Haruru Falls, Paihia

Haruru Falls is located about 3km away from central Paihia. It's a small residential settlement with two campsites and a motel right on the Waitangi Lagoon. Though the raging storms did not make camping the most pleasant experience, The Falls Motel and Campground friendly staff and perfect location make it well worth a stay in more clement weather.

 As I had previously only attempted SUP on the sea, paddling on a lagoon offered a totally new experience, with glassier waters than I had ever seen. The water wasn't always clear, at times being very murky, but it always remained flat and it took a few minutes to get used to not bracing for swells. Especially when sticking to the deeper waters, this would be a good place to get the hang of stand-up technique.
 Having said that, I'm not much of a fan of falling into waters that I can't really see, although perhaps that is an incentive to get the technique right!

 It is possible to access the lagoon from both the falls and the end of the lagoon side. The easiest access from the falls side comes through the camping sites and is private property. If you are staying at one of the sites, you are welcome to use the launch points at your leisure. You can even rent out kayaking equipment very cheaply, if you are that way inclined. However, if you are not staying there, abundant signage makes it very clear that you cannot use their paths or parking spaces. There does seem to be a public access stairwell, though it is steep and windy and ends on the water so may not make a decent launch point and carrying equipment back up after a paddle would certainly not be easy.
 At high tide, many people jump off the rocks near the falls, into the water (really good fun). If you are brazen, I guess you could throw your board in and jump in after it, though I'm not sure how you'd get out afterwards.
 The lagoon end is situated opposite Te Ti bay, which has heaps of parking next to it, so all you'd have to do is cross the road and launch. This would probably be the best option if you were not camping at Haruru Falls.

The falls end of the lagoon is wide and reminiscent of a shallow lake at high tide, although is unmistakably salt water. The water is surrounded by rugged rock-faces, with the fall at it's head and the main mangrove channel snaking away at it's tail. This is where the campsites are and where the majority of the kayakers that you will see set off.
 A fun game to play is a form of Chicken, with the winner being the one who get closest to the waterfall. It's pretty cool to get close to a waterfall that, although short, is rapid and so remains incredibly active, particularly after a storm.
 This does tend to be the busiest end of the site and, other than the actual fall, the least interesting. The main views are of tents, kayakers and this weird, giant peddled water tricycle thing, which is powered by two occupants and is really slow and has a terrible turning circle. It's open and there's not much to explore. The falls are worth the travel, though and the small pebble beach makes a great launch point if you're staying at one of the sites.

Mangroves line the entire lagoon, except for the rock-faces nearest the waterfall. In some places they are packed densely, creating wide channels to paddle down. In others, where some of the trees are younger, they are looser, allowing you to paddle into the clusters, finding secret passages and much needed shelter on hot days. It is a truly surreal experience to look into the water and see that you are paddling on top of trees, whilst paddling under a large tree canopy. I had hoped to have taken some photographs of this view, but unfortunately my waterproof camera turned out to not be waterproof enough, so I guess it's just all the more reason to check it out for yourself.
However, if you do plan on exploring deep into the mangroves, though I hate to say it, it may be better to do so in a kayak. Larger fins could get caught or damaged in the smaller trees, where the kayaks tend to slide over the tops of them, with little difficulty. Having said that, if you make sure to explore them at high tide, this shouldn't be an issue, as long as you remain vigilant. Although it does mean you may hit your head on some of the lower lying branches!

 It is within the mangroves that most life is seen. The falls end of the lagoon is more populated with people kayaking and swimming and almost completely drains at low tide, making it less desirable for fish. The mangrove channels are teaming with fish, which I did not realise until I saw one jump out of the water. For quite some time I'd been hearing a suspicious splashing noise and occasionally seeing a ripple but no sign of the source. I had assumed that it was one of the nearby kayakers throwing pebbles into the water, but it turns out, once one fish starts jumping, the rest tend to follow suit. They were able to jump remarkably high and were fast, too. From my count there were about fifteen jumpers in the school and possibly more under water. After watching them for a while, I worked out what to anticipate before a jump: just before a jump, you'll see a rippling circle becoming more and more voracious until a few second later, a fish will jump out and then swim away. It is rather odd to watch and can be a bit unnerving, especially when you see these numerous circles of water getting closer and closer to your board until the inevitable happens and one actually lands on it. In this situation, if it doesn't flip back into the water by itself, give it a gentle nudge with the handle end of your paddle, so that it doesn't suffocate.
 Amongst the taller tree canopies on the water are hundreds of bird nests. The birds a fairly brazen and you can get close to the trees without disturbing them, which is pretty cool for the Ornithologically inclined. I'm pretty sure the majority of them are Great Cormorants (or Shags if you're more familiar with New Zealand bird names). The cormorants are great to watch, as they dive underwater, zip around after fish and pop up somewhere remarkably far away. Even watching them stand, wings spread far apart, drying them in the sun so they can fly away is pretty cool.
 Even if you're not one for watching nature, the ambient sounds of cicadas, deafening at points in the thickest mangrove clusters; the calls of the cormorants and the sporadic splashes of the jumping fish make the paddle that much more intriguing. It gives the lagoon a bustling vibe, an essence of life that draws you in to explore it even more.

This location is heavily affected by the tides; at high tide, the waterfall is exploding with raw power and the lagoon is deep. This is the best time to go paddleboarding, as you've got less chance of being stranded on a mud flat or getting your fins caught in the mangroves. It also offers you more ground to cover and places to explore. At low tide, the lagoon shrinks to a wide puddle, surrounded by sinking mud and wiry trees. Unless your idea of paddleboarding is to take your board for a walk, I would not recommend going out at this point.
 The entire lagoon is fairly sheltered, so the tidal effect has more of an impact on paddling than wind speed and direction. If you plan on going for a longer paddle, it may be wise to plan to have the tide going in the same direction as your end point, as you'll be more tired after a few hours paddling than before. So, if you start at the falls and paddle through the lagoon for a while, you'd want to be returning the falls when the tide was coming in. If you start at the lagoon end and make your way up to the falls side, you'd want to be returning while the tide was going out.

 Other than the mangroves and tides, this is a pretty foolproof place to SUP and with a bit of care, those should not bother you. The constantly glassy conditions make it a great place to cruise, even for the inexperienced paddler and the wide channels make bumping into mangroves hard to do unintentionally.
 Although I prefer to cruise on clearer waters, Haruru falls and Waitangi lagoon offer a wealth of scenery, from waterfall tothe mangrove forests, brimming with heaps of different birds and fish. There's so much to explore and one could easily spend a day or two touring the whole place. It's well worth a visit, especially if your main paddles are on the open sea.