Whangarei Falls

As we work our way back to Auckland, we’ve spent the last couple days in Whangarei, the capital of Northland. With more showers in the forecast for Sunday, we didn’t want to risk taking a long hike and getting stuck out in the rain. Of course, the day was perfect, so we enjoyed a relaxing Sunday, strolling through the city’s parks and reading the newspaper in a café.

Today we took the 5K stroll (one way) up the Hatea River walk. Our favorite morning show, Breakfast, promised good weather today, so we took to the trail with confidence we’d get in a full day without getting wet. Initially, the hardest part was finding the trailhead much further up the road than we anticipated. Once we were on track, it was a nice leisurely stroll along the river.

At the end of the track, the river tumbled over the impressive Whangarei Falls. We knew from our pamphlet that they were supposed to be pretty tall, but I guess we weren’t really thinking about how tall 26.3 meters really is. After a full morning of relatively flat walking, the falls almost didn’t fit in. We enjoyed lunch under the mist of the falls while trying to fend off an aggressive duck that was really interested in our food.

On way back, we decided to change things up a little bit and take a different route. Unfortunately, our trail map didn’t have any indications of elevation and we soon found ourselves heading straight up the side of a mountain. Switchback after switchback, we were sure that we were almost at the top. The climb seemed to go on forever. When we finally made it to the top, we were treated to a beautiful overlook of the far north’s largest city. The final decent was much easier, but after a long day of hiking, we were ready for an early dinner and a well deserved rest.

Tomorrow, we return to Auckland to get ready to fly out on Wednesday. We’ll be meeting up with Maelle and Martin, our French roommates from Christchurch (who as luck would have it are also leaving Wednesday) for a quick reunion before we head out. Hopefully, seeing some more familiar faces will ease the pain of our impeding departure.

We’ll check in one more time before we leave to try to ease the pain of your impending blog withdrawal.