Kerikeri - the town so nice....

.... they named it twice! This was our destination today - a pretty little town about 20km up the road from Paihia, and actually the biggest town in the far north area of the North Island. On our way there we stopped at a couple of places, the first being the Waitangi Mountain Bike Park, where Dave checked out their trails and the bike rental shop. No plans to ride here though - just wanted to have a look! From there, we drove a few kms to Haruru Falls, a lovely waterfall in a small park with chickens and roosters roaming free! Not sure where they belonged, but there were baby chicks 🐤 there too in the bushes!

We left there and drove up to Kerikeri, first driving through the town, then making our way out to the historical Stone Store, a heritage building built in 1832 as a missionary warehouse, and then took on other roles as a trading post, library, barracks and boys school. It now serves as a museum and gift store in a beautiful area reminiscent of an English country garden. Just above the store is St. James Anglican Church, an historic church from the 1819, with the current building being finished in 1878, again on lovely grounds with lots of flowers.

We went back to the downtown area for a walk around and some lunch (one of those delicious pies), picked up a few groceries, then headed out to a Rainbow Falls, about 8km down the road. This is another beautiful waterfall, with trails all around and viewing areas, so we hiked down to the bottom of the falls for some nice photos, as well as getting some from the viewing area up top.

We headed back to a Paihia for an hour or so by the pool then made a nice dinner at our apartment, which we ate on the deck overlooking the beautiful ocean view of Paihia, and Russell, across the bay. Short walk into town after dinner, then back to get ready for tomorrow’s big adventure - stay tuned!! 😊Read more