A Historic Tiki Tour of Waimate North

Catch-up; Northland Jan 2019 

While David recuperated from his bout of shingles I took myself off on several tiki-tours around Northland, the first one on a several squiggly loops to check out a number of churches and historic places in the wider Waimate North area. Northland has a multitude of small & historic churches and I was keen to add a few more to my church photo collection.

My first stop was on SH1 just south of Ohaeawai, at the historic Pakaraka Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity and probably one of the most visited & photographed churches in Northland due to it's location on the main highway. 

The church is Gothic Revival in style and the slim steeple is a replica of the original tower which blew down in a storm in 1946. The new steeple was erected in 2001, 55 years later. The Reverend Henry Williams, one of the first Anglican missionaries stationed in the Bay of Islands and later Archdeacon of Waimate, is buried in the cemetery.

The next church is located on a back street, not far along the road at Ohaeawai, which is a small settlement at the junction of SH1 & SH12. I believe this is an Anglican church but I could find no other reference to it and it's obviously taken a back seat to several other more historic & prominent churches in the area. Like many of the churches around New Zealand, this one is sadly heading to a state of disrepair...

...unlike the nearby Ohaeawai Hotel (locally know as The Crossroads) which looks to have recently had a fresh lick of paint. I bet this grand old lady could tell a few stories if only the walls could talk. 

My next stop is at Te Waimate Mission where the remains of a model English village, built by missionaries is located. The Mission House, built in 1832, is the only survivor of three mission houses built in 1830 on behalf of the Church Missionary Society by the Reverend Samuel Marsden (click photo to enlarge)

The Mission House is also New Zealand's second oldest building. I felt a bit mean about not going inside to check it out; I was in a bit of a hurry. And especially as I was the only visitor in the grounds and the volunteer guide came outside to greet me. I had to tell him I was on a mission (no pun intended!) 

Te Waimate was New Zealand's first farm and had a very famous visitor; scientist & evolutionist Charles Darwin stayed here for the Christmas of 1835.

Nearby and part of the mission station is St John the Baptist Church which was originally built in 1839 and then rebuilt in 1870 using materials from the first church. the new church was much smaller due to the drop in congregation numbers. 

Located between the Mission House & the church is the Sunday School building, built in 1880

Not far down the road, and part of the original mission settlement are the remains of Bedggood Cottage & the Blacksmiths Shop.

The Blacksmiths shop collapsed in 1979 and was reconstructed in 1986 using the original building's materials.

From the mission I next headed to the historic St Michael's Anglican Church at Ngawha.

St Michaels Church was built in 1871 and is located on the site of Pene Taui's Pa, which is where Te Ruki Kawiti successfully defended the Pa against British forces in what is known as the Battle of Ohaeawai. It was built by local Maori as a symbol of peace and a tribute to Pakeha who had died in the battle.

On 1 July, 1845, almost 600 troops and 300 warriors of Tāmati Wāka Nene besieged about 100 men at a pā at Ōhaeawai led by Lieutenant Colonel Despard. Te Ruki Kawiti held off the attack on the highly intricate and fortified pā of Ngāti Rangi chief Pene Taui. The fortifications were ground-breaking in every way, and became one of the prototypes for gunfighter warfare in later engagements. 

The pā had two palisades - including a strong inner fence made of puriri logs set almost two metres into the ground with five metres of log standing above ground. The solid palisades of the inner fence had withstood the artillery attack and remained intact, preventing the British from entering the pā. Meanwhile, the firing trenches proved devastatingly effective against the attackers. "Within seven minutes of the attack beginning, over 47 of the attackers lay dead with about 70 more injured. The attack was an unmitigated disaster."

