Thursday 20 September 2018

Very quiet Oponini


This is one very quiet place in the off season times of Autumn, Winter and Spring. Oponini is located on the west coast of Northland. In 1855, John Webster, who had arrived in New Zealand in 1841, bought 700 acres of rough land at Opononi and established a homestead and pastoral farm which he developed into a showplace, entertaining vice-royalty several times. He also built a wharf, gum-store and a trading store. In 1894, Webster put the house and farm on the market. The store and gum store were taken over by Alfred Sprye Andrewes who later converted the gum store into a two storey hotel.


Opononi became famous throughout New Zealand in the summer of 1955 and 1956 due to the exploits of a dolphin called Opo. The Opononi Post and Telephone was opened in 1892 and operated until 1989. The road between Opononi and Omapere was developed in the mid 1930s leading to ribbon development. In 1959, a fire destroyed the Opononi Hotel and Opononi Store. Information from: Hokianga Tourism.

On the brief time we were there it was very quiet, the pub was closed and the only sign of action was a fishing charter taking people out into the harbour. A nice spot, but a bit too quiet for me.

8 comments:

William Kendall said...

What a difference a few meters can make, looking at the sky in these shots. Excellent takes!

local alien said...

We went to opononi in the early 60z. I thought I had seen opo but must just have been his statue, or a postcard.
Crowded on the summer?

gz said...

We stayed there in a bach across the road from the beach in 2013...with a team of riders doing the Northland 4 day Tour. Nice picturesand history

Sharon said...

That looks just about perfect!

Spare Parts and Pics said...

It looks beautiful and interesting history. I enjoy quiet places like that. So hard to find a beach in my neck of the woods that isn't jammed with people!

Jim said...

Terrific.

Lady Fi said...

Looks so peaceful - I like that!

Aditya Narayan Mohanty said...
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