Leisurely drive up to Auckland and waterfall pool swim

Today's route

With heavy hearts we took a slow drive to Auckland, visiting 3 waterfalls on the way.

One waterfall towards Port Waikato was nothing spectacular - blink and you could have missed it.  We stopped at the outskirts of Port Waikato and wandered around a public garden (Cobourne Garden Reserve).  The area had landscaped garden terraces which led from the road down to the waters edge.  It is a lovely place to relax and have a picnic.

Hunua Falls

From Port Waikato we made our way to Waitangi Falls.  It looked nice but the pool underneath it was quite small and there were already a few people there.  So, if we had joined in for a dip it would have been crowded.

The next waterfall (Hunua Falls) was situated in the Hunua Ranges Regional Park and had a big natural pool below.  The water looked tempting and being a hot day we took the opportunity to have a dip - no questions asked! The water was not too cold. Some young people were climbing the rocks near the waterfall and jumping in.  It was nice.

In the water - cool but very refreshing.

We arrived at Airport Manor Inn - a motel near the airport and checked in.  After that we took a drive to the airport to drop the car off.  Whilst there, Paul took the opportunity to see if he could get some help with online check-in but unfortunately there was no airline representative.  So we will wait until tomorrow and Paul can check in then - but we will see if we can have our seats together.

Getting back to the motel was a bit of an issue.  No taxi drivers were prepared to take us to the motel and advised us to catch the bus - but there was very little information about busses.  We decided to walk back to the motel even though it was quite a distance but just as we were heading out of the airport we flagged down a taxi.  The chap stopped and we explained our situation.  He admitted that he was not allowed to stop to pick up passengers - he could only do so from the designated zone; but on hearing our story - kindly broke the rules and gave us a lift.  Apparently the other drivers were reluctant to take us to our motel because the distance was considered short (but a half hour walk for us) and they wouldn't get much money if they did so.  When we were dropped off at the motel Paul gave the driver a tip - over and above the minimal fare shown on the meter.  We were grateful that he had given us a ride despite his working rules.

Unfortunately I don't know what has happened to the pictures from the Cobourne Garden Reserve or Waitangi Falls so this blog is lacking the usual pictures that I try to upload.

Tomorrow we fly to the Netherlands if all goes well.