Whangaroa Harbour

Whangaroa is a deep, almost landlocked harbour reached through a narrow entrance, and what makes it look the way it does is the rock: weathered volcanic domes stand around the water in rounded lumps, several of them bare grey rock above the bush. The most climbed is St Paul's Rock above the village - a short track of about twenty to thirty minutes ending in a chain-assisted scramble up bare rock to a small summit with the whole harbour below. It is steep and the last section is genuinely a scramble, not a walk. Duke's Nose, across the water at Lane Cove, is the bigger version, longer and harder. The harbour is a long-established game fishing base and charters run from the small marina; kayaking in the sheltered arms is the calmer option. The village itself is tiny - a shop, a pub, a boat ramp - and there is very little else, which is much of the appeal.

History

The harbour formed when rising seas drowned a river valley about 6,000 years ago, and in Māori tradition the waka Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi explored it. A Wesleyan mission was founded here in June 1823, Europeans settled in the 1840s, and Lane and Brown's shipyard, moved to Totara North in 1872, had built 26 ships by 1887 (Wikipedia, Whangaroa Harbour).

What you'll find

• St Paul's Rock - the short chain-assisted scramble above the village.
• The volcanic domes - bare grey rock standing around the harbour.
• The sheltered arms - kayaking water inside the narrow entrance.
• The fishing fleet - the game charters at the marina.

When to go

November to April. Do St Paul's Rock in dry weather - the final rock is slippery when wet and the chains are the only handhold.

Before you go

The last part of St Paul's Rock is an exposed scramble on chains, not suitable for everyone. The village has almost no services. Boat charters need booking ahead in summer.

Nearby

Matauri Bay and the Cavalli Islands are east; Kerikeri and the Bay of Islands are south.

Key facts