The coastal city beaming with hidden gems
With my job I do get to travel a bit from time to time and a chance to go up to Whangarei for work was eagerly taken! The city is very similar to the city I grew up in except it resides North of Auckland. I grew up in Nelson which is the top of the South Island.
I was only in town for a few days to run our Digital Wellbeing course with my friends school up there and of course a couple of those days was washed out with rain so sightseeing was a bit limited. That tend to be on par with NZ weather at times though, garbage at the most annoying times, perfect on the days you are stuck inside!
Luckily I did get a chance to check out Whangarei Falls which is right on the edge of town in a rather unassuming area yet it is a stunning sight esp given how close it is to town. With a high school nearby, I can imagine this to be an insanely popular spot over the summer.
The harbor front is also home to a nice little boardwalk of sorts with some good restaurants, with a bit of extra development this could be a real attraction, unfortunately things like that are still unrealised in NZ as we tend to focus more on the outdoors side of tourism (with good reason) instead of building up restaurant and café strips to compliment the out of town activities but it is slowly changing.
There is so much more to see and do up in Whangarei and hopefully next summer I will get another chance to go back up and explore the region more. Our country has so much to offer it’s crazy!
Marcus Powell has been living and working in South Korea since 2010. He has now returned back to NZ and works for Digital Natives Academy as the lead education program designer. Aside from writing his own blog, he is also a popular Club DJ, Gamer, Community manager, esports fan and anime enthusiast.
akadjblaze 