Day 4 Keri Keri

Today’s little adventure – we headed to Paihia and the Waitangi area. Stopped to see the Haruru Falls where a rooster befriended us in the car park. Our journey continued on another beautiful drive, through scenic farmland with great looking cattle, not many sheep and then headed off on a small stretch of dirt road which lead us to a great coastal stretch with superb views.  En-route, we stopped at the Waitangi Treaty House which had the most beautiful grounds and garden. Great little walks which took us through rainforest vegetation with beautiful birds tantalising us, but were unable to capture them. We did not take the ferry across to Russell, as intended,  as it was blowing so hard, you could barely keep your eyes open.  Stopped to photograph St Paul’s Church (not that old really – 1925) but most beautiful in its structure of Kawakawa stone with magnificent timber work inside.  Apparently it stands on the site of NZ’s first church built in 1823.

We continued on, not knowing what to expect and landed up in Kawakawa. Apparently this is just an ordinary Kiwi town, but the public toilets, designed by an Austrian born artist and eco-architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser is something to see. This is apparently the most photographed toilet in NZ which have many wavy lines decorated with mosaics and brightly coloured bottles. The roof has grass and other plants and other buildings in the township are starting to have the same type of decoration. The railway line goes right through this little town and we had a quick snack at the quaint railway station. Spoke to some of the locals and had some good laughs.

We continued to the west, with more pretty farmland and cattle, taking us via Pakaraka and Okaihau. This loop landed us back in Keri Keri with the sun shining and giving us a most wonderful afternoon.

More signs of the day:
Thank you for returning ‘your trundle’ to the trundle bay – ie shopping trolley.
Stock effluent disposal.
Lock it or lose it.
Highway robbery – mechanical repair shop.
Slow down stay in Mantrol.
Mind your head when you come into the shop because our prices are so low.
Persons with gang affiliations and the wearing of gang patches prohibited on these premises!!!  Now that one wins the cake for today.