Kate Selby Smith strides through the undergrowth of a track on the North Island’s east coast when the bush suddenly thins to reveal a hidden treasure. “Welcome to my heaven,” she says, gesturing to a bend in the Wharekirauponga stream where a jade-green swimming hole has formed among the rocks and soft green ferns. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The fairytale grotto lies at the southern end of Coromandel forest park – a protected conservation area home to native flora and rare animals, including one of the world’s rarest amphibians, the Archey’s frog.
