Wairere Boulders & the Hokianga Harbour

 Catch-up; Northland, Jan 2019 

Another tiki-tour I did while David was taking it easy after his illness was to check out the Wairere Boulders, 50kms west of Kerikeri at the head of the Hokianga Harbour.

Wairere Boulders is a private nature reserve with some amazing rock formations.  

First things first though; a refreshing morning tea from the cute little caravan cafe at the entrance to the Boulder track.

Wairere Boulders also have a lovely camping area for motorhomers, this would be a great place to stay if you're cycling the nearby Twin Coast Cycle Trail. Walk the boulder tracks one day, cycle some of the track the next.

After my cup of tea and cake I headed off up the track which is well signposted with lots of extra information...

...and a few surprises; a Highland cattle bull minus his harem (which were elsewhere on the property). Did you know that a herd of Highland cattle are called a 'fold' after the open, walled shelters that they are kept in over winter in their homeland, Scotland.

The track weaves in and out of trees and through rocky tunnels. There are clear instructions when the going gets a little narrower.

The track heads up the valley alongside a tumbling stream which you can often hear but not see. The scenery is amazing and the rocks are getting bigger. I climb the ramp and follow the track across some very large boulders with similar sized boulders stacked alongside. It looks like a Giant has tossed a handful of marbles down the hillside (click on the photo to enlarge).

Around 2.8 million years ago a volcano, located around the Kerikeri area, erupted. The eruption was so huge that a basalt lava flow spread across a massive area extending to Horeke. In fact there may have been multiple eruptions that extended this far resulting in a deep basalt layer around 30m thick. 

This basalt lava flow started to crack as the ground beneath it was eroded over time by the action of rain. The Wairere Stream formed, widening the gap below the basalt crust, so more and more chunks of basalt broke off. The boulders started to move towards the valley floor.

The underlying soil was clay and as this washed away from under the boulders they moved further down the valley, finally ending up at the valley floor in the river. It has taken the boulders 2.8 million years to get from the top of the hill to the positions they lie in today.

There are also some quirky characters (Boulder Beasts) along the way...

The fluting on many of the rocks is also unique for this type of rock.

Fluting is the name given to the type of erosions on the boulders. Fluting is sometimes also known as lapiez or solution pits and is caused by water running across the rock surface. It is most commonly seen on limestone, and it is very rare for basalt to erode this way. Basalt requires acidic water to cause fluting, and only at Wairere Boulders, due to special set of circumstances, did the water become acidic enough for the fluting to occur.

The track crosses the Wairere Stream and heads back down the other side. Firstly though, I take a side track through a rock tunnel and a lovely Nikau forest....

...down to a swimming hole.

The tannin stained swimming hole water is dark and brooding. There's no way I'd be going in there even if I had my togs with me, I'm quite positive that water hides a several humongous eels. The pool reflections are amazing though and the surrounding bush, still & peaceful.

Back at the junction, I continue on down the stream stopping to check gaps in the bush and rock hop out over the water into the open every now and then.

Even though it's often up hill and down dale, the track is pretty easy going and there are plenty of interesting features along the way to check out, including this giant rata tree on the right. Rata trees actually start life as an epiphyte vine which grows up and entwines a host tree. The host tree is eventually smothered and dies leaving the rata vine (now a tree) standing tall and strong. 

This boulder look like a large Christmas puddings with its fluted top and sides.

The track crosses several of the boulders leaving a well worn path through the moss and lichen.

I come to another junction, this time a side track heads straight up the side of the hill to a lookout. It's an hour return and I'm a little reluctant to head up there as I have other places to visit today. I walk a few dozens metres and when the track breaks out into a paddock and gets very slippery I decide that'll be it for this visit, I turn around and head back down.

Towards the end of the track there's a gap in the bush and I can see across to the otherside of the stream and the large boulders I crossed on the way up. A lady in blue carrying a sunhat comes into view as she crosses over the top of them giving me a perfect shot to show you perspective. I'd highly recommend a visit to the boulders, it was an enjoyable walk with lots of interesting features.

From the Boulders I drove down to the Hokianga Harbour and along to Horeke finding this very cute little Maori Church up a side road. Some of you will have seen this, the cycle trail passes by on the road outside.

Then it's back to the Horeke Hotel to check out the two jetties that reach out into the shallow waters of the upper Hokianga Harbour. The hotel hosts many cyclists for meals & accommodation. The Twin Coast Cycle Trail has helped revive and sustain many of these small rural settlements in Northland.

And then it's onto Mangungu Mission (established in 1828), just along the harbour from the hotel and where in February 1840, the third and largest signing of the Treaty of Waitangi took place.

