Waterfall Road Trip!

Like I mentioned last post, this weekend we headed out on the trip I planned over Easter, but had to cancel because Sean got the flu. This time, he decided to get strep throat 3 days before we were supposed to leave. We decided that since the medicine is quite quick acting we would go anyway. The first half of the weekend had absolutely beautiful weather. As you will see in the pictures, the country glows when its sunny out.

Overall we drove 740km (460miles), saw 6 waterfalls, drove on more gravel roads than we ever care to again, and stayed in three different places. In a day and a half of driving we saw cows, (massive) bulls, sheep, emu, llama, wild turkey, goats, deer, eels, glowworms, horses, ponies, wild cats and chicken (crossing the road of course). Surprisingly enough, this was all on the side of the road (minus the eels and glowworms).

We headed out Friday after lunch and stopped for a 5 minute walk in a scenic reserve. It was basically some farmers land, but you could see for miles in every direction. The landscape is really cool because the hills are scattered with all sorts of limestone formations. The wind was so strong it blew Sean's sunglasses off his face and they were fortunately saved by a fencepost.

We then ended up at Bridal Veil Falls, which was spectacular. It was much larger than most of the waterfalls we had seen.

The wind was still so strong that it was changing the path of the water as it fell

 

We then drove on gravel roads for about an hour to get to Kawhia Harbour, our final destination for the evening. As rough as the drive was, it was absolutely gorgeous and looked over a few different harbours on the way.

A view from the road

These sheep looked really cool (and cute)

Kawhia Harbour (we stayed about 100 feet from the water's edge)

We set off Saturday morning and much to Sean's dismay encountered more gravel roads (after I mistakenly ensured him we were done with them). We saw three more amazing waterfalls and a natural limestone bridge/arch. I continued to be in awe of the scenery. When I first got to New Zealand I wasn't very impressed with this part of the country. I now am stunned at its beauty when I realize this is the "meh" part of New Zealand and its more beautiful than you will find in many parts of the world.

Marokopa Falls. This waterfall was far more massive than it looks in this picture.

Mangapohue Natural Bridge. Its hard to get a feel for the scale here, but the walkway helps.

A field filled with limestone fossils of clams

We missed our turn and got this view by accident. In the background you can see two of the mountains on North Island. This is where Sean goes snowboarding.

Waitanguru Falls

I have no idea what was floating in this pond, but it looked really cool and pink.

Omaru Falls

After a long exhausting day we finally reached the town of Waitomo where we were staying for the night. Waitomo is known for its extensive cave system. Sunday morning we went on a 5 hour cave tour. We started by abseiling 90ft into the cave, walked around a bit and then tubed down the river. Part of the tubing you do in complete darkness and get to look at all the glowworms. We got to climb through some tiny spaces and then rock climbed out. We couldn't bring a camera so I don't have any cool pictures, but it was a blast. We then took a short drive to a rockclimbing place where we stayed for the night so Sean could get a bit of rockclimbing in. The weather turned rainy and overcast, so we were lucky we spent most of the day underground.

Monday we headed back to Auckland on a very detoured route and saw a few more waterfalls. Unfortunately the weather stayed a bit ugly but the rain held off. Shortly after we left we passed a sign that said swingbridge and I made us pull over. We decided to also follow the trail to the dam and an hour later ended up back at the car. Then we headed to Wairere Falls. It was a STEEP hike that took an hour to get to the top, but we finally made it. The wind was so strong at the top that most of the water was blowing back up the waterfall instead of falling down. It was still a very impressive waterfall and well worth the detour.

Swingbridge

The Dam, which was actually just the spillway

Wairere Falls from the start of the track

View partway up the track

This is the view from the top of Wairere Falls. Its pretty much just water blowing back in your face.

 I apparently didn't record the right bit, but you get a quick snipit of how much water was coming back up.

You can see the water blowing back up the falls, which is quite impressive if you consider how much water is flowing off the falls.

About an hour from Auckland we hit traffic that reminded me too much of driving on the backroads while evacuating Houston from the hurricane. Fortunately I had another detour planned, and once we got off the motorway we shortly arrived at our last waterfall for the trip. Sadly it was the least impressive and very busy with tourists, but it was still a decent waterfall.

Hunua Falls

We got home and unpacked our bags just in time for me to pack them up again. I leave for the Tauranga Boat show on Thursday and am crossing my fingers for good weather.