July 20, 2014

First Road Trip North - Wairere Boulders


One of my first stops of the day was at the Wairere Boulders south of the Hokianga Harbor. This is actually a private park that the owners have created after realizing how interesting and geologically special the valley of boulders they have are. They have built all the trails through the valley including the bridges and landings. 

 
I met Rita at the start of the trails and she made sure I had a map and wanted to make sure that I signed the guest book. One of the family members is always at the start to welcome guests. It was a quiet morning and so I almost had the little park to myself.


 
The bridges and any wood really did prove a bit concerning in the park. After my recent run in with a wasp I was in no hurry to have a second sting but all of the wooden bridges and railings had wasps swarming all over them. I was told later it was because they were after the water in the wood. I just knew that I wanted to spend more time on the bridges, but ended up dashing across to keep away from the wasps.


 
But other than the wasps it was a great walkway with some amazingly big boulders. There were even a few spots where you got to squeeze through the little spaces in between them.





This tree was almost identical to a couple of the trees that I took pictures of when I was back in Sedona. Amazing what the wind can make trees look like.
 





 
The boulders are special here because they are fluted basalt boulders which is extremely rare, normally fluted boulders are out of limestone.


 
 
Nice little walk and such a friendly owner of the property, she met me at the end and wanted to know what I thought. She even gave me a big bag of apples from her little orchard. They were a nice little roadtrip treat. 

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