Wairere Heights is a farm stay accessed from Horeke Road, in one of the more remote parts of the Hokianga. The surrounding land is steep and rugged, with much of it covered in exotic pines, with the balance in regenerating native forest and the odd paddock. Irina MacDonald and her mother, Nina, decided to buy a farming property in NZ, with the mix of established and regrowth native forest on the north side slope being decisive. The farm was run down, so they started concentrating on bees and honey-based products. After several years, they added a couple of accommodation pods near the top of the hill above the forest, with fabulous views to the north and west. They will make you a delicious dinner and breakfast for a modest extra fee, although you can do this with the cooking facilities next to the pods.
As a working farm, there are plenty of farm animals to interact with, including a very friendly pig! But for us, the main attraction was a walk in the forest, with Irina as a guide. The forest has numerous mature trees that survived the original logging and establishment of the farm. These have supported forest regrowth, dominated by puriri, rimu, kahikatea, totara, nikau and the odd kauri, and early regrowth species such as kanuka and manuka.
The forest is beautiful in its own right and hides the rocky ancient volcanic history of the Hokianga. Eroded basalt rock formations laid down by eruptions from Lake Omapere over 2.8 million years ago are a feature of the region, mostly noticeably at Wairere Boulders, 4 km north of Wairere Heights. Within the forest, there are numerous large rocks and boulders. Many have an unusual erosion feature with deep corrugations called fluting on the sides of the rocks. This is also apparent at nearby Wairere Boulders. For much of the post-volcanic history, the area was dominated by kauri forest, which is particularly acidic. The mix of acids produced by the trees and other plants mixed with rainwater created the fluting over millennia.
Wairere Heights is on Horeke Road, which links State Highway 12 to Wairere Boulders and historic Horeke and Mangungu Mission on the south side of the northeast end of Hokianga Harbour. The road is initially sealed from State Highway 12 as it follows the Taheke River valley but then becomes a narrow, windy metal road through the steep hills on the harbour's south side. The farm stay is signposted about 10 km along the road.
