Overnight Visit #2

8.00am

Depart Auckland for Bay of Islands

12 noon

Arrive Bay of Islands
Lunch at Copthorne
Check into accommodation

1pm

Waitangi Treaty Grounds NCEA curriculum links

Experience a personalised education programme for your group with a range of activities at New Zealand’s most important historic site. Your visit can include an introductory film, a guided tour of the Grounds and its treasures, a guided tour of the award winning Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, and a spine-tingling powhiri (Māori welcome) followed by a cultural performance of waiata, poi, stick games, Māori weaponry, as well as the famous haka.

4pm – 6pm

Kayak Cruise

Departing from Waitangi boat ramp, paddle up a meandering river, where in days gone by sailing ships used to load up kauri logs. Explore and paddle through mangrove forests. View the colony of sea birds that nest in trees hanging over the river before paddling to your final destination where a waterfall drops into the river. At the waterfall the fun and adrenaline starts, even first timers can safely experience paddling in foaming white water & even under the waterfall itself!

7pm

Dinner at Copthorne

8am

Breakfast at Copthorne, collect packed lunches

Check out of accommodation

9.30am

Depart for Kerikeri

10am

Kerikeri Mission Station NCEA curriculum links

The Kerikeri Mission Station is the site of two of the country’s oldest surviving buildings – the Stone Store and Kemp House.

Stone Store – built in the 1832, it has been a trading post, library, barracks and boys’ school. The building has operated as a general store since the 1870s, and today offers an amazing range of authentic trade goods similar those first traded in the early 19th century, along with a quirky range of uniquely New Zealand merchandise.

Kemp House – New Zealand’s oldest building, a substantial European home, built by Māori and missionary carpenters. Experience the rich history of this home, as your guide takes you back through time and relive days gone by.

11am

Depart for Te Waimate Mission

11.30am

New Zealand’s second oldest building, Te Waimate Mission, preserves missionary, farming and architectural history, as well as stories of important early encounters between Māori and Europeans. Built in 1832 under the direction of the Reverend Samuel Marsden and using local Māori labour, the Mission House was erected as a single-storey dwelling of Georgian design. Through its appearance, and genteel features such as a dining room and parlour, the house promoted the idea of Pākehā ‘civilization’.

Outside in the spacious grounds – perfect for a picnic – visitors can follow an archaeological trail that conjures up life in the original mission village, and see New Zealand’s oldest oak tree, nearly 190 years old. A lovely church and graveyard alongside provide a moving reminder of all those who fell in the tumultuous Northern Wars. It’s also possible to view valuable relics of the Mission’s flour mill and the miller’s cottage.

12 noon

Picnic lunch, then depart Bay of Islands at own leisure