Walk #178, 19th November 2025
This beautiful 35 m high waterfall is on the Te Anga Road in the Waitomo region. Also on the same scenic road, going toward Waitomo, is the Piripiri cave and the Mangapohe Natural Bridge.
Walk: Waikato / King Country 30
Links
Walk #175, 17th November 2025
Mangaokewa means “the stones of Kewa.” This walk is about 3kms from the town of Te Kuiti. It follows the Mangaokewa River.
There’s a small waterfall about 20 minutes along the track. Beyond that is an old road going in the direction of Te Kuiti. The area has a ghost townish feel which I remarked about on the video. I later learned it was the original site of Te Kuiti before the town moved north.
Walk: King Country Walk 31
Links
Papers Past: Old Te Kuiti (By J.W.E)
Te Kooti
Te Kooti was invited to Te Kūiti, the residence of the Māori King – but only if he came in peace. He responded defiantly that he was coming to ‘assume himself the supreme authority which he coming direct from God was entitled to’. Accompanied by Horonuku and Ngāti Tūwharetoa, and his core group of around 60 whakarau, Te Kooti arrived at Te Kūiti on 10 July 1869. Rewi Maniapoto greeted Te Kooti as a kinsman (they were related through Te Kooti’s father) and Te Kooti, for his part, appeared more conciliatory. He had come not to depose Tāwhiao but ‘to rouse up the Waikato to take up arms’. A feast had been prepared, but at this point Te Kooti declared that ‘he should consider himself the host (tangata whenua) and that the Waikato were his visitors’. His men loaded their weapons and fired over the heads of the bewildered Ngāti Maniapoto.
From 1873 to 1883 Te Kooti lived at Te Kūiti. Here he evolved the rituals of his church. In 1883 Te Kooti was formally pardoned, at Rewi Maniapoto’s insistence. Te Kooti left Te Kūiti and in April moved to Ōtewā, where he founded his religious community.
Walk #4, 23rd April 2025
The waterfall is small but pretty. There’s also a stunning four metre moss waterfall halfway down the track where glow worms can be seen at night.
Walk: Havelock 16
Walk #163, 21st Feb 2025
The falls are actually a concrete weir built in 1922 by the Havelock Borough Council on top of the existing falls, to provide water for a small power station that was downstream.
As you can see it is a popular swimming spot. I would have liked to have known about this as a child. We always swam in the Ngaruroro River. This is much better.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 30
Walk #161, 20th February 2025
The Waihi River plunges 25 metres over a wide bluff into a large pool. The pretty waterfall would be spectacular after rain. The bush surrounding the waterfall isn’t thick but contains some handsome old kowhai trees.
This was the first scenic reserve to be established in Hawkes Bay In 1899. There’s a well built shelter with tables at the top of the falls where we ate lunch.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 36
Walk #153, 29th January 2025
This is a small grove of tall Kauri that escaped the axe. There’s also an unusual double-trunked Kauri, from two seedlings fused together. And if that isn’t enough beauty, there’s a small waterfall and pool about 500m down the gravel road. You have to drive past it to get to the grove.
Walk: Coromandel 3
Links
Walk #137, 29th Sept 2024
This track leads to a beautiful little waterfall in urban Mount Albert. Unfortunately the path is still damaged from the double-whammy of Cyclones Hale in January 2023 and Gabriel in February 2023. We walked with friends who knew the place. Even so there was a tricky creek crossing near a washed-out bridge.
Our walk started at Phyllis Reserve and ended at Unitec.
Disappointingly some of the signs are vandalized making it difficult to learn about this hidden treasure. What I can make out from the sign about the trees is this; they’re a mix of native and exotic. The older, exotic trees are treated as part of the heritage of the creek and are only removed when they die or become a danger to the public.
The oak trees date from the period of farming on the land above the bank and being deciduous allow sunshine through the winter months.
The land on the eastern side of the creek belonged to the Auckland Lunatic Asylum. In 1973, 10.4 hectares of the Asylum farm was designated as the site for a technical institute. In 1993 the old Asylum building was sold to Carrington Polytechnic which became Unitec. The Mason Clinic, a mental health facility, is further down the creek.
