Endless Summer

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Leaving the Bay of Islands we travelled north, stopping in Keri Keri to visit an ancient Maori Pa (fortified village site) and associated European mission house and stone storehouse (both purportedly the oldest examples of their kind in NZ). We had sunday lunch (fush'n'chups) in Manganui on the wharf before continuing on to Ahipara in the far north.

We stayed most of the week at the "Endless Summer Lodge" on the most amazing surfing beach and had the most amazing sunny winter weather.

We took a daytrip out to the Kari Kari peninsular and the awesome Matai Bay (which is very popular with Kiwis in the summer but we had the place to ourselves) and ended the day with a visit to the wondefully unique "Swamp Palace" cinema in the evening. This cinema, complete with full sized screen, 72 (very old) leather cinema seats and two genuine projectors, is based in a community centre hall in the middle-of-nowhere and is sadly, the last of its kind in the country. We saw the strange flashgordonesque "Sky Captain and the World of Tommorrow" which was strangely fitting.

The next day we set off on foot at low tide, toboggans in hand, along "90 mile beach" and around slippery reef to reach some serious sand dunes. You have never lived until you have tried the sport of sand tobogganing!!

Wednesday was a colder day (mostly spent reading and washing the car) but, along with a couple of english dentists we'd met at the hostel, we found a pub in time to see the Lions winning another game.

The next day we drove all the way up to Cape Reinga - the furthest point on North Island - along some spectacular unsealed roads and through swamp land and some pure white silica sand dunes. Northland was once wholly covered in Kauri (the 2nd largest tree in the world) forests but following a thriving logging industry now only a few areas remain (due to last-minute conservation laws). However, many of the swamps contain perfectly preserved wood from the ancient forests (we're talking 50,000 years old) and as you drive through this land you see where local companies are excavating huge logs of this wood to be dried out and used as new - it's quite incredible.

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Photos

It's just like on snow...
only not as wet and cold