The place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, which guarantees the rights of Maori and non-Maori citizens in New Zealand. We went to Treaty Grounds, where you can get more information about Maori’s culture, learn some Maori words and saw the place, where the Treaty was signed as well as the original residency and learn a bit more about history here.
The Maori culture performance was really good, Vlada was selected as chief and had some extra work to do there and half hour was quickly over.
Then we went around the grounds, admire the huge waka, which is built from 3 kauri trees and able to carry minimum of 76 paddlers, while maximum is around 160 of them. It must be really sight when it goes on the water, as it does once a year. You wouldn’t believe it can float as there are several huge holes inside, which gets filled once they put in on water as the wood expands itself.
The grounds are really pretty and it was nice walk around with some interesting information. However, I wouldn’t go there again just for the walk, the entrance fee is pretty expensive to see just the grounds, you really have to buy additional attractions such as the Maori culture, guide tour or anything else the offer.
Short ride to Haruru Falls, where we had a lunch, enjoy the sight of the waterfalls and move on to Karikari Peninsula, where are really nice beaches and we had a lot of fun jumping into the waves.
What was surprising – we had our dinner quite early, which we weren’t able to manage for some quite time 🙂