Mangrove Swamp
We both felt quite tired from our dive yesterday and decided that today would be a relaxing day. The weather forecast indicated that there might be showers about in the afternoon but the morning should be nice. We both wanted to visit the Waitangi Treaty Museum whilst we are here so thought that we would go for a walk in the morning and visit the cultural centre in the afternoon.
On Outdoor Active I had found a hike that goes from the Treaty Grounds to Haruru Falls. We decided to start from our apartment in Paihia and just see how far we felt like going. It is about 2 km from where we were staying the Treaty Grounds walking round the bay. Last night we had a lovely walk along the beach with me paddling in the sea. Picked up a couple of germinating seeds and wondered what they were – all will be revealed later. This morning as the tide was up we walked along the road and crossed the narrow mouth of the Waitangi Estuary before starting our walk proper.
The walk took us through a narrow corridor of native woodland bounded on one side by the Estuary and the other by a golf course. Apparently, kiwi birds can still be found in this patch of wilderness but are threatened by stoats /weasels and dogs. We saw a fair few traps along the trail but apparently, when we spoke to a couple of guys maintaining the trail, they are not emptied or maintained as much as they used to be. I wonder how much of an issue this will be in the future for the Kiwi population. Apparently they are baited with eggs to attract the vermin so quite a labour intensive effort.
We decided that we would hike as far as a bridge across the river, hoping to find a bench there for the early picnic lunch we had brought with us. Much to our surprise we had an extensive boardwalk in the mangroves just above the height of the swamp. Stunning especially as the sun decided to come out and we had dappled sunshine to highlight this watery scene. Very glad we had hiked here during high tide as it would not have been as special without the water and reflections. Very rare to be able to walk in among the mangroves a real highlight of our day. we were also lucky to have this to ourselves.
We found the desired bench at the far side of the mangroves and enjoyed our picnic. Felt a good point to turn back. As to yesterday’s seeds on the beach, they were germinating mangrove seeds.
We never got to the museum as we wanted to save it for another day when we were fresh and could appreciate it more. Hope our batteries have been fully recharged for tomorrow. As it so happened we had to many nice days to be out and about so never made it to the Treaty Grounds on this trip.
See below for a video of the mangroves.
