Wairere Boulders
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Wairere Boulders is a geological nature park planned by Felix and Rita Schaad in 1999. Wairere Boulders allows visitors to have a close encounter with the basalt blocks known as the Horeke basalts that are scattered all over the property of Felix and Rita.
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[edit] Walks
There are several walks ranging from 40 minutes to a maximum walking time of two hours. The gigantic rocks are surrounded by subtropical rainforest. There are some information panels along the track and lots of trees are lovingly labelled in Maori and English.
[edit] Bouldering
Part of the farmed area is open for bouldering, which has become more and more popular in recent years. The bouldering area is vast and offers climbing to beginners and experienced boulderers.
[edit] Location
The Wairere Boulders are located at 70 McDonnell Road (the end of the road), at Wairere, a small ancient settlement near Horeke in the Hokianga, in the far north of New Zealand. The walks are trough the Wairere valley which features an unusually large assemblage of basalt rocks.
[edit] Construction
Rita and Felix undertook the incredible task to create private walkways in highly dangerous surroundings. Therefore, they had to overcome many legal and design obstacles. As Felix was a registered civil engineer, he was able to design the 24 bridges, ramps and stairs and a viewing platform to NZ building standards to guarantee the safety of the visitors. In March 2000 they got the “green light” and construction started. It took 4 years of hard labour. They dug and metalled all tracks by hand. Also, they singlehandedly built all 25 structures themselves, which was a backbreaking effort. After a rigorous test of compliance by the Far North District Council, the Wairere Boulders finally opened towards end of 2003.
[edit] Geology
− For geology, go to Horeke basalts.
