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| Whangarei to Oampere |
Day 26. A day in The Hokianga
I actually woke up pretty refreshed and was happy that the
sun was shining with a nice blue sky. It did feel chilly at first, but once we
got into the car the weather had warmed up. Luckily I was wearing shirt and
shorts. Claude was going to drive me out to Omapere, just past Opononi so we
could visit the Hokianga historical society. This was where the other part of
my family comes in. My natural grandfather on mum’s side of the family was a
Gabolinscy, although I had only met him in person the once and I knew he had
recently passed away. Several months ago I had emailed them asking what
information they did happen to have and let them know several days ago that I
was coming.
The drive was not too bad and we did get to stop at town called Kawakawa as Claude wanted to show
me the toilets the council had built. They were different especially when they
are nearly all mosaics all the way through. They are different, but funny when
some of the glass windows seem to be assorted bottles placed into the walls.
Maybe it is another way to draw people into town though things that look completely
insane and different. I might have to tick this place as part of my next trip
as they have a museum, but of what? It looks like it might have something to do
with coal, my museum book will tell me when I do look at it. On the drive I did
see many old style wooden churches that were part of the landscape, one would
be used as a land mark for later on in the day not far out of Opononi. If
Opononi sounds familiar then it would if you had heard of Opo the dolphin, who
is now buried in town with a grave and even a monument near the pub.
Once we found Omapare, the historical society was easy to
find. I had a few years ago seen it at another location along the main road in
town, when I was doing the Fullers Hokianga trip through Paihia. This time it
had been moved to a side road and we would have passed it if the sign was not
there. The museum and archive centre was not very big at all, but it did have
plenty of information. I don’t think they had received my email from two days
ago that I was coming to visit as I did get a blank look when I introduced myself.
Unless the person I had emailed was not available at the time. They did have a
huge archive box for me anyway full of information about not only the
Gabolinscy / Hartley family from Kohukohu, but other families too. There was a
little bit of extra information that had been researched like the company
records for Hartley and Son launches. They owned several boats and a sheet did
tell us about where they went. Seems like there had been some decent research
done through Norris Gabolinscy who had written the Gabolinscy / Hartley book
that I have a copy of. Luckily the group had that book and I was using it to
see if any of the information I had was required. I still found extra
regardless and they had photos.
Claude had come into the building with me when I went to
troll through the information that had been provided. He did sit down and watch
a movie reel about Opo the dolphin, although I did listen to the movie while it
was playing. Afterwards he did come over and have a look at what I was doing. I
don’t think he expected me to hand over a photo album with pictures I had seen
through the Gabolinscy / Hartley book including some extras like my uncle
getting christened or even one of him and my uncle at the Albany horse club.
This was actually for a newspaper article that was present. I did ask if I was
allowed to use my camera to copy the material. The answer was no as they
required the stamp from the organisation. This did not bother me and I didn’t want
to copy the photos as many I had either seen in the Gabolinscy / Hartley book
or through Kohukohu by Eric Harrison. Some of the pictures were not there, but
I did not want to unseal them from the paper in the albums. I started talking
to one of the ladies, who was about to go home about the research that had been
done. She said that Norris Gabolinscy and Ron Gabolinscy were both active
members, who helped with the local research, which did explain some of the letters
in the archive box. I spoke about the research and the dates not all bring
correct as I had been going through and correcting through the BDM’s in NZ. I
told them that I had gone to Germany looking for Albert and think I have found
him getting wounded in the Franco Prussian war around 1871. I very much like to
think they would love me to update the work of the past and I do feel like I
should do this. I have written blogs online and published them in magazines
about family members. Something I think
I surprised them about was the National archives now have a universal card and
email the records you require making it easier. I did receive a business card
to get in touch with them. During this time I bought two books about the
Hokianga ne was written by Eric Harrison again. Hokianga, A Visitors’ guide and
Hokianga Health; The first 100 years by Te Rautau Tuatahi. Another book I
wanted to get they no longer have, which is Hokianga memories. This book I did
see the day before at Rayburn house and hope it would still be there, for $45 I
think it will be and I can check local museums too. Seems to be now out of
print which was written by a family member of Eric Harrison’s unless it is his
wife.
Before leaving the historical society, I did ask about where
Ron lived and where he had been buried. I did get the answers and told where to
go. Again I feel like a stalker turning up at someones place on strange roads.
Last time was in Hikurangi when getting caught with Claude taking pictures of
the house I used to live in before moving to Australia. The people were happy
about that at that particular time especially when they were on their way to
work. This time no one walked out to ask what we were doing. On the way back
down the hill, we did stop at the lookout where the old signal flags used to be
for the ships A guy was watching the carpark and there was a bucket with a
suggested donation of $2 telling us that the money was for the local Lions club
for community projects. I do not really buy into that, but we put money there.
We were going o visit the cemetery outside of Opononi, but we had lunch first.
It was interesting listening to some maori ladies talk about how younger people
were not interested in learning about the spiritual side and their history,
which includes the language. Sorry I was listening at the cafe next to the
G.A.S. station, but I found it interesting. Hopefully once people get older
they will realise what they are about to lose and do something.
Once we had lunch, we were off to the Pakanae cemetery that
had a road leading to it. What I used as a landmark was the church and the
Marae, which did help. The road did
quickly become unsealed and then we were there. The cemetery did have plenty of
Maori graves too and writing I could not read. I had been given directions to
Ron’s resting place and at the moment there is only a rock with his name on it.
I don’t know if there will be a headstone or not. The ground would need to
settle first. There were several unusual graves, one was of a lighthouse and
the other a Maori grave actually had their family tree on the rear. Never seen
this type before and it would help with research. It was starting to rain and
as we were going to leave a bloke came up to us and asked what our business was
at the cemetery. Once we explained, the bloke was happy and actually knew Ron
who was buried there. We were off again as the rain drops closed in and the
next stop turned out to be near Kaikohe at the Hone Heke memorial. I think it
is to do with the Hone Heke the warrior and the politician, who are two people
but I was confused. The second cemetery I visited on the way home was the Maura
cemetery which is near the Jack Morgan museum. I hope I have the right cemetery
though. This was where another of Claudes relatives was buried and there were a
few people with the same family name up that way and it was a small rural
cemetery too. By the time I was shown the cemetery and then we were on the way
home where it was actually close to 6pm. I think it was a nice day out and
worth the visit to the other side of the country. Last time we went to
Kohukohu, where we visited the cemetery. I found out today they either ran out
of money to clean it up or ran out of steam as it would be hard work, which is
a shame. Not that it could be helped though.
Tip
When the electric razor seems to have given up the ghost,
smack it on the concrete floor to get it working properly again. Works with
lawn mowers with kicking them.
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