Baby waterfalls

As promised I did the waterfall walk today. Although everything else I'd read had said 6km from Waitangi the sign said 5km, and there were markers each km. The round trip was still probably near 16km, counting from the hostel! It wasn't a very hard walk though, a nice track through bush and across a boardwalk through a mangrove swamp. The waterfall wasn't very big either but was a nice enough place to stop, take a few photos, eat a banana (couldn't see the rumoured cafe) and walk back from.

In town I visited the library where there was an appalling art exhibition - some overly-Photoshopped photos and bad paintings, Dad and I together could have done much better - and an interesting "history room" with photos from Paihia's history and some folders detailing the development of the town. That was a nice backdrop to visiting the pretty little stone church, built by the descendants of the first missionary to be based here, Henry Williams. I wandered around the graveyard and marvelled at the yellow pohutukawa tree by the road. All the pohutukawa are starting to come out. Paihia is going to be stunning when they're all in flower.

Having some time to kill I rented a kayak for an hour and had fun combatting the waves and wind round the little islands just out in the bay. It was good to be on the water. Then I repacked my bags, sorting out stuff I don't need for the final couple of nights as I think they're going to tell me my suitcase is too heavy to fly to Great Barrier. I've packed it in a separate bag inside the case, ready to whip it out if need be. Then dinner - I've been pretty good this trip and have eaten "in" a few times, plus a couple of bbqs at Kylee's and a cheap Thai in Wellington, so these last days I'm splashing out on proper dinners, expense be damned. Tonight's was lamb shank and a sticky date pudding. And an Otago Pinot. Nice.

Up early, to drive to Auckland to catch my plane. Am terrified I'll get stuck in traffic so am leaving plenty of time.