#ngatea

11/12/25

21st June - Auckland to Ngatea The night after the big crew trip I was crashing back in Ket's car port. I'd had a small engine issue that Jono had fixed at the boat, but I wanted to run the car a bit to check that it wasn't going to stop working again as soon as I left the city (and drove away from anyone who could help me fix it again) so the two of us went for a trip up to the Waitakere ranges. Previously I'd driven through them on both my trips to Piha and stopped at different waterfalls each time, this time I didn't need to go as far as Piha, so we picked the closest waterfall and just headed up there instead. Fairy falls was really nice. Maybe a half hour walk from the main road, but then we easily spent another half hour at it. There's four or five different plunge pools as the waterfall drops down through the trees, and after the last one the river gets shallow enough that you can wade down it even further to explore through the bush. This isn't advised in skinny jeans, but luckily if you have a jumper you can retool it into a stylish skirt to save trying to roll your jeans up. So I finally got photographic evidence to back up all my claims of climbing the waterfalls I visit (I really did climb this one! Look! Proof!) a beautiful spot to swim in summer, we still managed to get soaking wet deciding that the best route down was on the other side of the waterfall therefore the only option was to walk through it. (Yay, logic!) The next day I started heading south again, I'd picked out a new route that went via roads I hadn't visited before, and then very quickly diverted from it onto a road I had. The logic here? Well it was a glorious sunny day and the last time I visited the Wairoa Reservoir it was raining too much to see anything. This time I managed to walk up to the top of the dam, see the sheep grazing down one side of it, and then hike through the hills to get some views out over the lake and round through the bush back to a swing bridge over the river. Definitely nicer with no rain! I'd stayed at the camp site in Ngatea once before as well, but this time I took advantage of the dry to explore the town a little more, and found a little community vegetable garden to restock my herb supplies.

#rural #Subway in #Ngatea #Waikato #NewZealand #trip #NZ #travel (at Ngatea) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6uuGIRhE2X/?igshid=158bmhsr30i1b

#oldschoolcars in #Ngatea #NewZealand #cars #NZ (at Ngatea) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6nHTOaB4J4/?igshid=10974h9az7gl2

The Ingathering Tea, a fundraising event in Sherman, was held in a lovingly restored home built in 1910. The people and the surroundings were amazing! #ngatea (at Sherman, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpDfwmQBmA_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1f6n9dd03pwrn

Ngatea, New Zealand