Sunday 1st March 2026, a beautiful sunny Autumn day, saw 20 historians meet up on the eastern shore of Ohiwa Harbour all keen for a walk to the relativity hidden cave passed the far end of Ohiwa Beach Holiday Park.

Neville Thompson was our guide. Neville grew up living on the edge of the harbour. He has spent many years searching through LIM documents and listening to the many stories told by passengers on his guided tours of the Ohiwa Harbour and other people. Neville is passionate about sharing his knowledge with others.

In his introductory talk about the harbour and its many small islands, he particularly mentioned Hokianga Island where Te Kooti was initially buried.
Neville then lead us to the Ohiwa cave. This cave was used for some time by members of the Rotorua Te Arawa tribe during and after the Maori wars of the 1860s when Te Arawa fought alongside the Government troops.

During lunch at the Ohiwa Beach Holiday Park Neville displayed many of the documents from his research.
After this some took up Neville’s offer to show them the site of the Ferry Hotel opened by Captain John Rushton in 1873 at the end of the Ohiwa spit.