Free Activities in Whangarei: Whangarei Falls & Botanica

Different perspectives of the grand waterfall

A small footbridge leads us across the river where the track continues via another viewpoint along the way, this time show the waterfall above and from the opposite side than we had seen before. Continuing on the track, we delve into a tall forest on our way down to the river. An arched bridge provides more stunning views of the forest framing the grand waterfall. Finally, we can walk right up to the waterfall’s pool where every tree, the floor, and very quickly ourselves, are getting wet off the fall’s spray. At least a family of ducks seem to like it – our hearts melt at the sight of a duckling trying to keep up on the wavy pool of water.

Walks by the river

We can’t deny that Whangarei Falls is an impressive sight, so we stick around for a while grabbing some photos and admiring it. To make the most of our visit, we take one of the walking tracks leading alongside the rest of the Hatea River. When seeing the river instantly turn calm again, so much so that we can see the reflection of the forest in the water, it’s insane to think that only a moment ago, this river was a raging waterfall!

The beautiful forest and Whangarei Falls

From fern-filled forest to the fernery

We walk for a little while through the forest, admittedly not doing the complete 40-minute loop walk, but just to get some new perspectives down the river. It’s a pretty tract of forest filled with all-sorts from ferns and towering trees. Speaking of ferns, this sort of gives us a good transition to move onto our next free activity of the day: Botanica and the Fernery!

Botanica!

One of the walking tracks from Whangarei Falls loops back to the car park, where we then make our way to Whangarei’s very own version of a botanic garden, Botanica.

These indoor gardens are a little harder find, hidden a the end of First Avenue. The entrance directs us to make a choice: Fernery or Conservatory first?! Oh my Gawd! We decide to check out the native plants of New Zealand first in the fernery which is very reminiscent to being the in the wildest of forests. We walk through various rooms through expected doors and the unexpected tunnel to rooms decorated in fern-covered rocks. Water droplets hang to the leaves, while each room has some sort of water feature of its own: tiny stream, cascading features and even a pool with an eel in it.