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Puhoi ... "Spring water" The name, Puhoi, is "Maori" though this name encompassed many groups of "indigenous people" with a variation of meanings for similar words. As a result, the correct translation of "Puhoi" may be "Slow water" (referring to the tide coming all the way in from the sea). The writer prefers "Spring (water) coming from a long way away". All through the valley, water comes in abundance all year round, from springs high in the hills; water hydraulically 'driven' by the ranges further north. Puhoi is in its seventh development stage. Stage 1: Until 2000 years ago Puhoi was part of a country uninhabited by human kind. Stage 2: In the next thousand years only a very few people had made it to NZ as the early Polynesian explorers visited, left some of them behind and others attempted to return to their original homes and pass on the information. Stage 3: The great migrations -- thought to be in the 1300s -- brought many waka (canoe) to this land they called Whai Repo ( describing the North Island as a stingray -- how did they know what it looked like?). From some of the waka, people came to the north to settle in this area. Stage 4: With the arrival of European and oriental travellers in the early 1800s, all tribes were termed "Maori" by the new travellers; being called "Pakeha" in return. It was not until 1863 that the then local Maori chief, Te Hemara Tauhia welcomed Bohemian settlers here. They created the ethnic settlement now known as Puhoi, but pronounced "Buhoi" under the German tongue. These settlers struggled under massive hardships as they first cut the huge Kauri trees for a living and then created farms. In the early stages Te Hemara helped them often with food from his horticultural plots down stream. For him, the settlers meant greater protection for his small group from other tribes. Stage 5: In the 1970s 'outsiders' began to buy many of the Bohemian farms along roads barely more than tracks. Some children and grandchildren of the original Bohemians stayed in the district but many left but held ties with their origins here. Stage 6: As Auckland reached out for "lifestyle Blocks" the 1990's saw not very suitable farming blocks divided into small 'play farms' where Auckland workers could relax in the quiet countryside evenings and weekends; wonderful family units with clean air, clean water and space to 'do you're own thing'. Stage 7: And now, with new sealed roads, a motorway advancing to the very gateway of Puhoi soon, life in the district is much easier. There is a rush form small units to lie and laze in -- as yet others decide to move here too. There are still descendants of the early Maori and Bohemian pioneers, still people who have lived over a decade in Puhoi and seeing it change, and still more who are "new" and enthusiastic. So... Let us take you on a tour of the Puhoi
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