East Coast, and has excellent beaches − Ohiwa and Waiotahi − and an
engaging museum.
Sights & Activities
Pick up the
Historic Opotiki
brochure from the i-SITE (or download from
www.opotikinz.com
)
for the low-down on the town's heritage buildings.
Opotiki Museum
(
www.opotikimuseum.org.nz
;
123 Church St; adult/child/family $10/5/25; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat)
Run by volunteers, Opotiki's excellent museum has interesting heritage displays including
Maori
taonga,
militaria, re-created shopfronts (a barber, carpenter, printer…) and agricul-
tural items including tractors and a horse-drawn wagon. Admission to the Shalfoon &
Francis Museum is included in the ticket price.
MUSEUM
Shalfoon & Francis Museum
(
www.opotikinz.com/archive/129271.html
;
129 Church St; adult/child/family $10/5/25; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri,
10am-2pm Sat)
Opotiki's original general store has been born again, with shelves piled high
with old grocery and hardware products. Handbags, sticky-tape dispensers, sets of scales,
books − you name it, they had it. An amazing collection. Admission is included in your
ticket to the main Opotiki Museum.
MUSEUM
Hiona St Stephen's Church
(
www.opotikinz.com/archive/129305.html
;
128 Church St; services 8am & 9.30am Sun, 10am Thu)
White-
weatherboard St Stephen's (1862) is an Anglican church with a perfectly proportioned
timber-lined interior. Reverend Carl Volkner, known by the local Whakatohea tribe to
have acted as a government spy, was murdered here in 1865. In 1992 the Governor-Gener-
al granted Mokomoko, the man who hanged for the crime, a full pardon, which hangs in
the lobby.
CHURCH
Hukutaia Domain
( 07-315 3030;
www.opotikinz.com/archive/129054.html
;
Woodlands Rd; daylight hours)
Around
8km south of town is Hukutaia Domain, home to one of the finest collections of native
plants in NZ. In the centre is Taketakerau, a 23m puriri tree estimated to be more than
FOREST, ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
