Visit to Hokianga Harbour

The week before last we decided to do the trip up North that we had been thinking about for ages. It has been some years since we have been there and it was time to have a few days off the boat. It is not really far to go from Tutukaka and we got to the mouth of the Hokianga Harbour in just a couple of hours, stopping to look at the giant kauri, Tane Mahuta, ( Maoris call it 'God of the Forest') in the Waipoua Forest on the way.
It is supposed to be 2000 years old.
The first view of the Harbour Entrance was quite spectacular with the waves breaking over the bar and the hills of sand dune on the other side.

We dropped down into Omapere and looked for somewhere to stay the night, choosing the hotel in Omapere which used to be a hotel in the 1800's and is now part of the Copthorne Chain. It is a delightful old building done out with kauri. Some of the original furniture is still there. Our room was in a new annex built to fit in with the style. Just a lawn
separated us from the beach . Here is a photo of the sunset from our deck.
We were told that in the 1800's the tall ships had to wait weeks sometimes before they could get over the bar safely to take timber to Australia so the hotel was well used then.

The Hokianga Harbour was the area where four of my Great Grandparents settled upon their arrival in New Zealand and where both my parents went to school. Great Grandfather Magee from Ireland taught at 4-5 schools in the area and Great Grandfather Pearson was a Methodist Home Missioner. I therefore thought there might be some information about them in the local historical museum. There were certainly folders there for the families but the only information they had seems to have come from my Aunt Dorothy Pearson. I shall be doing what she did and give them some photos and information for the folders. I did have some gain from other family folders that married into our family.

We found my Grandparents Magee old home in Oue - they would not recognise it with the additions and the bright blue paint and garden changes. Other cottages and the Oue School are no longer there. In Rawene it was the same with the Grandparents Pearson home. Their old farmhouse was pulled down by a later owner because he had a problem with "squatters."

Rawene sort of looks the same and the hospital appears to be still functioning. The graveyard over the road has been tidied up and the council keeps it tidy and mowed. Last time I went there it was a terrible mess so that was good to see.

We visited another Clements/Magee descendant - my 2nd cousin, Dick Curtis, who has been in Oue farming on part his father's property and part former Pearson property. He thought I was Clements looking and I thought he was.

I hope this has not been too boring this time but I enjoyed my nostalgia trip and researching famly history is a hobby that I enjoy. I have met some nice fellow descendants with more to see yet. We enjoy the talks about our common history and share the photos.

Doreen