We spent Thursday mostly exploring the area north of Paihia (misspelled throughout last post, darn it), but we started with a quick photo of the main building at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This is an important historical site for New Zealand where you could easily spend a few hours seeing the spot where the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document, was signed on February 6, 1840, between representatives of the British Crown and Maori chiefs. The grounds offer access to a museum, the historic treaty house, a Maori meeting house, ceremonial war canoe, and cultural performances. We had planned to visit but decided the cost (US$34 each) and time (3-4 hours) needed to explore was more than we wanted to commit on our quick holiday.
Instead, we went waterfall hunting in and around Kerikeri, northeast of Paihia. First up was Haruru Falls. We had some unexpected greeters when we arrived.
Haruru Falls was in Waitangi not far from the Treaty Grounds. We drove up to Kerikeri for the next three waterfalls. Each of the falls that we visited in Kerikeri was in residential areas which seemed so odd to us — that some people could hear these everyday from their homes.
We then drove into the town center to walk to the next to falls. The 2.5 km path started on public land directly behind peoples’ homes before going into the bush near the creek/stream.
The second waterfall along the track was just a bit farther on. I missed the sign for it, but luckily Bob saw it or we would have continued down the stream and out of town.
Kerikeri has two other waterfalls that we didn’t get to, as we wanted to poke around the town a bit. One of their highlights is the Interweaving of Cultures sculpture by New Zealand artist Chris Booth in the Kerikeri Domain. We also walked out to the Fairy Pools by the Kerikeri River for a picnic lunch.
Kerikeri also has a chocolate factory with an associated cafe (everything has a cafe here — even garden centers) as well as some wineries. We checked out the chocolate factory and one winery (at which our second small world moment of the trip — both at wineries, but before we had anything to drink so I’ve got my facts straight).
We stopped at the Marsden Estate Winery to do a tasting. As we were talking with the hostess, she mentioned that another couple from Texas were visiting and were having lunch. (Note: When asked, we still say we’re from Texas cuz Austin still feels like home, and our address is in Texas.). At this point, a guy came up to buy some wine, and she motioned to us and told him that we were from Texas. He asked where, and we said Austin, and yep, that’s where he and his wife live too. He has family in the area and he and his wife, who happen to produce Austin Women’s Magazine, were over to celebrate his wife’s birthday. We had a great chat about Austin and travels. Small, small world!
Two final comments, both of the wineries let us split a glass of wine but kindly poured it into 2 glasses.
We ran into the Austin couple again when we returned to Paihia. They had just stocked up for what looked to be a festive birthday celebration with family, and we were going into the grocery store to pick up dinner for the night.
Peckish Travels 