We still haven't gone kayaking. Instead, today we drove north to Kerikeri to explore that area. Our Maori guide yesterday explained that in Maori you duplicate the word to indicate multiples or repeated action. "Keri" is Maori for "dig," so "Kerikeri" means "dig and dig again." We don't know what they were digging, but at least now we understand some of the unusual names we've seen.

Our first stop was at Haruru Falls near Paihia, just a quick walk from the car.

Our next stop was just outside Kerikeri to see Rainbow falls from above.

Near the falls was a sign discussing the use of this river for generating electrical power. In the 1930's when this area was developed, the developers were trying to attract British govenment employees who had been working in Asia and might like to stay in the area for retirement. The developers were told in no uncertain terms that, since the British employees were used to having at least three servants in the house and servants were very hard to find in New Zealand, then electricity would be essential to convince them to move to the new area.

We hiked for about an hour down the "track" (New Zealandese for trail) beside the falls and river. It was a lovely trail through the shaded woods with frequent glimpses of river rapids and a couple more shorter waterfalls. We often heard birds singing, and occasionally caught a glimpse of them.

c
(The things that look like shaggy bird's nests are epiphytes growing on this tree.)

At the end of our hike, we paid a quick visit to the Stone Store, which is one of the oldest buildings in New Zealand - having been built in 1835. In the early 1900’s it was a post office and general store. The owner drove a boat up the river to pick up and deliver mail, also to pick up people to head to the largest nearby town to shop. At the end of the day, he took the shoppers home and picked up milk for the dairy to process. The store still sells some of the things they sold well over 100 years ago, like cut nails and wrought nails.

We didn't bother to tour the the mission station next door, which is the oldest building in New Zealand. It was built in 1821 and was in active use as a mission in the 1820’s to 1840’s. But we did climb to the top of the "pa" (a fortified Maori hilltop) to see how they made use of terracing, pallisades, and trenches to create a fortified area which other Maori and even the British found difficult to attack successfully.

This photo shows the Stone Store and the mission station from the trail up to the "pa."

Then my sweet husband walked the hour back up to the top of the Rainbow Falls to pick up the car and drive down to the park along the river where I sat reading.

Next, the Subtropical Garden. It isn’t a very formal place, but rather looks like the labor of love of a family. We spent half an hour walking around enjoying the variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers.

Finally, a visit to the Makana Chocolate Factory! They offered us free samples of chocolate covered dried apricots and macademia chocolate brittle. Delicious. We watched the chocolates being made for a short time, then bought some chocolate dipped cherries to enjoy after dinner tonight as we look out over the Bay of Islands from our apartment. A sweet finish to a lovely day.