Hunua Falls

Again I find myself with a backlog of blogs to write, so here is a little venture Mary-Ellen and I took one Sunday afternoon. After a missed exit, a few wrong turns, and an unfortunately placed detour, we arrived at a forest reserve that is home to a beautiful waterfall. This is the first waterfall I have really seen in New Zealand, and there are many more to explore. Our first sighting of the waterfall was from a bridge that extended from the parking lot, across river that flows from the waterfall, and into a nice, but short jungle walk.

As we emerged from the forest walk, having listened to the increasingly louder crashing of the water, we were greeted by this wonderful sign. We particularly enjoyed the picture of the caution of submerged objects, for although there clearly was some deep water, the edges were very much shallow, not exactly a great spot for diving. 

This beautiful waterfall plummets 30 meters from the high bedrock cliffs, creating a mist that blankets the pool near it's base. We even saw a few people go in under the waterfall, however, I am a bit weary of eels to get into that murky water. The backdrop of the lush green foliage, almost made you forget you weren't in some tropical jungle, and that fall was upon us. 

It turned out to be worth the wrong turns and detours to find this place. There is a large park and this was just the entrance, a few kilometers from town. Who knows what other treasures lay waiting in its cool jungle canopy? Another venture is definitely in order!