Hokianga Part 1

Our departure from Ahipara on Monday morning was tinged with sadness as we loved our 6 nights on our treed roomy site and our 6 days of fishing on Ninety Mile Beach and golf. We spent what seemed a long time on the road that day driving, with some deviations which I'll talk about later to Mitimiti, a tiny settlement on the west coast - big waves breaking from a long way out on the rocky shore with the odd fisherman trying his luck.

Fisherman at Mitimiti

On the way through this fairly isolated bushclad, hilly country we stopped at the Broadwood Golf Course, which we had already been advised not to bother to play, to see for ourselves what it was like. Well, even though it is listed on dotgolf the course is just totally covered with long grass and obviously hasn't been played on for some time, so then it was just a coffee stop at Broadwood, the one-shop-village before moving on to Kohukohu, a pretty little village which was an early timber milling town on the edge of the Hokianga Harbour just a few kms before the Narrows ferry landing which takes you over the water to Rawene. Kohukohu can boast that it has the oldest bridge in NZ built between 1840-1866, a stone arch shape built of Sydney sandstone. Very small so you need to follow the sign!
We had been told by another motorhomer that there was a nice historic white church on the waters edge at Matawhera so we diverted ourselves down the Matawhera Road and all I can say is Don't Go There! I started feeling more and more uncomfortable as the windy gravel road became increasingly narrow until finally it just ended at a gate with ditches both sides so we couldn't turn around so the only real option was go through the gate and further along the road which in no time turned into steepish muddy looking track which was impossible to even think about taking on so Len had to back the bus back down to where the only place without a ditch existed - an old track that was also going up a slight hill. Talk about a scary rather precarious few minutes doing a 20 point turn on the rough slopey track trying to miss the ditches. Len felt he was sitting on his door but I don't think we would have actually tipped over. It was so nice to be heading safely out of there though!
So then it was back to the 'main road' and on to Mitimiti slowing down for the many horses, sheep and dogs we met on the way. One dog came hurtling down a driveway barking like mad and I don't know to this day how it missed our wheels. There were bushcovered conical hills, marshlands with mangroves, little old houses and hardly any cars but they were all friendly giving us big waves as we passed by. Quite isolated really with the road turning to gravel halfway there but once we arrived the expansive sea views were awesome - a great spot for having a late lunch before heading back towards the Narrows Ferry landing.

We took another sidetrip, where the road was fine, down to Motuti and pretty little historic St Mary's Church which houses the remains of Bishop Pompallier, the first Roman Catholic missionary.

Self styled mailbox. 800w I think!

We stopped for the night at the Tree House Eco Lodge which is a back-packer hostel with 4 motorhome sites. We had power but didn't use any of the facilities for $12 for the night - a nice safe parking spot amongst the trees.