Kohukohu

The little town of Kohukohu is four kilometres north of the jetty on the Narrows where the car ferry crossing the Hokianga from Rawene docks. Once a timber port, Kohukohu was the largest settlement on the Hokianga, though the population is now less than 200, but they promise good hospitality.

Possibly the oldest and most poingant relic of the Kauri felling and sawmilling past are the old pillars of the long defunct Kohukohu wharf. This wharf served the timber town in it's heyday, when the sawmill here (1878) was the largest steam driven one in the region. Local iwi, Te Ihutai hapu of Te Rarawa had actually been in the timber business since as early as the 1820s, selling Kauri logs directly to Australia. Bigger business came along and the sawmill went up, the product lines expanding to include Totara posts and then butter boxes, as Northland's cleared land turned to dairy.

Impressive and symmetrical, the concrete Hokianga War Memorial is an Arch of Remembrance is in the foreshore reserve, with inlaid plaques listing the soldiers. A modest pair of wrought Iron gates that adorn the former Memorial Park, were part of this Arch arrangement, before it was moved several times around town for various reasons. Another pair of such gates has settled into the school entrance on Beach Road after they also hopped about Kohukohu since they were made in 1920.

Architecture buffs will be interested in the 100 year old kauri villas, which are of all sizes and varieties, the most attractive one possibly being on the corner of Beach Road and Church Street. Head up the quaint lane past more decorated and decorative villas to see the Anglican and Methodist Church (1891).

There is an old BNZ building here, and the original school house survives in good condition, and still serves the community as a hall, testament to Kauri Construction. The 1890 Masonic Lodge here is an unusual two storey one made from timber, and still in reasonable condition, with sash windows and the usual dash of symmetry and formality.

A community asset is the Village Arts Gallerywhere the works of Ralph Hotere are sometimes traded, next door the pub, also a community asset. Every third Saturday morning in good weather the Kohukohu people put on a market.

If you are travelling by boat, it is not far from here to Mangungu Mission, over the other side of the inlet at Horoeke.

AUCKLAND TO HOKIANGA AND BAY OF ISLANDS THREE DAY PRIVATE TOUR

Image Credits: Koenraad Kuiper