Checking out Kerikeri Mission Station & Rainbow Falls

Learning about historic Kerikeri at the Stone Store Museum

Displays tell the story of what the Stone Store signifies: one of the first places where Maori invited visitors to live among them. Stories of both early European settlers and the native people are told through interactive timelines, makeshift books made from leather, fabric-made interpretation panels, and displays where you need to pull and push things around. It might be a small museum, but the way its presented is definitely pleasing to the eye taking a “less is more” approach in the design. What’s more, they can definitely afford to do that because there is yet another floor to the museum with more displays to fiddle around with.

The Kemp House Tour

When the store bell rings downstairs, this indicates the time for a tour around New Zealand’s oldest surviving house! Shannon, the lady behind the counter wearing the most marvelous dress and top hat, takes us next door into the garden of Kemp House. Here, she tells us and our fellow tour-goers about how the Kerikeri Mission Station came to be. She tells us of the relationship of the new European settlers who were on a mission to spread their Christian message to the local Maori who were initially in the midst of tribal warfare.

Checking out the displays in the Stone House loft

The oldest surviving house in New Zealand

The tour continues inside Kemp House, where we take our shoes off in order to not damage the floors of this house built in 1821. We are surprised to find out that the house has mostly been left unchanged, even down to some furniture which we can see set up in various living rooms, dining area and kitchen downstairs. Display cases show the Maori weapons gifted to the house occupiers, whom have some fascinating stories of their own. Shannon tells us more about the Kemp family’s story in the kitchen equipped with some state-of-the-art cooking facilities (for those days, of course).

After about a 20-minute tour and talk of some of New Zealand’s early European and Maori history, we get some time to investigate the remainder of the house even down to the creepy-as-hell dolls and teddy bears lying on the childrens’ beds. Jeepers!

Next stop, Rainbow Falls

Now we have our dose of history, we can now get our dose of classic New Zealand natural beauty at Rainbow Falls. The waterfall is only an hour’s walk from the Mission Station alongside the Kerikeri River. Alternatively, there is a car park right beside the falls. We don’t want to admit we decide to be lazy by driving, but with Robin just on day two of his broken arm we think it’s smarter for him to take it easy.