A trip up to the falls.

On Saturday, Elijah and Daniel Peters, Neil Kumar, and I jumped in the car and headed out to the Waitakeres, a mountain range west of Auckland. We headed out to ferry falls. The drive out was very interesting. The further we got out of town, and the higher into the mountains, the narrower and narrower the road got, until finally it was the width of one lane, with a dotted line in the middle. Finally the dotted line disappeared, it was a futile thing anyways. This made it interesting, to say the least, when passing oncoming vehicles.

Once we parked, the hike into the falls was about 40 minutes, and not very eventful.

We came out at the base of the falls. I would guess it was about 100 ft. or so from the top of the falls to the collection pool at the bottom. The water fell from the top for probably about 50 feet, where it split into two different falls, one split in two again and the tow fell into a single pool, the other ran down a ledge and emptied into a pool about 20 ft. or so away. The pools both drained into a stream that continued down the mountain. I thought this was all there was, and it was pretty enough to justify the hike in, so I snapped a ton of pictures.

There was a ledge up about 30 ft. or so, where the water first split in two, there was a part that was dry so I found a way up onto the ledge to get some closer shots. After I was done being Freddy photographer, we continued on. The trail came out of the forest, where we had come in on one side of the fall, and then continued on from the other side, so we continued on as well. We could see from the bottom of the fall that there was a trail that crossed the very top of the fall, so we reasoned that by continuing on the trail we would get to that one.

After walking for a while, and going up several stairs, we got to the top to look down on the fall. It was a beautiful sight; then we tuned around. Coming from as far up the mountain as we could see was one waterfall after another cascading down the side of the mountain, each one emptying into a pool before falling again. It was amazing. The trail, via a great many stairs, wound its way up the mountain right next to the falls, so that you could get a great view of most of the falls and their pools. I counted ten or so falls, including the base fall that we had seen first; but those were just the ones I could see. To make things even better, right next to the falls and throughout the forest were massive Kauri trees. It was gorgeous.

The walk back was longer (because we were on a loop and not going back the way we had come), and contained an obscene amount of stairs (a conservative estimate, I would say around 540,000 stairs) as it wound its way up the mountain, around, down, and back up other mountains. At one point, the path went directly next to a huge Kauri, which is odd because they are usually back off the path, with warning signs saying to stay away, lest you damage the roots by walking too closely. So I finally got to take some shots right next to one to show how huge they are.

Today Elijah, Justin Cherry, and Justin's father-in-law John, and I, went over to New Lynn to help a family move. They were moving from a dilapidated house, into a brand new Habitat for Humanity house. There was lots of hands, so we made quick work of it. The lady, a single mom, could not have been more thrilled, she kept saying that her cheeks were sore because she could not stop grinning. They were a great family, and a lot of fun to work with. It was an awesome opportunity.

The weather here is beautiful. Usually in the mid to high 70s (Fahrenheit)during the day, and cooling off quickly into the 60's or so in the evening. Nights are chilly. It is rare for houses to have an AC, most have heaps of opening windows to let in the light, as well as the breeze to cool the house.