Wandering boots that wander tour: Day 16 Wandering to Kerikeri, almost

By the numbers

2 cemeteries

2 churches

7,896 steps

5.45 kms

Today the weather seemed really nice and the sun was shining so it was going to be another hot day.  The plan for the day was to visit a family farm near Kerikeri in the Bay of Island area, although Claude and I are driving up that way and will have some stops. I am just the passenger not the driver, but it is still good to watch the world go past.

Once we were leaving, I knew we would be gone nearly all day though I would be taking the bus up the same way for part of the way to Paihia and then off to Kaitaia over the weekend. I do like going with Claude a we do stop at different places and get to explore. We pulled into Kawakawa for the loo though I do like it when we stop for the Hundertwasser toilets since the path we would take would be through Kawakawa instead of going via Paihia. We had a snack break and I was wondering about the trains when I seen one reversing up the track with water towards the train station. Kawakawa has a train line that runs down the middle of the main street and there are steam train rides daily. Once we got going again we were passing the town of Pakaraka when I seen a nice wooden church and Claude stopped the car and turned around as I never realised at the time we would not be passing through on the way home. The Holy Trinity church of Pakaraka had a small cemetery around it, which included some of the oldest people in the area, which was Archdeacon Henry Williams and had been there when the church had been opened for worship in 1851. I had never stopped here before and found it to be interesting, but we did not stay long as we still had elsewhere to be.

When we were near Brian and Jillian’s farm, Claude showed me the town of Okaihau, which was basically blink and you would really miss it or take the turn off and you would not realise it was there. Heading towards Kerikeri the back way, we were looking for the farm when just past the golf course we ended up going down the driveway with me wondering if we had actually arrived at the correct place. We met with Brian who was at the front door and we went for a wander after saying hi to Jillian who had been for a ride on her new horse Geordie, which is something like 15 hands and something. We had a quick look at several of the calves they have, although I did get a look when I called them walking steak later on. We did head back for lunch where we chatted for a little bit. I was offered a walk down their bush track that is on their property, which includes their freshwater spring. I thought this was cool and Jillian and I went wandering down. Jillian had her cutters and I had a tomahawk type axe to clean up as we go in case there was some work to do. I wasn’t expecting paths, but they were there and there was only a couple of vines called bush lawyers that needed cutting. I found a branch that could be hacked at and the funny thing was it was so rotten that where I hit the axe didn’t break, but the rest further down did. I was happy to be following Jillian as she would take care of the spiders webs if any were found and there were some. I was impressed by the hour long walk as it was up and down hill. The previous owners had done some work like steps and bridges.

By the time we both had made it up the hill, it was actually time for Claude and I to leave for Whangarei. I do like how they named their paddocks instead of giving them number they have names like Lillypond and Peninsular. Claude and I were now heading to Waimate North, where we were going to look or some family members in the cemetery. The cemetery turns out to be right next door to the Mission by the name of Te Waimate Mission, which I found to be part of the Historic mission trade route that includes Pompallier on Russell and Kerikeri mission station. I wanted to stop here and got my chance. Claude and I wandered the cemetery, although could not access the church like we had been in Pakaraka. We were slowly running out of time and once we explored the grounds, I went for a quick look on the grounds of the Mission. Apparently there is archealogical evidence that there were several other buildings making the area into a small town of sorts. I never went exploring further as I knew I had to get back or else we would be late home. The grounds were interesting, but maybe one day we would get to have time to look inside. With only 20 mins til closing time there would never be enough time to look and be a waste of $10.

The return to Whangarei took us through a different way we had come and the GPS was actually a little lost trying to send us into paddocks or telling us we had to turn around and go another way, which was the long way round. I don’t think it liked us being stuck behind a tractor either, but it was soon turned off. We made it back without a voice that could not find its way home, but we did.

Links 

Te Waimate Mission
http://www.heritage.org.nz/places/places-to-visit/northland-region/te-waimate-mission

Pakaraka churchyard
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/pakaraka-holy-trinity-churchyard