We awoke late. So peaceful here. After a leisurely breakfast, we wandered up the hill for second breakfast of Raglan Roast coffee and freshly made scones and cinnamon koru. Luxury! (Graham and Paula lived in Raglan before they made the move north and bought Wairere Boulders. It was awesome to have a taste of our rohe up here!) We made the most of a good WIFI connection to checkout accommodation around Paihia and found that there was none until tomorrow so decided to stay here another night.  It was already 11.30 so we decided we’d finish off the bits of the walk we didn’t do last night, drive down to Horeke and check it out, go to the Mangungu Mission House then come back and decide whether to kayak through the mangroves to the harbour or not. The tide times meant that this couldn’t be done until 4.30pm. 

We rebelliously went the wrong way round the walk to get straight up to the Magic Rock rather than going all the way round the Loop Track. It is a steady climb from the stile and although it was overcast, it was very humid and hot. You can see the Magic Rock from the campsite and it seems a long way off, but it took us about 25 minutes to climb the 185m hill. It is a BIG rock! The view of the harbour and the rolling scenery is beautiful although there is no view of the boulders – the best place to see them from is the Lookout.  After a handstand at the top (not the top of the boulder although I reckon it could be scaled – just not by me on a windy day with no backup!)

We headed down to the swimming hole. When we had looked at this yesterday, I was a little unsure about it – the water is a peaty brown and you can’t see the bottom. We found out later that it is stained by the bush tannins and is perfectly clean. As I couldn’t see the bottom, I poked my feet down until I could feel a rock, and then a bit more to find the shingly bed before I launched in. It was deliciously refreshing.  I splashed around for a bit, swam out to the middle and found a rock to stand on before coming back and getting out. A quick dry while Nigel practised his weaving on the Nikau Palms and then we headed back. 

Next stop Horeke. Or maybe not. Horeke is a reasonable size settlement. It has the oldest pub in New Zealand and the oldest Post Office. There is a school, a church, a community centre, a sports centre and a medical centre. The pub is closed. The Post Office has been moved and is now a resource shed.  But it is busy with cyclists as it is the endpoint of the Twin Coast Cycle Way. The ice cream van in front of the Sports Centre is doing the roaring trade the pub could have been doing had it been open. There are well to do looking houses and along the Horeke Road there is also evidence of the poverty of the rohe. A place of haves and have nots. As I wrote this blog I came across this article from Stuff.co.nz written earlier this year.

We had read that the Mangungu Mission House was open 10am to 3pm from December to February. It was now 1.45pm so we headed off to have a look.  Only a few kms down the road but we found it too was closed. We looked around the grounds, wandered through the cemetery, read the information boards and then decided that we might as well come back to the campsite and have lunch there. 

The afternoon has been spent writing this blog, generally relaxing. We decided not to kayak though it does sound interesting and I sort of had FOMO when another group were getting kitted up to go.