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Published: June 17th 2005
We travelled south, taking the car ferry across Hokianga harbour (just like in "Jaws") to the picturesque town of
Rawene where we walked through mangroves and had lunch at the site of an old saw mill.
We stopped briefly in
Oponini to see the grave and memorial statue of "'Opo' the friendly dolphin" (very famous in the 1950's for being a dolphin who regularly came into the harbour to 'play' with holiday-makers who travelled from all over to see this miracle of nature...more later) before settling in
Omapere a few kms down the coast for the weekend.
The Hokianga harbour is a remote and unspoilt natural harbour protected by a sandbar and a place of outstanding beauty on the edge of the remaining ancient Kauri forests. We took a drive out one day to see 'Tane Mahuta' (the largest existing Kauri tree) and walk in these forests where we saw our first Morepork (a NZ owl). It is also a very sad place because we had to witness the defeat of the Lions to the NZ Maori team (in the Omapere hotel bar surrounded by very gleeful and large Maoris)...so we'll skip over that.
Omapere also has a
On the boardwalk
Mangroves in Rawene'museum' which holds videotape of old newsreels concerning "'Opo' the friendly dolphin" - some incredible footage and very funny, although marred by the mystery surrounding 'Opo's death only a year after his rise to fame - some say she was murdered, others that it was suicide...
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