A bit of luxury and why not? We are a long time dead!||||High-end accommodation with very tasteful decor and everything you could possibly require including spectacular sunsets across the Hokianga Harbour.||||Delicious meals with a different twist are available, personally prepared by the Proprietor and delivered to your accommodation. What more could you wish for?||||Hokianga is an idyllic location a world away from the "festering sore" that is Auckland and, while some would say it is "locked in the past", locals would not be bothered as that is their preference. However, some "entrepreneurial Jafas" are investing serious capital and preserving historic buildings including the Rawene Hotel. ||||Hokianga was the "go-to destination" during the 1830s for early New Zealand European settlers because they could work in the ship-building yards established at Horeke by a retired British Navy Lieutenant who sold spars to his former employer. This industry's "hey-day" was temporary because once the Kauri forests were depleted, sawyers and ship-building workers were forced to relocate elsewhere. ||||Mangungu Mission at Horeke on the shores of Hokianga Harbour was the location where 70 rangatira signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 12 February 1840 at what was the Treaty's third and largest signing; 6 days previously at Waitangi, not more than 46 rangatira signed the Treaty at Waitangi. On 13 February, there was a feast at Horeke where an estimated 3,000 Maori were in attendance including the largest number of chiefs and elders to be in the one place to discuss and sign the Treaty. ||||There is a geological phenomenon in the Hokianga in the form of 30-foot high Wairere Boulders which originally sat under ancient Kauri forest and another natural wonder, Kouto Boulders, are visible at low tide on the south shore of the Hokianga Harbour near Opononi. We have experienced neither of these attractions as yet but they are on the bucket list. ||||A visit to Hokianga would not be complete without a ride on the car ferry across the harbour from Rawene to Kohukohu, another area of the Hokianga steeped in early New Zealand history, however, once ship-building and other industries wound down, as with Horeke, fell into decline. Before returning to Rawene, if you are lucky enough, there could be a snack of rock oysters close...
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