Wairere Boulders, Nature Park, a newly discovered valley of basalt boulders, is one of Northland’s most remarkable ecotourism assets, gaining more and more attention worldwide.
The erosional remnants of this basalt flow dates back around 2.8 million years and is said to be the best known geological formation of its kind. The unusual surface erosion on rocks near Horeke was mentioned in a scientific paper from the 1940s, but not a word about the valley. Now, the valley is easily accessible, thanks to years of backbreaking work by the owners Rita & Felix Schaad. In 1983, when they came from Switzerland, people told them they are “nuts” to buy such rugged and overgrown land. They incidentally discovered the valley while catching goats in the bush. It took them many years to develop the “boulder encounter”. The terrain is so rough that neither bulldozers nor wheel barrows could be used. They built 24 bridges, and a platform and even tunnelled under a rock, dragged the timber through the mud and carried the cement and scoria in buckets.
45 members of the German Geological Society visited the valley in April 2004. They said: We have travelled the world and have never seen anything like this. They said: "We even took pictures to show the German Building Authority the kind of diligence applied on this NZ Nature Park."