By 8 July, the pā was found to have been abandoned and the defenders had disappeared into the night. Lieutenant Colonel Despard suffered a defeat. (extract from RNZ)

From St Michaels I headed down the highway towards Kaikohe, stopping to check out the Kaikohe Showgrounds & Equestrian Centre which is a NZMCA CAP (costs apply parking). It's where I thought we'd stop for our first night once David was ready to move and we'd left our friends in Kerikeri. It's a great site, well maintained and with lots of space. There's even a couple of  sites with power.

The Showgrounds are on the corner of the road that leads to Ngawha Hot Springs so I drove off to take a look; I do love it when I'm on my own and I can pick & choose what to visit & where to stop. Poor David does get dragged down a few too many roads, it's nice not to feel guilty about it today. 

Ngawha Pools- there are 16 of them- are fed by a natural geothermal spring and come in a range of temperatures including the 50 degree Bulldog pool which was closed (for obvious reasons!).

The Ngawha Pools will never look like this again, they are going through a major redevelopment and enhancement programme at the moment and have been closed from March 2020 until December 2020. Obviously the redevelopment was needed, the pools are very popular amongst both local & overseas tourists but it's a shame the unique character of the pools will be lost to flashy frontages and further health & safety features.

From Ngawha I drove into Kaikohe and up to the top of Monument Hill where there are great views out out over the surrounding farmland and from where I spotted the second to last church on my visit list today.

Monument Hill is named after the memorial that celebrates Hone Heke Ngapua who was the grandnephew of the war leader Hone Heke. Hone Heke(the warrior) retired & died in Kaikohe in 1850. 

Hone Heke Ngapua (grandnephew) was a member of parliament & active supporter of the Maori parliamentary movement known as Kotahitanga (click on the photo to read)

Hone Heke Ngapua Memorial

I drove down and along the highway to the Aperahama (Anglican) Church which was opened in 1885, the church I'd seen from Monument Hill. The church belongs to the Ngati Tautahi hapu (hapu= a division of a Maori tribe) & is essentially a Maori church although European families belonged to the congregation for many years. 

The church was restored & repainted in 1964 and is not only significant because of it's age but also because of its association with the development of the Maori Anglican faith.

The last stop for the day was at St Catherines Anglican Church near Okaihau.

Information panels across the road from the church tell about the first battle in 1845 of the Northern Wars and the memorial in the cemetery to the 12 fallen British soldiers. The Twin Coast Cycle Trail passes the church which is just as well as these information panels often provide a lot more information than what can be found on the 'net, especially history on the lesser known churches and historic places.

I know I missed a few other churches on my road trip, and in particular the Catholic church just up the road from this St Catherines. I had marked down as many as I could but it was quite hard locating them once I was on the road. Especially when much of the area was out of range to Mr Google when I went to check!  

I told myself that I had to leave some for our next visit to the north. From Okaihau, I took the most direct route back to Kerikeri. And didn't spare the horses, it had been a long day.

Matauri Bay- Northland

Catch-up

Once again I have struggled to keep up with my blogs, we've just had the most amazing summer up north and have only just returned to familiar territory (Mt Maunganui) where I don't feel the need to get 'Out There' every spare moment and shoot anything that moves (or not as the case may be). I shall now try and post regularly and catch-up a little before the next adventure begins.

And a side note; I couldn't not mention that this blog post is number 800. Yes, you read right, 800 blogs! My first one 'How it all began'  was dated August 2012, six and half years ago. And what adventures we've been on since then. Of course I probably could have doubled that number because my blogs aren't like other blogs; meant to be short & concise. Most of them are short stories! I've also recently passed 900,000 clicks (views), roll on one million!

We said a fond farewell to Kerikeri and headed north (little knowing we would be returning for an unplanned and lengthy stay in the not too distant future).

It was just 30kms to our next stop at the Matuari Bay Holiday Park where we parked beachfront, right on the edge of  the beautiful sheltered sandy beach of Matuari Bay...

...but not before having to do a 20 point turn with the rig on the back after Mr TomTom led us astray. 

