Northland Rules!

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I am having an absolutely amazing time, we have indeed been touring in our once shiny (now very dusty) mitsubishi, tis an automatic and we love it already as have already done over a thousand kilometres and it hasn't boken down yet, fingers crossed, touch wood etc! But it should be ok cos we both have AA cover and we bought a more expensive car to reduce the liklihood of breakdown and/or stranding! We have toured around northland so far, going up the beautiful west coast through amazing Kauri forrest and past stunning coastline, (the beaches are sooo long and straight that they are actually state highways with a national spped limit on them, making them less desirable for sunbathing!).

After leaving Auckland we headed west to stay in a small town called dargaville which was like something from the old american west and there, very randomly we met my old friend Laura (Moody) from school, quite possibly the weirdest 'its a small world' coincidence ever! We didn't even know we were in the same country let alone in the supermarket in a tiny town at half 8 on a sunday evening! Weird! We (me charlie and laura) spent a great day together at Kaiiwi lakes which were isolated and beautiful and despite it being fairly grey and cloudy, i managed to get severe sunburn on my legs which is still healing now, oops!

From daragville we drove though more massive Kauri forrests to Omapere, stopping at various ancient and famous giant trees! It was my first trip into the rainforrest so was particularaly cool thing to do! In Omapere we had the nicest little hostel, situated over the road from the Hokianga harbour so i could look out of the window by my bed or lay in the hammocks in the garden and see stunning views over the ocean with giant sand dunes and mountains all around! We also walked to a lovely waterfall via a random shop called the labrynth where the owner Louis kept us entertained for ages with random puzzles and a garden maze! The people in the shops here are all so friendly and interested in us that we end up spending about half an hour in most of them!

From there we moved on to Ahipara which was even closer to the beach and just as nice a hostel (we've been really lucky with the hostels so far!) and Charlie and I went mussel collecting on the rocks for her dinner which was great fun! We've also been to 90 mile beach which is a really long straight beach but actually only 90 Kilometres, but we're not brave enough (or stupid enough) to drive on it as it is almost impossible for 2 wheel drive vehicles! After Ahipara we drove to Hendersons Bay where we stayed in a hostel in the middle of nowhere (6ks down a gravel track) from where we drove a further 20ks down a gravel track to Cape Reinga where there is a lighthouse at (almost) the northernmost point of NZ which looks as though it is at the end of the world! From there you can see the Tasman and Pacific oceans meet which creates weird effects in the tides and a visible line where the waves break in the wrong direction! We spent the day on the beach down a massive hill which we unfortunately had to trek up again but the views were worth it and we watched another gorgeous sunset over the ocean from the lighthouse which was immense!

Yesterday we drove down the east coast past another beautiful beach called Maitai bay, had famous fish and chips in Mangonui and settled in a hostel equipped with free spa pool (oh yes, the luxury) and trampoline in Whangaroa harbour where we will hopefully see dolphins!

As for the future?? We've so far been fairly spontaneous with our plans which is so much fun, however we are headed towards a more touristy area and some forward planning may soon be required! We're heading down the east coast to Pahia and Whangarei and then back through Auckland and onto the coromandel peninsula where we may spend xmas if we can find a hostel with a nice beach! (i am determined to have a BBQ on the beach for dinner). Eventually we are going to get a job, maybe in Tauranga which is a slightly smaller town which has some tourist trade and also work in Kiwi farms! But obviously i will update you as we go along!

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