Far out, far north
Leigh Bramwell
You can’t be pretentious in the middle of a paddock in Kaeo, says Janit Wade-Ferrell, as she serves up another ‘everyday wonderful breakfast’ at her diner in the far north.
And certainly there’s nothing pretentious about Janit’s Texas Diner, an octagonal timber building rising from the swamp just a few kilometres from the determinedly trendy café town of Kerikeri.
Janit is a woman after my own heart. She makes perfect fried eggs with bacon, hash browns and more toast than even a carboholic can eat, and serves it all on the same plate, complete with jam and a slice of orange. Handy hint – put a piece of buttered toast on top of a slice of orange and the toast will become infused with a delicate orange flavour. Janit has unwittingly devised a taste treat.
If you’re touring the far north, this is the place to start.
Even when the weather is gloomy in the extreme – 32 degrees and damp – the ‘everyday wonderful breakfast’ at $6.50 will put a smile on your face, even without espresso. There’s nothing so stylish here – Janit’s from the States and this is a real American diner where the coffee is filtered and the pepper (white) comes in a shaker, not a grinder.
It’s taken a couple of years for both locals and tourists to get the hang of Janit’s. But if 30 dozen eggs served on New Year’s Day is any indication, they’ve got it now. Tourists are appreciative of large servings and low prices, and an environment (red vinyl bar seats and strata board tables) where children can spill things without ruining a hundred thousand dollar décor job. Locally, it’s attaining cult status, with groups of Bay of Islands trendies organising Saturday and Sunday morning sojourns there. And Janit says people from the nearby multi-million dollar Kauri Cliffs have played on her somewhat bizarre mini golf course.
index.cfm?pageID=13153 is not the sort of place you cruise past for a look. There are large gates and you have to announce yourself to an electronic box for entry.
In complete contrast to the splendour of the golf course development is Matauri Bay, where locals live very simply on the shoreline. The vehicle of choice here is the rusty tractor – handy for launching boats and yanking tourists’ four wheel drives out of the soft sand.
A hop up the road is Mangonui, initially famous for its fish and chip shop and disproportionate number of real estate agencies, now better known for craft shops and cafés. It’s set on a tranquil harbour with picturesque pleasure boats, and there’s always someone fishing from the wharf who’ll tell you good stories about the enormous snapper they caught the other day.
Bridget and Ian Ogle opened the Waterfront Café here 14 months ago and they seem to have been busy ever since. Even on what she terms "the ultimate bad hair day" (90 percent humidity) Bridget manages to remain cheerful in the face of a major lunch crowd. She and Ian have recently extended, and the café has bi-folds opening up to the harbour, a newly opened bar alongside, and seven waterfront motel units.
If the place is crowded, there’s the Slung Anchor just along the road, which boasts a larger outdoor eating area.
In a characterful collection of quaint, colonial buildings you can indulge your taste for bathroom luxury at Laurel’s Soaps and Gifts. Laurel makes soap which looks and smells good enough to eat. The range goes from smooth, sophisticated ovals to those lovely rough chunks with herby things embedded in them. Just next door there’s a bookshop that has a startlingly good selection of magazines. You’ll find titles here which don’t even make it into Magazzino.
There’s also a wonderful gallery and craft shop called the Flax Bush, which carries some of the most innovative and inexpensive jade and paua jewellery in the land. The shop features the work of a number of Far North and Hokianga weavers who seem to be able to make anything from flax, even waistcoats!
The preference for many visitors to Mang 
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