The reserve is a habitat for our native copper skinks which are endemic to the North Island.
Before the start of the Waterview Connection, 204 native copper skinks were relocated from seven sites along the path of the roadworks. Monitoring conducted since the relocation has shown a healthy population of copper skinks surviving here.
Mahi Whenua Sanctuary Gardens
Just above the reserve is a thriving community garden. The site is home to more than 400 species of plants. It has been gardened for well over 100 years by Maori, Carrington Mental Hospital and Unitec staff and students.
In 2018 the community garden was saved and integrated as a valuable community green space into the Wairaka Precinct development.
Walk: Auckland 27
Wairaka Spring
Unitec has a spring which is a waahi tapu, a historic site associated with Wairaka of the Mataatua canoe dated all the way back to 950 AD. Which is interesting given that most signs showing the arrival of Polynesians to NZ earlier than 1350 AD have disappeared.
Related page about the changing of the signs:
When was New Zealand first settled?
Links
Non-native trees have been removed from nearby Mount Albert, much to the dismay of the local people, both Maori and Pakeha: Māori world view important in Ōwairaka tree debate
Who is this Tupuna Maunga Authority? They want to chop down non-native trees and change place place names.
Tūpuna Maunga Authority plans to delete Wairaka from history, historian says
Walk #124, 30th April 2024
This has everything – history, a river walk and waterfalls. Also a cafe in the historic beekeepers house which is right next door to the oldest house in NZ, the Kemp House. The Kemp house was built in 1822 and the Stone Store was built in 1835. There’s a heritage orchard and cottage garden flowerbeds which the cafe uses. The garden has been in operation for over 200 years.
The Mission (Kemp House) was deliberately established next to Kororipo pa (see below), the home of Hongi Hika. Without his patronage and protection, the mission had little chance of survival. No doubt the people in the pa kept a good eye on the coming and goings of the Pakeha living there and reported back to Hongi.
The heritage park is enchanting, even down to the friendly goose who greeted me waggling his tail feathers. The river walk has a historic power station, rock formations and two waterfalls.
Link
Kerikeri Mission Station (Kemp House)
Kerikeri’s Kemp House – the oldest building in NZ – turns 200
Kerikeri’s hidden waterfall trails: The network of tracks linking five spectacular cascades
This site was the pa of Hongi Hika, the paramount chief of the north. From here they could keep an eye on everyone, including the Pakeha at the mission across the inlet.
Walking around Kororipo Pa in the quiet of the Kerikeri Basin, I imagined what it was like in the past. In the early 19th century the Ngapuhi tribe controlled the Bay of Islands, the first point of contact for most Europeans visiting New Zealand.
Looking at the historic Mission (Kemp House) and Stone Store across the inlet, New Zealand’s oldest buildings, I wondered about the two cultures that had existed side by side. How did they do it?
Links
Picture by By S. Percy Smith – Source: Wikepedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12799208
Missionaries and muskets at Kerikeri – Roadside Stories
Walk #95, 4th January 2023
This is a walk to a pretty, 20m waterfall at Tangoio on the Napier to Gisborne road, SH2.
The track branches off to another waterfall, the Tangoio Falls, but the platform to view those falls was closed.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 24
Links
Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve tracks
HB Walkabout: White Pine Bush and Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserves
Walk #93, 19th November 2022
The waterfall is off the beaten track but worth the visit.
Mt Damper falls plunges 74 metres down a papa cliff. It’s the highest single drop waterfall in the North Island. The base of the waterfall is inaccessible, but there are two viewing platforms.
The weather wasn’t great, but the upside was the rain made the falls even more spectacular.
Walk: Taranaki 2
History
The falls are near the Tihi-Manuka trail, which was used by local Maori as the main route between the Taumaranui area and the north Taranaki coast.
We stayed at Whangamomona. The Whangamomona Hotel would have to be the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at for the food, the hospitality and the historic setting. It’s real New Zealand, NZ at it’s best.
The road trip to Mt Damper Falls is worth the walk just on its own.
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