Skip to main content

Visit to Wairere Boulders



Just over a week ago we visited a place we've been wanting to see for a while. Wairere Boulders is a nature park that was originally created by Felix and Rita Schaad in the early 2000s but now owned by Graham and Paula Grant. 





Not far from the entrance there was this little fairy door and sign on the outside of this tree and there were several others dotted around the park. 



We were the only ones there because it was a Monday so it was extremely quiet apart from the sound of birds chirping and water bubbling along the river.




Visitors can walk the trails, kayak along the river or camp in the campground next to the reserve.




There are various trails, some easy, some a bit harder with steps but also quite a bit of climbing over large boulders. B and I walk through nature walks regularly but there was no way my parents (who were with us) would've managed this.



The Wairere Boulders have slid down the hillsides from an eroding Pliocene basalt lava flow of the Kerikeri Volcanic Group formerly known as Horeke basalts. Many of the boulders have deep solution basins and fluting formed on their surfaces as they very slowly slid down the valley sides.



Usually karst landforms are formed by solution of calcareous rocks (e.g. limestone and marble) by mildly acidic percolating water. At Wairere, and elsewhere, basalt has been dissolved, probably over a much longer interval of time, by the production of weakly acidic humic acid in the leaf litter that collects around the roots of plants that grow on the top of the boulders, usually beneath a forest canopy.




On the top of the boulders this humic acid has etched out solution basins 20–50 cm across and of similar depth. Humic acid seeping down the sides of the boulders has, over thousands of years, dissolved deep, near-vertical flutes out of the hard basalt. In some places the fluting is no longer vertical as the boulders have rolled over or tilted since it was formed.




Millions of years of gentle erosion by this rain resulted in the amazing rock formations we see today, with some of the rocks sitting over 30 foot high.




The walk we did was called the "Boulder Loop" which lead over bridges, boardwalks, stairs under and over rocks along the valley floor, it tooks us roughly about 40 minutes.




We thought it was ok, the rocks were impressive enough but we probably wouldn't go back again.


 Linking up with Our World TuesdayThrough my lensTuesday TreasuresMy Corner of the World and Wordless Wednesday.

Comments

I like the idea of fairy castles waiting to be discovered.
carol l mck said…
Love the fairy tree ~ looks like a lovely place walk ~ Xo ~ Neat photos!

Living moment to moment,

A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Photo Cache said…
Both outdoorsy and whimsical - two qualities I really like.

Worth a Thousand Words
NCSue said…
Hunting for fairy houses! What a neat idea!
Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/03/help-please.html
William Kendall said…
A splendid place to explore!
Veronica Lee said…
I love, love, love the idea of hunting for fairy houses! How fun!
Tigger's Mum said…
Fabulous explanation of the process, and great phots of the results. Have you ever visited the area around Harwoods Hole on the Takaka Hill? - similar processes have created another area of totally amazing sculpted rocks, and even the network of caves that Harwoods is famous for.
Tom said…
...such a wonderful walk in nature. With our two youngest granddaughters we visited a place with a lot of fairy house, it was fun. Thanks Amy for stopping by.
local alien said…
A marvellous place to visit. So lucky you can visit while kids are in school and others at work!!
Amypie said…
No we haven't been there but thank you for the hint, we will put that on our bucket list.
Lydia C. Lee said…
That is so cute with the fairy houses!
Pauline said…
Great place to visit. I didn't know the Schaads had sold. Graham and I came across Felix one day when we were there, he was a real character.
It’s impressive to me that this is a privately owned park! I’d be more comfortable these days visiting when we were the only ones!
Iris Flavia said…
Oh, what a beautiful post - did you make a wish?
"...gentle erosion" - cute. If you hop over to Australia don´t miss Hamelin Pool and Stumpy, the Stromatolite. His ancestors erode in peace. Thank you for the memory. Do you have Weetabix? We had that there.+
Oh and that caravan. My Mum, Bro and I had holidays at the North sea in such a tiny one (do you know what a pest a little Brother can be in such a thing, LOL - he´s my best friend now).
Bill said…
The fairy houses are fun to see. We have some here on the river walk.
betty-NZ said…
Sounds like something for everybody! I didn't know about this place, so thanks for sharing. It would be fun hunting fairy doors at any age :)

Thank you for being a part of 'My Corner of the World' this week!
NatureFootstep said…
lol, I would love to visit this place. It weems both fun and beautiful.
Take care!
A fascinating landscape. I would have loved to have been on that walk with you.

Popular posts from this blog

Auckland Metropolis Museum

In amongt the modern new highrise buildings in Auckland City is this smaller vintage building that is currently for sale (I'd buy it if I had the money).   My research found that:  "It was designed by English-born architect Charles Towle and erected in the early 1930s as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the building's Graeco-Roman facade has towering columns that frame its impressive entranceway, with three ornate timber doors decorated with leadlight inserts providing access to the expansive foyer. Arched ceilings dominate the former congregational high stud space beyond the foyer and numerous picturesque windows provide a light, airy feel and an ambience many office buildings lack. The building housed congregational and Sunday school services for 70 years until it was sold and converted into office space in 2003. A significant refurbishment was also carried out with care taken to ensure that the building's distinctive character remained intact. Special architectural ...

Grace Brothers

  We have 2 new chickens, both black ladies. If any of you are familiar with British comedy tv shows you will recognize the names we have given them. This one is named Miss Brahms. And this one is named Mrs Slocombe. At the moment we have them in a temporary shelter next to the Special Patrol Group that we've had for the last 9 months just so they can get to know each other before we intigrate the black ones in with the brown ones. These ones give us a white coloured egg whereas the brown shavers give us brown coloured eggs. Linking up with  Tuesday Treasures ,  Happy Tuesdays  and   Wordless Wednesday .

Vondel

  I nthe heart of Devonport in Auckland is this little block of businesses. In my younger days I worked in this suburb as a legal typist for lawyers and to see it now as it is, it's made many changes over the years. This building is surrounded by older style buildings in the main street with businesses such as shoe shops, clothing shops, professionals, cafes, bars, restaurants etc. It's a very upmarket suburb with quite expensive houses along the waterfront. Vondel in the above photo is a restaurant but upon looking up their website, there wasn't alot of information about who they are. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .