In addition to Kai Iwi Lakes, the other thing I was particularly interested in seeing on our recent road trip up North was the historic drystone walls that dot the countryside outside of Whangarei. The walls were built from volcanic stone from the area (volcanic cones dot the landscape), by the original farming families on the land, by contractors who worked for land owners, and/or by those who worked under government subsidized employment schemes during the Depression.
Lucky for me, we had dinner with a work colleague of John's who lives on a farm near one of the areas where these can be seen: Whatitiri. I managed to convince John to stop the car briefly enroute to dinner so that I could share some of these with you, including one with a baby turkey on top!
Unfortunately I didn't have much time to mess around, these were drive bys! I'd actually like to spend a bit more time in this area seeing more of the walls that remain, after reading Catherine Ballard's book "Stone Wall Country: Drystone Walls of the Whangarei District."
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