Mangungu Mission House

Thousands of Maori, in hundreds of waka, gathered in the harbour below for the historical event.

I walked out to the end of the jetty below the mission too. In this quite backwater of the Hokianga, it's hard to imagine the hustle & bustle of those times long ago.  

It was time to head back to Kerikeri via SH12 to complete the circle. At Taheke, I also added another two churches to my collection, both have seen better days.

Wild Ward Beach

Our next stop was at Ward Beach in Marlborough, just south of Seddon and just around the corner (Cape Campbell) from Marfells Beach where we stayed way back in November when we first arrived in the South Island.

The camping area is beside the rugged & wild Ward Beach and is located on land that belongs to a local farmer. The site is actually right next door to the Ward Beach Reserve where no camping is allowed, but open the gate and drive on through & anyone can camp on the other side of the fence for a small donation to the farmer, to be left in his letterbox back up the road.

What a great spot this would be in the summer and by the look of the signature stones left behind in the rock garden it looks like a lot of other people think so too.

The only problem we had was that the sun disappeared behind the high hill behind us early in the afternoon and with a cool southerly wind blowing the temperature dropped rapidly. We stayed for two nights over the weekend & were the only campers there although there were a few cars each day arriving in the reserve to check out the beach or have a break at the picnic tables.

I loved the isolation, it was great to walk the wild beach, dodging waves and climbing over piles of driftwood & logs beachcombing & looking for seals and being the only person for miles. The very first afternoon I found a seal pup curled up fast asleep on a rocky ledge above the beach, it was gone the next morning and was the only seal I saw on this part of the coast.  I love laying in bed at night, all warm and cosy, listening to the crashing waves, tumbling gravel & howling wind just outside the window. I've always loved wild beaches and especially wild beaches in the middle of winter. But being so close to the surf does come with it’s challenges, the ute & “Out There” had a heavy coating of salt spray over them by the time we left.

The Flaxbourne River mouth is beside the reserve and would be an ideal safe swimming spot in the summer. The river & beach have been used as a boat landing & launching spot for many years. In the early days wool, tallow & flax were shipped out from the beach, nowadays local commercial fishermen launch their fishing boats from the beach. And the boats aren’t that small either, at other beaches we’ve seen an assortment of old tractors lined up to haul the boats, here there were two or three large rusty bulldozers backed into the hillside.

At first we wondered why there were dozens of large bulldozer tracks on the beach and down to the water’s edge. We thought someone must have been rearranging the foreshore….. and in fact I suppose they were and on a regular basis. It would take a lot of skill & fast work to drive the boats onto the trailers which would have been backed into the surf by the bulldozers. Further back down the road we saw some of the fishing boats in yards beside large sheds. Crayfish is obviously the catch of choice here.

It’s amazing how often we are stumbling across little pockets of history in the most unexpected places and how the local communities are keeping their history alive. We drove through the settlement of Flaxbourne on the way to the beach, well in fact it’s more a collection of farm buildings & a few houses now. Established in 1847 the  23,000ha Flaxbourne estate was “the first great South Island sheep run”  which ran over 60,000 sheep.  A thriving community once lived here, with a huge tallow plant and up to four flax mills in production. One of the old boilers was on display beside the information board, between 8000-10,000 surplus sheep were slaughtered and rendered down for tallow each year which was then shipped to England from Ward Beach. Eeuw yuk!

Across the road from the boiler was another  historic building, it was built in the early 1850s for wool storage and later used as a telegraph station, and where the districts mail was received and sent. Stage coaches also stopped to change horses. The shed then became the site of the first school when Flaxbourne Station was cut up into smaller blocks. Inside the shed and behind a security fence was a whole range of old farm equipment that had been donated by the locals and on the wall were information boards and photos from the past.

In the sheep yards near this spot there was an odd building (left middle photo), a square building with a little square vent on the roof. It had a stone wall to about thigh height, wooden sides and a corrugated iron roof. I’d love to know what it was used for, it looked a bit like a dove cote or perhaps a animal nursery or stables. The stone wall gave the impression that it could have been a reservoir too (but not likely as it was sited in the middle of the yards).

Further up the road was a paddock that contained a small herd of Highland Cattle, a mix of cows & bulls I think but because of their super shaggy locks it was hard to tell. They seemed to be very docile but I’m not sure I’d like to be on the receiving end of a gentle nudge from these guys. They were very cute all the same.

These two were obviously good mates, the one on the right was nuzzling, licking & tugging the others ear.

It was funny how they stayed in their own colouring even though they were all in quite a small paddock. "What short legs you have.......but your horns make up for it....."

This fellow was definitely a bull.

Built in itch scratchers!