Bridal Veil Falls (Waireinga)

After picking up our campervan on the 2nd of January, Stuart and I headed south west from Auckland, first stopping at the small hippie, surfing village of Raglan. It was a sleepy town on the coast with numerous surf shops, ethical cafes and art shops. We strolled around the town soaking in the 'vibe' before driving 15 minutes west to a camp site on the slopes of 
Mount Karioi. Our camping spot was a 10 minute drive up a dirt track on the side of the mountain surrounded by dense vegetation. There was only room for four other campers, tucked away in their own vegetated bays, so you could really imagine you were in the middle of nowhere. During the night the clouds descended and by morning we were surrounded on all sides by dense cloud cover. As we could barely see 5 meters ahead and the rain was relentless we stayed on an extra night. The following day we headed to Bridal Veil Falls or Waireinga in the local tongue. The falls were spectacular falling 55m from a basalt plateau into the sandstone valley below. There was a walk which took you from a viewing platform at the top to the base of the falls, which gave fantastic viewpoints the entire way down. On our hike we met a nice filipino man who was interested in photography and who had been living in New Zealand for the past 7 years. He gave us some great tips on places to visit and was good company on our hike. After the waterfall we headed to the Hamilton Gardens, a stunning collection of gardens all designed with differing themes. We toured the Italian gardens, the Chinese gardens, the kitchen gardens, the herb gardens and the tropical gardens. It was a glorious day and we finished by headed to a campsite in the quaint town of Cambridge.