Farthest North, the Hokianga Country.

Moving on once more from Kirikopuni by the luxurious home on wheels, the excursionists found themselves very early on 2nd November, at Okaihau, the present terminus of the Northern line, close to the shore of Lake Omapere, set among its gracefully-shaped volcanic cones. This Omapere region is the core and centre of the famous Ngapuhi territory. There are alternate belts of rich volcanic and indifferent clay land; there were places where the gumdigger had left his trademark in the form of a myriad upturned heaps of clay. There were beautiful dairy lands, fine herds of cattle, numerous small Maori villages; great groves of the puriri tree, the most conspicuous feature of the native vegetation in this part of the country.

More motor car travelling, excellently arranged and most pleasant, through a land of great scenic variety. By way of change from so much land transit there was a motor-launch trip from historic Te Horeke, near the head of navigation, down to Hokianga estuary and Kohukohu town, twenty miles from the sea, sitting on the water's edge under its wooded hills. This road was diversified with the many by-rivers of Hokianga Harbour, such as the lovely Mangamuka; there the party toured the farming lands about its head and lunched at Broadwood, one of the richest bits of dairying and crop raising land in all this splendid Northland, and a place, the party found, of unbounded hospitality.

A car run through to the Otiria railway junction followed; this took the party past the eastern shore of Lake Omapere and through the old mision settlements of Waimate and Pakaraka, with their pretty churches and grand old English trees; on through the plain of Taiamai, the olden garden of the North,—where Ohaeawai township stands at the cross-roads of traffic.