Overnight Visit #2
- Accommodation:
Copthorne Hotel Bay of Islands
- Transport: GreatSights
DAY 01
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
DAY 02
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