He very rarely gets it wrong, or if he does I usually pick it up well in advance, but not this day. Mr TomTom decided to take us via the local whanau camp at the southern end of the bay. It didn't help that we had to continue on to find a wider area in the track to turn around after spotting the sign . I'm sure I saw several smirks on the faces of a group of locals sitting in the nearby shade. 

It was still early summer and other than a handful of full-timers in their last weeks of  wintering over at the camp, the holiday park was virtually deserted. Just us...

....a couple of hundred ever present, eagle eyed gulls...

'What do you think Charlie, you think they'll have food?'

...and several dozen rabbits who made themselves at home underneath and around our van; this one taking time out beside our power pole and letting me walk around outside without bounding off at the slightest movement.

I suspect that in fact we were intruding into their home territory, several baby rabbits lived under the caravan-come-cabin we were parked beside. It was fun to watch them out the tinted lounge window chasing each other, jumping and high kicking before racing back under the caravan as fast as they could when they spotted any movement.

A Rustic Kiwi Cabin

A few tourists arrived each evening to stay the night. These ones seemed to be so enamoured with their surroundings, they sat outside their van long after nightfall, wrapped up against chilly night air, reading their e-readers while soaking up the inky blackness and the stunning night sky. They were still there at 11pm when I stepped outside to check the rig over before going to bed.

At the north end of the camp and on the otherside of a small headland is tiny rocky Putataua Bay, an ideal place to snorkel, fish or launch a small boat or kayak from.

A walking track to the top of the headland leaves the camp beside Putataua Bay, it's a short sharp walk to the top but rest stops can be taken at the gaps in the pohutukawa trees that line the track. The views over the camp, the beach and out over Matauri Bay are magnificent.

The views from the top are also just as spectacular overlooking the Cavalli Passage & Cavalli Islands. In another life we spent a night anchored in Horseshoe Bay- the bigger bay to the right- while we were en-route to Whangaroa Harbour. The island doesn't look so big from up here.

The most important feature and the reason most people walk the track though, is to see the clifftop memorial to the Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior. The Rainbow Warrior, after being bombed by the French while it was moored at Marsden Wharf in Auckland (1985)- and with the loss of one life- was sunk beside the Cavalli Islands and now provides an artificial reef for divers.

A nearby boulder sculpture has engravings of the islands and a brass inlay indicating the resting place of the Rainbow Warrior (which is at the north end of the islands)

Just in front of the memorial, the cliffs drop away to the ocean below, there's only a small shin high wooden railing so do be careful if you have children with you.

Here's a pano of Matauri Bay, the campground and Putataua Bay.

I walked up the track several times during our stay, it also seemed to be a track that many of the locals walked for exercise; I captured this group of friends walking back along the beach one evening.

With the Cavalli Islands just 3kms offshore, Matauri Bay provides an excellent launching point for fishing and diving boats to be launched including local diving companies who take divers out to the Rainbow Warrior wreck.

I walked along the beach several times during our stay, capturing more 'friends'; a group of Black-backed gulls...

....the silky smooth sand and some amazing cloud formations.

At the south end of the bay, nestled below Matauri Hill on a rise overlooking the beach, is the historic Samuel Marsden Memorial Church (1896) named in honour of the missionary's arrival in the bay.

After Marsden's arrival on December 20th, 1814, he travelled down to Rangihoua and preached his first sermon on Christmas Day, 1814. You'll recall we visited Rangihoua Heritage Park & the Marsden Cross Walkway in the last blog.

Of course being on the east coast the sunrises were spectacular and always different, and being early summer, not too early at around 6am.

The sunsets weren't half bad either; the top 3 shown below are sunrises, the bottom 3 are the coral coloured hues of sunset.

Before long it was time to head off again, back on the road slowly making our way to the top of the North Island. Not far past the turnoff to Matauri Bay there's a lookout that gives a great view of the bay and islands.

Next up- Mahinepua and Tauranga Bay