Te Aroha is about two hours south and east of Aukland nestled into deep cattle farm country at the foot of Mount Te Aroha, the mountain we love in Maori. With a population of only a few thousand Te Aroha has a lovely little downtown shopping area with local artists, an organic food shop, 3 grocery stores, meat pie shops, a chemist, clothing and a lovely geothermal spa with geysers and foot baths to boot. It also has an Asian food shop and a top knotch sushi restaurant called Lavendar Sushi.
Darren, Caleb, Jade and I took several wonderful hikes experiencing magical vistas across the cow paddocks and through the lush green tropical forests littered with giant fern trees Jade calls Spider Monkeys. We saw heaps of stick bugs, giant ferns called Korus, silver ferns, one of the signature symbols of New Zealand. We hiked up Mt Tearoha to Bald Spur Lookout and then we hiked Wairongomai Loop, which was a gold mine for years in the early 1800s.
We then drove to Karangahake Gorge which too was a mine in the 1800s. The Karangahake Gorge has tunnels and tracks laid to move mold and minerals and today you can walk through the tunnels and along the tracks. The swinging bridges were my favorite because it felt like a wee roller coaster just much safer.
Paeora, an adjacent little town is famous for a local soda drink L & P (Lemon and Paeora), now sadly owned by Pepsi but in its' hayday was New Zealand's signature soda made with natural spring water and lemon juice. Quite refreshing and served really everywhere in NZ.
The landscape of NZ is the first one notices arriving in this pristine modern society. New Zealanders grow up recycling, celebrating and protecting their environment.
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