Adventure...Because It's There!: Whangarei Falls, Hatea River Walk, and Parihaka Reserve

The mountain that is the Parihaka Reserve

I'm beginning to feel that perhaps I know what Frodo felt like in the Lord of the Rings, in one regard at least. SO MUCH WALKING!!! It's great that there are so many walking tracks and that they are all free. There is so much to see and the area is so beautiful!

View from the Drummond Track Lookout

I've noticed that a lot of people tend to walk barefoot here, which was strange to see at first, but I am slowly getting accustomed to seeing it. I've heard so many times at home that it is much healthier for your body to walk barefoot, but of course, that is limited to parks and your own backyard. The average store has the sign "No shirt, no shoes, no service". You can walk in naked from the waist down apparently, but if you want service you need a shirt and shoes. It's always seemed odd to me. Here, it is quite common to see kids running around outside at school, people walking home from school, and runners on the pathways, all completely barefoot.

War memorial at the top of the Drummond Track

Andrew and I are staying in the Whangarei area for a few weeks to take in all the sights, do some diving, and work on a local farm. The last few days we have done a few local hikes, including the Drummond and Dobbey Tracks in the Parihaka Reserve, the Hatea River Walk, and the hike to Whangarei Falls. Overall, around 30km of hiking in the last few days. That doesn't include the 6km walk to the hardware store the other day either.

The Drummond track to the lookout was quite challenging, but also quite rewarding. There were enough stairs that my fitbit measured 61 flights and only 2000 steps! A lot of people were running up this stretch though, so I guess it is frequently used by locals for their daily exercise. There was a nice war memorial at the top that is visible throughout the area at night - the red light is quite noticeable!

Top of Whangarei Falls

Sub-Tropical forest walkway

The Hatea river walk is an easy hike on rolling hills beside the river. That is, unless you read the map incorrectly, get lost, and randomly end up walking up a large hill and through the city before pulling out the phone and navigating to the Falls. There was one extra bridge that wasn't on our map that led us off course. We walked back on the second part of the Hatea river walk and it was rather pleasant! There were a number of people walking their dogs, so I got to pet lots of puppies. There were also large fields of Bird-Of-Paradise and Cala Lilies.

Mist of the Falls

The falls themselves were beautiful. Due to our mis-navigation we started out at the top of the falls, but it was an easy pathway down to the bottom. There were quite a few people around, some swimming, some scrambling barefoot over the rocks, and some just sunbathing. The water was a bit cool, but the sun was warm. It certainly felt good on the barefeet after a long walk. We spent some time relaxing, scrambling around, and enjoying the cool mist from the falls, then started the long walk back to our accommodations. There's still lots to explore in the area and we are excited for our first farmstay tomorrow!