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Published: April 25th 2008
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2/4 - After picking up a campervan we headed up towards Goat Island Marine Reserve, stopping off along the way at sights of interest. Goat Island MR was the first marine reserve in NZ and was set up in the 70’s. Goat Island is so called because is used to have a flock of goats on it, like a lot of island around New Zealand, if there was ever a ship wreck the survivors would have something to eat, great idea. There isn’t any goats now but there were once pigs grazing free on the island but they escaped by swimming to shore (it’s only a 100m from mainland). We spent a couple of hours snorkelling around the bay and island. Due to the cooler temperatures the marine life is so much different to what we have seen before, less colour but still lots of fish.
The next day was pretty miserable (in terms of the rain) but that didn’t stop us enjoying ourselves! We stopped off at Mangawhai heads for coffee in the morning. Then to Waipu Cove which was absolutely covered in shells, Helen loves shells, so that kept us entertained for a couple of hours. As well
as stopping off at other beaches along the way, we also stopped off at some posh toilets which are desvribed as
"A work of art, from the grass roof, to gold balls, ceramic tiles, bottle glass windows, mosaic tiling, copper handwork, cobblestone flooring, individual sculptures and a living tree integrated into the design structure...", in the town of Kawakawa and they were absolutely amazing. They were built by the eccentric german artist Frederick Hundertwasser, not a straight wall to be seen and was quite a challenge to put together by all accounts. They have to be seen to be appreciated and are apparantly world renowned! We pitched up in the evening at a nice DOC (Department of Conservation) site in North Whananaki, Otemure Bay. That was after having to ask a local farmer for directions (the guidebook had them wrong) we ended up being on the wrong side of the bay. The weather had been consistently wet during the day so we snuggled down to watch a DVD before bed, such luxury!
Next stop was the bay of islands. This is an outstanding area although the roadside view didn’t do it much justice. The towns/villages were very quaint including
the small seaside town of Paihia that we briefly stopped at. Our final stop that day was the Kari Kari peninsular, Maihai Beach. This was a pretty magnificent camping spot on top of the low cliffs overlooking the far stretching yellow sands. The sun was shining and the company was great so we spent the afternoon chilling and walking on the beach and exploring the little coves.
5/4 - we really packed the sightseeing in today. Heading into the true Northlands we stopped off at the Te Paki sand dunes. They are absolutely massive and seem to stretch forever. After scaling the magnificent height we walked towards the beach about 3/4km away which was really strenuous but rewarding. At this point there is a stream that can be driven through to access 90mile beach. The only thing is that it is the worst point for quicksand, many cars have been abandoned here as rescue is hours away! We did the sensible thing and parked only in the car park. Our next part of call was Cape Reinga, the Northernmost point of New Zealand, it is very hilly, windy and green with lots of farming around. It is also where
the Pacific and Tasman seas meet with the turbulence clearly visible at the bottom of the cliff. There’s a nice little twee lighthouse on the point, the glass for the light brought in from England of course. From here we posted some postcards in what is said to be the most remote box in NZ!
In the afternoon we headed back down the coast to Ahipara Bay. This is the starting point of 90 mile beach (it’s actually only about 68miles long)!? It is also supposed to be good for collecting mussels at low tide -no luck, we’re destined to starve! Instead we had an amble up the beach. To get back we thought we would head back through the dunes, only they didn’t take us to where we wanted to go. To get to our destination we had to cut through the golf course, mission impossible style. We were pretty worried that the grounds person would come after us but we made it back to our van without being arrested for walking across the green!
Our next scenic drive was though the Kauri Forests of New Zealand. Kauri’s are trees that can live for 2000 years or
more. They only tend to grow to the height of the canopy surrounding and have a massive circumference, like no tree we’ve seen before. As part of our journey through the forest we saw the biggest tree and then stopped off to see the oldest (which had lost height as trunks have fallen off). There were many other trees like the twin sisters - two massive trees growing from the same base trunk.
For the evening we headed to the Kauri coast camping park just outside Dargaville as they run Kiwi spotting trips around the local forest. It was a really informative walk giving us lots of information on the local area. Just as we thought we weren’t going to see a Kiwi in the wild there one was by the track. It was huge compared to how we thought it would be, and quite clumsy looking with its massively long beak and stumpy wings. But when it wanted to move it didn’t hang about. We only saw the one on the 2 hour walk but also managed to see eels in the stream and fresh water crayfish.
Our final day in the rental van we stopped off
at the Kauri museum to learn a bit more about the trees. Back in the 1800’s the trees were bled for their gum, which in turn was used for varnish, glue and more. They were also cut down for their wood. Both of these trades were mammoth undertakings considering the size of the trees. Due to the popularity of the trees there aren’t many surviving in NZ today. The museum contained many exhibits from restored machinery used to process the trees, exhibits made from kauri including Kauri that was found preserved in swamps, following carbon dating some were found to be 30,000 years old or more. There was also a replica boarding house. And of course a huge length of Kauri - it’s length we cannot remember but it took up a very long room! During our leisurely drive back to Auckland we stopped off at some of the quaint little town the route had to offer including Helensville of course.
Upon arriving back in Auckland we headed to the fashionable Parnell that would be the location of our hostel until we departed NZ.
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