Whangarei Falls New Zealand

February 18, 2015 • Destinations, Free Family Fitness Videos, Life • Views: 2965

Thank you to my beautiful new friend I made on the North Island of NZ. I met Reana at the Whangarei information site. She was incredibly helpful and loved the idea of Fit Family Robinson. (She has a son about the same age as Blake.) She explained how important family is to the Maori culture and taught us how to say “whanau” (pronounced far-no) which means family in the Maori language. She taught us that “wh” is pronounced like “ph” in phone and has a “f” sound rather than a “w” sound. Reana used to perform cultural dances at the Treaty Grounds, the place we were heading to learn about the founding of New Zealand.

Originally we were only stopping at the info site to confirm accommodations for our next 2 nights at the Bay of Islands, but she told us not to miss the hike to the Whangarei Falls. It would mean getting in late to our destination, but on her recommendation we made the stop and WOW are we glad! Can’t believe we almost drove on by.

The hike was a perfect fitness stop for our family. A great addition to our “Stop The Car” series of workouts. We had filmed “Stop The Car and Stretch” earlier in the day. The hike to the waterfall included a fun Indiana Jones type bridge and beautiful foliage. The waterfall is a great pay off for the 30 minute hike. There is also a way to drive directly to the falls and do a quick 5 minute walk to see it, but we, like Reana, recommend you do the wonderful hike to check it out. It looked like a fabulous place to take a swim, too bad we didn’t plan this into the mix. But I did get the chance to dance around and shoot a “Drop and Give Me Twenty” video for FFR channel.

Thanks Reana for all your wonderful advice. So happy to have met you!

Originally posted on FFR Facebook page. See link for comments.