Paihia on Waitangi Day

So we finally made it to day 5 of our epic road trip

Today was all about Paihia and heading back to Auckland for our final day of the road trip. 

Just like all our other days our road trip starts with just another stunning New Zealand day to celebrate Waitangi Day in Paihia which was a first for all of us.  

Paihia is such a lovely small town with beautiful views of the bay showing off many of New Zealand's great beauty.

For any visitor to New Zealand, you must come here and experience Northland.  Check out our other blogs on our road trip to help you decide what to see and do.

Paihia town

Paihia is a small town around 60 kilometres from Whangarei and worth staying a few days to experience Waitangi, Russell, beaches, walks and other water excursions that the Bay of Islands offer.

Paihia has many little shops to get souvenirs and small gifts to take home, plus plenty of coffee shops, however, Paihia is not a town for fancy restaurants or expensive shopping.

What Paihia does have is plenty of hotels and other types of accommodation to make this your base while travelling further up north. There are plenty of information centres offer day trips and other adventures.

Waitangi

Just 5-minute drive from Paihia is Waitangi.  

Waitangi is best known for being the location where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed on February 6, 1840. It is also the place where the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand was signed five years earlier, on October 28, 1835. 

The introduction of the Treaty effectively revoked the Declaration of Independence, making New Zealand a British colony, and the Treaty is generally considered the founding document of New Zealand as a nation. Waitangi Day is the annual celebration of the signing and is New Zealand's national holiday.

Waitangi is very busy on Waitangi day as you could guess, however, there is a free bus that goes from a field area to the treaty grounds, ask either your hotel or local tourist shop as they will all have a free program and map of what is happening on the day and leading up to the 6th.  There are many activities to see and do. 

If you want to drive get there early as the lines are long and there is only one way in and out of Waitangi. 

Since it was our first time here and being of European descent it was quite airy and a moment to feel proud to be a Kiwi.  If the Treaty was not signed we wouldn't have ever been here in this beautiful country of ours. 

Waitangi Day is celebrated every year on the 6th February, commemorating the signing of New Zealand’s most historic document: Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Treaty of Waitangi.

We enjoyed a walk around Paihia and a final coffee on the waterfront before we headed off on our long trip back to Auckland. 

Beach & Final Drink: From Paihia, we headed to Waipu Cove Beach for picnic lunch and swim,  

With any Northland trip, a beach is not far away and it was nice to finally be able to show Tania and Kim the beautiful Northland beaches we had been visiting and talking about. The weather wasn’t as warm as we had hoped, however, didn’t stop Greg and I from jumping in for a refreshing swim.

Before heading back to Auckland we had a final drink at our favourite spot The Cove at Waipu Cove, check out our google review.

Back home

Wow, what an amazing 5 days and 4 nights, thanks to all the driving Kim and Tania for the music :)

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