Understand
Whangaroa's immediate history goes back to Maori settlement, a mission station, gum digging, and a prodigious boom time when kauri logs were brought from the surrounding hills in enormous quantities, settlements and mills flourished, and busy shipbuilding yards operated around the harbour. In the years between 1850 and 1909 these shipyards produced over 100 ships - schooners, brigantines and ketches - which sailed the high seas and ended up in all corners of the globe.
Those days are past, but the unspoilt beauty remains to delight the traveller. The harbour itself is the jewel in a crown of beautiful bays that encircle Whangaroa's coastline. There are still substantial areas of native bush within the county. The small townships and settlements keep their sense of history and some of their original buildings remain to carry whispers of the past into the 21st century. Whangaroa remains a mecca for the game fisherman. Pristine white sand beaches and clear water create a mecca in summer time for holiday makers. Whangaroa ..... you can't go past it. It's natures own coast Whangaroa community website (http://www.whangaroa.co.nz)
