Kerikeri Travel Guide

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Not to be missed! A wonderful little bird park in a tropical garden setting.

I visit almost every bird park I can, and this one was one of the best ones I've seen in a very long time. It was quite different to our Ballarat Bird World at home, and a much smaller operation, set up in someone’s garden (though it was a fairly large garden) surrounded by tropical trees.
They also had a pet supplies shop in their garage, and parrot souvenirs, window light catchers etc. The owners, a husband and wife team, seemed to really enjoy giving people a guided tour of the park too.
As there were only about 2 other people there at the time, it was nice and quiet as Peter showed us around and spent a lot of time telling us interesting stuff about various individual birds.
First up was a perch area outside the garage where several hand reared baby parrots were sitting. These were very tame and Paul could even put one on his shoulder. Very pretty indeed. There was also a long billed Corella (who talked a bit) which wandered freely around the garden (with clipped wings) and also did hanging upside down tricks in return for a nut. He also had developed a new trick of trying to turn the knob on the door which led into the walk-through finch aviary (where there were finches from Australia, NZ & elsewhere)
There were many different species of Australian parrots, some we didn’t know well, others that were very familiar. There were also a couple of huge blue & yellow south American Macaws.
A very well kept, clean park. The birds seemed happy and well entertained.

If you want good food and great service do NOT go to Cafe Zest.. Upon finding hairs in a scone and sandwich I quickly returned to the counter to show the staff my findings.. their response... Laughter and then the inadequate trained staff members (2 of them) said "then youll be wanting another scone and sandwich?"
Not only would my food have hair in it but the entire batch of scones would. You would think to remove that infected batch.. No, they continue you sell them.
Am surprised I dont see more reviews about them like this, as many locals have similar comments.

Favorite Dish: Leaving it.

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KeriKeri has a great farmers market on a Sunday (not sure if it's every Sunday or once a month) that we visited - local produce, you can try local wines, pates & other products, plus there's a bit of entertainment & food you can buy, like delicious crepes.

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Favorite thing: We enjoyed this a little parking area just over the bridge from the KeriKeri Basin's stone store & Kemp House. There are plenty of parking spaces & grassy picnic areas with picnic tables.

When we got out of the car, we found ducks galore, seagulls, and even hens & roosters in the car park wanting a feed (don’t know where the latter came from).
There was also a mother duck in a puddle like part of the drain leading down to the river, with no less than 9 tiny chicks, which were so tiny they looked like they must have been just born. So cute.
We walked across the other side of the road to get a better view of the Old Stone Store – a very picturesque section of river here, very tranquil and pretty. Behind us on the hill was the town's Tourist Information Centre, which we took a brief look in, and also beside it, a recreated maori fishing village attraction called Rewa’s Village that we didn’t stop to see.

From the park itself there are also several walks of between 30 minutes to 1 hour, including one to an old power station near a river with waterfall. l