11 Best Sights in Northland and the Bay of Islands, New Zealand

If you want to while away some time, this clock museum is the place for you. About every conceivable method of telling time is represented. The collection of more than 1,500 clocks includes primitive water clocks, ships' chronometers, and ornate masterworks from Paris and Vienna. Ironically, the one thing you won't find here is the correct time. If all the bells, chimes, gongs, and cuckoos went off together, the noise would be deafening, so the clocks are set to different times.

Take a trip to the Goat Island (also known as Te Hawere-a-Maki Marine Reserve), where fishing is prohibited and marine life has returned in abundance. Prominent species include blue maomao fish, snapper, and cod. It does get crowded here, and midweek is best. You can put on a snorkel and get up-close-and-personal with a school of maomao. The beach area is good for a picnic as well. Another fun activity is to take a glass-bottom boat tour. Just as the name promises, Glass Bottom Boat takes a glass-bottom boat around the island and gives you an aquarium eye view of waters teeming with fish. If the weather isn't ideal, there is an inner reef trip. Call ahead, because trips don't run if there is too much of a swell. You can also rent flippers, masks, and snorkels if you want to get in the water. To get to Goat Island head toward Leigh, 21 km (13 miles) northeast of Warkworth. From Leigh, take a left turn and follow the signs for a couple of miles. If you arrive by 10 am, you should avoid the masses especially midweek and in winter. If you want to stay the night, there are camping grounds nearby; the Warkworth Visitor Centre will direct you.

Most of the interest in Kerikeri lies just northeast of the modern town on the Kerikeri Inlet where you'll see the Stone Store, the country's oldest stone building. It was designed by the Wesleyan missionary John Hobbs, and built by Australian convict William Parrott. Behind it is Kemp House, known also as the Kerikeri Mission House, built about the same time as the store between 1832 and 1836 by the London-based Church Missionary Society.

It was built for the Reverend John Butler by missionary carpenters (though Māori sawed the timber) and the two-story structure is of simple Georgian design, with a hipped roof and symmetrical facade.

Viewers should be able to take from these buildings an idea of how Anglican missionaries attempted to re-create some of what they had left behind. They were invited to Kerikeri by its most famous historical figure, the great Māori chief Hongi Hika. The chief visited England in 1820, where he was showered with gifts. On his way back to New Zealand, during a stop in Sydney, he traded many of these presents for muskets. Having the advantage of these prized weapons, he set in motion plans to conquer other Māori tribes, enemies of his own Ngapuhi people. The return of his raiding parties over five years, with many slaves and gruesome trophies of conquest, put considerable strain between Hongi Hika and the missionaries. Eventually his warring ways were Hongi's undoing. He was shot in 1827 and died from complications from the wound a year later.

The station, which includes the 1821 Mission House and the Stone Store, provides a fascinating and rare look at pretreaty New Zealand. Kemp House, otherwise known as Mission House, has gone through many changes since 1821, but ironically, a major flood in 1981 inspired its "authentic" restoration. The flood washed away the garden and damaged the lower floor, and during repair much information about the original structure of the house was revealed. Its ground floor and garden have been restored to the style of missionary days, and the upper floor retains its Victorian decoration. Stone Store, New Zealand's oldest stone building, is a striking example of early colonial architecture. Designed by Wesleyan missionary John Hobbs and built by an Australian convict stonemason between 1832 and 1836, the Store was meant to house New Zealand mission supplies and large quantities of wheat from the mission farm at Te Waimate. When the wheat failed, the building was mainly leased as a kauri gum-trading store. The ground floor is still a shop. The upper stories display the goods of a culture trying to establish itself in a new country, such as red Hudson Bay blankets, which were sought after by Māori from the pā (hilltop fortification), forged goods, steel tools, an old steel flour mill, and tools and flintlock muskets—also prized by local Māori. Guided tours are available; bookings are essential.

Minutes out of town, this 61-acre park is home to a nocturnal kiwi house, several Heritage buildings, and the Whangarei Museum. The museum has some 40,000 items in its collection including fine examples of pre-European Māori cloaks, waka (canoes), and tools. Photographers will love the early pictures of the area. You can also check out Glorat, an original 1886 kauri homestead, and the world's smallest consecrated chapel, built in 1859 from a single kauri tree. On the third Sunday of every month and on selected "Live Days" (call for dates), you can cruise around the park on model reproductions of steam and electric trains, as well as on a full-size diesel train.

On the National Trust Estate beyond the Treaty Grounds, Mt. Bledisloe showcases the splendid view across Paihia and the Bay of Islands. The handsome ceramic marker at the top showing the distances to major world cities was made by Doulton in London and presented by Lord Bledisloe in 1934 during his term as governor-general of New Zealand. The mount is 3 km (2 miles) from the Treaty House, on the other side of the Waitangi Golf Course. From a small parking area on the right of Waitangi Road, a short track rises above a pine forest to the summit.

New Zealand's oldest industrial building, the Pompallier Mission, at the southern end of the Strand, was named after the first Catholic bishop of the South Pacific. Marist missionaries built the original structure out of rammed earth, because they lacked the funds to buy timber. For several years the priests and brothers operated a press here, printing Bibles in the Māori language. From December through April you can visit independently, but from May to November the mission organizes tours at set times. The gardens are beautiful.

Head for SheepWorld about an hour north of Auckland for a taste of life on a typical New Zealand sheep farm. Daily demonstrations at 11 (also at 2 Wed.--Sun. in the summer) show working farm dogs rounding up sheep before the shearers take over (shows are once a day the rest of the year). An ecotrail meanders through the bush, providing information on native trees, birds (and their calls), and weta (large, ugly—yet impressive—native insects); there are also other farm animals (goats, donkeys, chickens, alpaca, emu) that kids can hand-feed. On the weekends, the farm dogs even herd ducks. Children can bottle-feed lambs in August. During the busy summer season, it's better to call ahead or book a seat for the show online.

Formerly called simply "Rewa's Village," this museum re-creates a kāinga (unfortified fishing village) where local Māori lived in peaceful times. In times of war they took refuge in nearby Kororipo Pā. In the village are good reproductions of the chief Hongi Hika's house, the weapons store, and the family enclosure, as well as two original canoes dug up from local swamps and original hāngi stones found on-site, which were heated by fire and used to cook traditional Māori feasts. A "discoverers garden" takes you on a winding path past indigenous herbs and other plants; information is posted describing the uses of each plant.

For a glimpse of Northland's pioneering past pay a visit to the Warkworth District Museum. It's a must if you are interested in learning about how smaller settlements in New Zealand developed. This eclectic collection includes Māori artifacts plus farming and domestic implements from the early days of the European settlement including tools used to dig for kauri gum. Rotating textile displays cover clothing and lace dating to the late 1700s. There is also a display of a school dental clinic—what Kiwi children called the "murder house." Outside is a collection of old buildings, including a bushman's hut and an army hut used by Americans stationed at Warkworth during World War II.

The falls are a lovely picnic spot, located on Ngunguru Road, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of town. Viewing platforms are atop the falls, and a short trail runs through the local bush.