Kerikeri is a year round destination where winter is banished. The choice of what you do ranges from heritage exploration or tapping into the local art scene. Kerikeri with its direct flight connections to Auckland is a perfect weekend escape for art buffs, a lazy weekend where you can simply collapse with a good book into garden spaces or take leisurely walks around Kerikeri finding heritage nuggets.
3 days
2 nights
Trip Overview
Fly from Auckland.
Drive the scenic route past ancient Kauri trees, farms and towns such as Whangarei with a wealth of temptations to stop and stay awhile.
Relax. Your accommodation is nestled within a garden of national significance. Take a walk through a lush subtropical garden past exhibits strategically placed among native and exotic plants.
The outdoor gallery artworks are crafted with wood, stone, ceramics, glass, metal, plastic, sound and print. The exhibitions are refreshed several times throughout the year.
Just a few short steps from your accommodation is MĀHA where fresh, local and seasonal products await the palate.
Ingredients are folded together creating a Japanese influenced flavour merged or fused with Italian and Spanish cooking techniques.
Fusion cooking at its best in natural open air surrounding where bird song is an evening treat.
Highlights:
Breakfast is a casual continental affair supplied by your hosts. By mid morning it’s time for a restorative coffee. The Pear Cafe situated in the Kororipo Heritage Park is the perfect place to start the day’s exploration.
Art Galleries, the excitement of entering a creative space. The pleasure of decorative objects and art works is a buzz. The cool blues and greens of the New Zealand landscape, the vibrant burst of flower power colour, the use of blacks, grays and half tone whites all bring to mind the place the artists call home.
Kerikeri will not disappoint. Your accommodation is the home to an internationally recognised print maker and he is part of the Northland creative community.
A bit of the middle east crafts contemporary cuisine with flair using locally sourced ingredients. For individuals with gluten intolerance or vegetarian this is a must go destination for foodie lovers. For the rest of us it is a taste of difference where you are encouraged to sample platters of goodness.
Forward bookings are strongly recommended for this very popular cafe/restaurant. Cafe Jerusalem, Cobblestone Mall, Kerikeri 09 4071001
Today is about exploring the area, there are two walks within ten minutes of your accommodation.
The Kororipo Pa heritage walk with the opportunity to enjoy sweeping views of the Kerikeri inlet waterways, explore the Pa site and perhaps drop down to Pear Cafe (Kororipo Precinct) for a coffee before embarking on the Kerikeri Walking Trail in search of a waterfall.
Your hosts will be happy to open their studio for a personal viewing. Preeminent print works can be easily couriered to your home or perhaps boxed for the road trip.
Reluctantly you return home with a promise to make your way back to Kerikeri to further explore the area or just indulge yourselves in a special place where the wood pigeons roost and the only sound is the rustle and tinkling of creek water.
Wharepuke Sculpture Park – Art Park Kerikeri is your weekend accommodation. Light airy chalets are nestled within a tropical garden. Over five acres of mature garden, sculptures embedded among native trees, a restaurant and the enthusiasm of an artist makes for a memorable Kerikeri visit. Wharepuke offers accommodation in several chalets dotted throughout the garden. A quiet artistic retreat in the winterless North is appealing. The garden is now designated as a garden of national significance.
Your enquiry has been successfully sent. We will contact your shortly.
You will get your insider discount checklist shortly.
