The Avocado and Mural Capital of the North Island is such a beautiful town. Katikati’s tall hedges to protect crops and vines, the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables and the beautiful trees like the huge Oaks at Uretara Domain Self Contained site are amazing.
We stayed two nights at Uretara Domain with one other van. There is a well used Dump Station 50m away, fresh water available and 24hr toilets across the Domain. This location is 5min from Katikati township. Thank you Rachel for assisting with the over zealous security guards and Nigel your offer to visit you.
Then we moved onto a Kiwi fruit orchard campground for 14 nights. (planned to stay 3 but loved it). The hosts here-Jo and Quinton are marvelous and most welcoming. Thank you to hosts Jo and Quinton, Cliff and Bev, Insights from Bill and Sharleen, Verna and Graham and showing me 3 D printing of remote controlled planes and the wonderful Crissy and husband Des.
The Largest Haiku trail outside of Japan is in Katikati. What a great winding walk covering many acres and over bridges. It is very beautiful and calming with the Haiku’s engraved into boulders along the pathway and situated behind the Museum on the main road.
Haikus are short poems, and originated in Japan. They are formed of two ideas, set beside each other, to provide some new insight into an everyday experience, some slight surprise. In their traditional form, they comprised 17 sound elements (similar to syllables), in lines of 5, 7 and 5 elements exactly. In recent decades, as haikus spread out into the western world, this strict format has been relaxed and haikus today can take a variety of forms, but are always short – and always have that final element of surprise.
