Solved: The great Onerahi cafe mystery

More than 700 cafes across the country have entered the New Zealand Cafe of the Year Awards. Photo / Duncan Brown

The great Onerahi cafe mystery has been solved.

Last month the organisers of the New Zealand Cafe of the Year Awards released the names of 24 Northland cafes entered in the awards, saying Carol's Cafe, in Ross St, Onerahi, was one of the 24.

However, after the article was published in the Northern Advocate several readers went to find Carol's Cafe, but with no success. So The Advocate visited the address provided and found it was a residential house.

A check on the Companies Office register found there was indeed a company called Carol's Cafe registered at the address, but no actual cafe there.

So the paper contacted Stephen Wood, who was down as one of the owners of Carol's Cafe and resident at the Ross St address, who explained he and wife Carol had sold the cafe they ran - CC's in the Strand - in June and it was that cafe that was entered in the awards.

There had never been an actual Carol's Cafe in Whangarei and the confusion came because of the registered address of the company.

Organisers confirmed that it should be CC's in the Strand Cafe that is entered in the awards, not Carol's Cafe, and confusion over the company's address caused the error.

More than 700 cafes across the country have entered the competition to try and take the title from last year's Supreme winner, Ironic Cafe in Dunedin.

Public votes determine finalistsand also decide the People's Choice Winner.

Each week 10 prizes of $50 are up for grabs over the eight-week voting period of the campaign. There are also four road trips to win. Vote until October9 at www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz