rawene

 foodie stuff, gap year, us  1 Response »
Jan 252015
 
dport 089

the view from robyn’s verandah

so we were back up north last week, sal’s aunt had her son, beau staying and we hadnt seen him since our last trip to bali (where he lives), so we piled into the mighty nissan march and buzzed up the coast to rawene again. we went via whangarei, and after lunch at the town basin we headed out to whangarei heads for a squiz.

its a fabulous bit of coastline with a series of stunning, pictursque bays heading all the way out to the heads where there is a fantastic surf beach on the ocean side. kai and i went in to carve a few waves up on the boogy board and it was the perfect break to the trip north.

basically the week was spent wining and dining with robyn and beau, with plenty of tiki touring round the north. i caught up with my old mate andrew dargaville over in panguru and he took kai and I for a day sightseeing around opononi and omapere and the mouth of the hokianga. in an extrodinary coincidence, we visited a cousin of andy’s who has a stunning house perched up above omapere with sweeping views of the hokianga – as we drove off our friend jeremy, in whose bach we are staying, sent me an email and asked what we were up to.

i sent him back a message saying we were just hanging out up north again, and included a pic i had taken from the house – he messaged straight back to say we were in the road where his block of land is! i knew he had a section up north somewhere, but had no idea it was in omapere, or newton rd to be exact!

andy then drove us back to the ngawha hot springs before we caught up with his nephew, tia in kaikohe, whom i havent seen for about 5 years.

the following day we went over to panguru and andy took us to get mussels at mitimiti which is one of the best kept secret  beaches on the west coast, not many get to visit its unspoilt wildness. i had a surf, but it was a bit too cool for kai, we grabbed a big bucket of juicy mussels off the rocks and then headed over to rangi point, where i was given some land when i was here for steve’s funeral many years ago – the fact that it is below the high tide mark is a minor detail!

somehow in the whole week we failed to get any pics of robyn, and there is only one of beau! so sorry, you will just have to use your imagination! last sunday we had a great afternoon at the rawene pub, robyn arranged for a local band to play, they were pretty old school and one of them was the almost famous, tommy ferguson, a pioneer of rock and roll in NZ in the 60’s.

i also did a drive up to ninety mile beach, across to mangonui, down to pahia and opua in the bay of islands and back to rawene thru kawakawa, no one else wanted to come so it was a solo trip!

we drove home on friday, we went the west coast route and stopped off in a little place called baylys beach, about 10kms from dargaville. its a little surf beach town and one of the places i had thought we might try and stay at for a week or so at some point. the surf was perfect, a light offshore breeze and a nice wave. kai and I spent an hour or so in the water and then we had a splendid lunch at a little cafe called the funky fish, the chef is french and made the most amazing pizzas.

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north

 gap year, us  4 Responses »
Dec 272014
 
north 001

lunch at whangarei playground

on xmas day we left piha and set off to drive up north to sal’s aunt Robyn, who had asked us to join her for christmas dinner, we headed up the east coast and stopped off in whangarei for lunch at the basin there.

whangarei has special memories for me, apart from having been through there every time I have done the run up or down the east coast thru there, dad and i also spent a fair bit of time there, tied up on the wharf in the basin, so it was an emotional visit this time – my first time back there since dad died. i realised its just another place i should have brought some of his ashes to spread!

anyway kai enjoyed the lovely big playground and i had a nostalgic wander up and down the wharf.

later that afternoon we arrived at the quaint village of rawene on the hokianga harbour in northland, where robyn now lives. its a beautiful spot that I am very familiar with, although its a remote and wild part of the north west coast. rawene is the site of the only means to cross the hokianga harbour – a small car ferry, and i have spent a fairr bit of time on the north side of the harbour at a small place called panguru.

robyn is living in a small rental property while she renovates the magnificent home she owns looking across the bay, so whe arranged for us to stay in a little cabin in the camping ground next door to where she is living, so we got settled in and then wandered across to her place for a yummy christmas dinner with buckets of fine red wine and good company!

boxing day we caught the ferry across the harbour to drive over to panguru, one of my best friends was killed in a tragic motorbike accident in gove in 1997, and i took his body home to his village of panguru and stayed in the maori marae for the funeral over a couple of weeks, I also came back 18 months later for the unveiling of his grave.

going thru that experience when I was there for Steve’s funeral and the unveiling gave me a very strong connection with panguru and both steve’s immediate family as well as his extended maori whānau. it was, despite the tragedy and sadness, a very special time in my life.

so i took sal and kai to steve’s grave and explained my connection with panguru and the people there, i told them of the power of the tokotoko and my being able to share with steve’s whānau the stories of his yolngu family and what high regard he was held in by the yolngu in his adopted home in arnhem land.

we then went down from the cemetry into panguru to see if i could find any of steve’s family, and while i was driving down the hill i noticed there were a lot of cars up at the marae so we drove up there and i told sal & kai to wait in the car while i checked if any one knew where the dargaville brothers were.

By an absolute fluke they were just finishing a service for the unveiling of a couple of graves and walking into the hall for lunch and i spotted a face i knew – boxer, one of the elders of the marae, so i asked him about the dargaville boys, but he said they were all out of town for the holidays – he then said, “well boy, you better come in and have some kai with us!”, i explained i had sal and kai in the car and we certainly didnt mean to intrude.

Boxer just responded by telling me to hurry up and get my family and come inside for a feed! So we ended up having a wonderful feast of shell fish, smoked eel and an enormous spread of food from the hangi!!

it was a cultural experience no amount of money or desire could have achieved, it was just a fluke of the combination of my longstanding connection with the community, and the timing of our arrival, regardless it was an amazing experience for kai to have and i am sure i could hear steve having a bit of a giggle as he watched us!

we then had another lovely dinner with robyn, and a friend of hers, chad. we will be heading back up here later this month when some more of sal’s family will be here visiting robyn.

today we drove back home down the west coast and are now happily back home in our little bach in piha!