Rewa's Village & Rainbow Falls

We drove a windy, rough, unpaved road going through forest and swamp, to bypass the ferry to Taipia. Tours through the Bay of Islands depart here so it’s super touristy, party-town and expensive. The Waitanga Treaty Grounds were also outside our budget but we would see much more Moari culture later.

Near Kerikeri, we came across an old Heritage Village. There were lots of signs to tell about Maori history and the first European settlers. You could walk over the old village site and look at the fortification ("pa" in Maori). It has NZ’s oldest exotic (non-native) fruit tree, a pear tree, from the first European settlers. An old Stone House, the docks, a tea house and gardens showed how those settlers lived.

Across the river, a replica of the Maori Rewa's village had been built. It had Maori relics, clothes and tools. Outside, a botanical garden showed native trees and plants, along with their Maori uses. Replica houses were set up to show what life was like. When I came back to the museum, the caretaker was busy making a piece of clothing using the techniques passed down to her by her Maori ancestors.

We drove to Rainbow Falls and snapped some pictures of the big drop. Early European settlers built a hydro power plant up here, a small comfort for the people that were used to servants waiting on them back home. The pool at the bottom was surrounded by large rocks. It was amazing to scramble over them into the cave behind the falls!Read more