Checking out the Hokianga

We decided to take a drive to the west coast of the Northland, about 1.5-2 hours away from Whangarei.  Hokianga is considered to be one of the oldest settlements of the Maori and is still the heartland for the tribe, Nga Puhi people. Oral legend says that the Maori made their first landfall here in the Hokianga from their original island home of Hawaiki.

We started the adventure to the mouth of the hokianga harbor and took a little walk to the see the narrow entrance.

Giant golden sand dunes that monopolize the view at harbor entrance.

We got some tourists to snap a quick pic of the 2 of us.

Then, we went for lunch at a cute roadside cafe in Rawene, called the Boatshed. Despite the windy and overcast skies, we enjoyed the harbor views and our salad and panini lunch.

We had heard about the boulders and always up to see something new, we checked them out. Strewn across a deserted beach are these large spherical rocks, visible during the low tides.

Like sitting on top of the largest bowling bowl ever!

Apparently, the large rocks are examples of "concretions"--latin for grown together. So, it occurs when cementing material binds together with sediment. The likely explanation for their spherical shape is that the rocks rolled around on the ocean floor and grew bigger, much like a snowball. Either way, they are neat to see, especially since some of the boulders are nearly 12 feet in diameter. It was a fun day trip to the west coast.