New Zealand—Warkworth, February 4 & 5, 2025

Warkworth, February 4, 2025

The bus ride from Paihia to Warkworth was lovely.

 

This is the Warkworth Transportation Hub; ya it's a car park.

Warkworth is at the upper navigable Mahurangi River. The Maori have been in this area since the 13th century. John Anderson Brown settled here in 1843, establishing a logging mill because of the abundant and giant Kauri trees. In 1884 the Wilson Cement Works was established, taking advantage of limestone deposits. Today it's a commercial hub for farmers and tourists.

Crossing the highway to the walkway after being dropped off.

This is the walkway to Warkworth. Turns out we had nothing to worry about.

Our accommodation for two days.

Downtown Warkworth at 8PM, a sleepy town.

Mahurangi River runs past Bridgehouse Lodge out to the Hauraki Gulf 3/4 of a mile away. Note the mud flats of the river bank; the gulf tide is out.

The Bridgehouse restaurant is really lovely.

Warkworth, February 5, 2025

We started our day at Pete and Mary's cafe.

Date bar with butter. Delish!

Tomorrow is Waitangi Day and everything will be closed except this bakery. Phew!

This reserve was well worth a visit.

This shoe cleaning station is common...

...entering and exiting protected areas.

Click to enlarge to read about the kilns.

 

The walk through the reserve was fantastic. The name plates describe the pictures that follow and are worth reading.

Cabbage Tree.

This is a Silver Fern.

Kereru, the New Zealand pigeon.

This pest box has an egg in it to catch rats, stoats, etc.

This tea "tree" can be used to make a peppery drink.

Kauri tree, the giant of New Zealand.

Another stunning Kauri tree.

 

The sound of the chorus cicada (members of the genus 

Amphipsalta) is a familiar sound in late summer.

Public toilets in NZ are amazing and free!

Thursday, February 6th, is another travel day so we did some shopping in preparation. Around 10AM we'll walk the half mile up to the Warkworth Travel Hub (i.e. Park-n-Ride) with its lavish public toilets like the ones shown above to catch our Intercity bus to Auckland where we'll make a transfer for Hamilton. All in all, we expect to be on a bus about 4 hours with a 1 hour layover in Auckland. 

Took another walk along the Mahurangi River to the Lucy Moore Memorial Park and sat on a bench and watched two brothers enjoying the park's zip line.

 

A few days ago, I was beginning to overthink our travel plans, wondering if we should have spent two nights in Warkworth, but Marie reassured me that I'd done all I could do from home, and besides, we're here and it's all good. And she was right; Warkworth turned out to be a pleasant stopover.