Tinopai and Pahi

 

We came back across to the Kaipara Harbour on Saturday and we stayed at Tinopai, until Monday morning.

We went down to the wharf on Sunday morning, and with his last bit of bait, Eddie caught a Kahawai. Before that he fed a lot of little fishes.

We did a bit of a drive around the village in the afternoon, as it is too wet to ride the bikes around. We passed a lot of hidden driveways around the place, that must all be houses off grid as there are no power lines near them. I was glad we were in the truck, as the roads became unsealed and quite rough.

On Monday morning we came to Pahi. We are still on the Kaipara Harbour. This is a really nice place. We came here years ago, in our tent for a New Year Eve's.

In the grounds, there is a largest Morton Bay Fig tree you have ever seen. It is recognized as the largest tree of its kind. They think it was planted before 1840. In 2011 it was 25.7 metres high; 14.8 metres around its girth and has a spread of 51 metres. It is full of birds flying in and out making a lot of noise. I thought they might wake us up in the mornings, but they don't.

A little bit of info about the Kaipara Harbour. It is one of the largest harbours in the world by area. At high tide it is 947 square kilometres in size. There are 409 square kilometres of exposed mud flats at low tide. No wonder lots of sea birds live in the area!

Eddie in front of the fig tree trunk

view of the harbour from the wharf

fig tree

Pahi Hall

The Pahi hall was built in 1889 and was the local store. Eventually it became the local hall. It has been upgraded and repainted a few years ago to give it a new life. There was a group of mothers using the other day with all their children. They had a great time running around the reserve and paddling in the water.
The house was the original hotel. I think people stayed in it when they came here on the ships that used to sail around the harbour. It is now owned by a local man who has an oyster farm in the harbour. He puts sticks into the mud about half way between high and low tides. The oysters are wild ones and when they are little spats, they naturally attach themselves to the sticks. In 18 months time the oysters are ready for harvest. He goes out every day and comes back with a load. After harvesting he replaces them with fresh sticks and the process starts again. 

Sorry about the jaunty angle of the house.

I went for a walk today and this is the view from the top of the hill as you come into Pahi. Over the other side is the village of Whakapiro.