Hiking, New Zealand (Feb-June 2019), Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday #11

We all have these photos … throwback photos!

It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.

Every Thursday we will throw a photo of ‘way back when’ on our blog. Why on a Thursday? Because it’s just a day away from the weekend … and we love weekends!

You are welcome to join in or just enjoy the photos (#TB Thursday).

New Zealand – 2019

We are still ‘hanging around’ in New Zealand with our TB Thursday posts. After a visit to the beautiful Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel Peninsula and the bubbling mud pools in Rotorua, we are now taking you on a hike we have done back in April 2019.

Whangarei Falls

Whangarei is the regional capital of the Northland Region and the most northern city in New Zealand. This city is situated 162km (100 miles) from Auckland and if you travel by bus (like we did), it will take you 3 hours through some beautiful places.

We wondered what Whangarei looked like (and at the same time read that you can hike to the famous Whangarei Falls).

Forest hike, on our way to the Whangarei Falls

We started our hike from the hotel where we were checked in and had to walk 7km to get to the falls (of course we had to walk that 7km back again).

It was still autumn when we visited the falls, which meant there were not a lot of water. It was however a beautiful hike through the forest and along the Hatea River.

A rather modest Whangarei Falls

The falls were a good rest stop where we enjoyed sandwiches and cold drinks. We then walked to the top of the falls from where we could admire the view. From there we took the forest path again to hike back to our hotel.

Whangarei Falls

On the way back, we saw a fallen tree and was astonished at the patterns at the one end of the trunk. We also enjoyed a walk through the autumn coloured trees.

Lovely patterns on a tree trunk and autumn coloured trees

Should you want to read more about our weekend in Whangarei, you can do that here.

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65 thoughts on “Throwback Thursday #11”

    1. Ek onthou dat dit so lekker koel was – die woud het by tye soos ‘n feetjie woud gelyk, regtig baie mooi! En die pad van Auckland tot by Whangarei was net so lieflik. Ag, moenie gejaagd voel om ‘n Throwback pos te doen nie … ek kuier nog steeds heerlik tussen jou mooi foto’s deur 🌸.

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    1. To walk in these forests in NZ and see flowing rivers and waterfalls, were probably the highlights of our time there! That tree pattern … I was fascinated by it and was quite happy to buy a souvenir (candle) in Rotorua a month later that looked exactly like this trunk!

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  13. I added a comment to the other post but not sure it took. This is a lovely walk. It all looks so well thought out for maximum enjoyment and appreciation of Nature. That tree is great and the little duck…I would have given it my sandwich too!

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    1. I didn’t see your other comment (probably got lost in WP world somewhere 🙃) … but thanks for trying anyway. This was such a nice walk – probably our favourite hike of our trip to NZ. The forest, river, waterfall and amazing trees were all such a great combination of what Nature had on offer. Besides the amazing tree trunk, the duck was my favourite on this hike 😀.

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    1. It is incredible … I wish we knew more about it, but it just seemed that it’s been there for a very long time. And we only saw it when we walked back (after we walked past it on route to the falls without noticing it). You gotta love Nature!

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  17. As others I am amazed by that tree trunk, I have never seen anything like it. Do you know anything about the tree? Looks like a lovely calming walk through some gorgeous autumnal colours. Whangarei Falls are charming.

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    1. I wish I knew more about that tree trunk, but unfortunately I don’t. Only that it looks like it has been lying there for a very long time. Kauri trees are well known in that area (we actually walked through a Kauri forest on the way back), but I can’t say for sure that it is a Kauri tree (or part of it). This was probably our favourite walk while in NZ – I remember the immense tranquility we experienced as we walked through the forest and hearing the falls long before we could see them … such a lovely memory!

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  19. Looks like a lovely and peaceful walk. It’s always great to find a good spot to take a break and eat a snack while still admiring the views. The patterns at the end of the fallen tree trunk look so cool. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

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    1. Peaceful indeed Linda … one could have almost ‘disappeared’ in that lovely forest. I totally agree on a resting place with a view – and this one was just perfect! It seems we’re all thinking the same thing about that tree trunk … 😉.

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      2. So, I had to google this big word 🙂 … in other words, it might be some sort of a plant/tree. That’s very interesting. I wish we had taken more photos of this (then it would have been probably easier to identify this), but we were so fascinated by the pattern that we didn’t even bother with further photos. Thanks for letting me know 👍🏻.

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  22. Pingback: Throwback Thursday #11 – nowathome

      2. I wish I knew! The Kauri tree is very prominent in NZ (and close to this specific area is a huge Kauri forest), but I can’t say whether this is a Kauri tree. I wish now that we have inspected it from closer by, but at that moment it was just so beautiful that we only took one photo (and it was towards the end of our 14km walk, so we were quite tired by then 😉).

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  26. Pingback: Throwback Thursday #12 – Wet and Dusty Roads

  27. You two find the most beautiful places Corna. When I was in high school many, many years ago I became friends with a gal that was an exchange student from New Zealand. Because of this we hosted a teenager from Costa Rica when my son was in high school. What a fun experience learning about other cultures.

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    1. This was a lovely place … I think the walk through the forest was actually more of a highlight than the waterfall itself 😄. Yes, I agree, it’s a great way to get to know other countries’ cultures. Berto had an exchange student from the Netherlands in their high school … probably because our home language (Afrikaans) is very similar to Dutch!

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  29. More smile-inducing nostalgia Corna with such delicious nature. The tree trunk patterns are just incredible, you must have been over the moon to have discovered it. I hope all is well with you guys and that Berto continues to recuperate well.

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    1. At first we couldn’t believe that the tree trunk was “real” (almost as if someone had just put it there), but it was clear that it had broken off the tree – pretty incredible. Thank you, everything is good this side of the world – Berto is going for more tests tomorrow and we will see the doctor again on Friday (fingers crossed) 🙂.

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