Blogs from Northland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 18

tues - another hell early start today (6.20am) to get the bus up to Cape Reinga, well worth that time though!!! again, loads of stops on the way up, stopped in Mangonui on a Maori Pah to look out over Doubtless Bay. then on up to Kauri Kingdom to a gumdiggers park where they used to dig up 45000yr old kauri roots for the gum to sell. was amazing, there were 2 whole forests of huge kauri buried there, the first was buried from an iceage, the 2nd they think was from a huge tsunami. this was also the place where the name gum boots originated. when the diggers first came they wore leather boots called wellingtons (our wellies) then when plastic wa sinvented they called them gum boots because the plastic boot (which we know ... read more

Wednesday 29th October We had breakfast delivered and at 9.00 am we were picked up by Robin Collins of Harrisons for our trip to Cape Reinga. At Awanui, (Big River) once an ancient sea bed we had a quick look at the huge kauri logs and stumps which have been extracted from local swamps and are thousands of years old. All around this area was flat, peat soil country of swamp kauri trees and logs. The climate is good for the pine trees. They grow quickly to reach the canopy and prune themselves as they expand. Once this area was all underwater and now sand dunes. Avocados, sweet corn, watermelons and rockmelons are grown here. Also, lots of dairy farms, wild pigs and horses, ducks and wild turkeys. At Houhora Heads (Wagener Park) we had a ... read more

Deb and I set out to explore Northland for a week before Chris' 21st birthday on Saturday. On our 4th day of roadtripping we made it to Ahipara, a surfer's paradise. We woke up and drove to Shipwreck Bay, where you can walk along the points during low tide and see sand dunes. It was approaching high-tide, so worrying that we might get caught being thrown in the water, we put our cameras in a plastic bag, threw our wallets in the locked glove compartment, hid everything in the trunk and set off to walk around the rocky point before we couldn't get past. The walk was beautiful. The jutting rocks, the beautiful blue water, the giant sand dunes beside us. It was awesome. Deb was adventurous and set out to climb the dunes, while I ... read more

Day 567 (16.10.08) We left our lovely spot at Ahipara and began the journey southwards. Tomorrow we'd have to return the car so we wanted to get close to Auckland today whilst stopping at a few spots on the way. We took the long route around the lovely Hokianga harbour area (too cheap to pay for the ferry!) and found a lunch spot on Pakia Hill overlooking the coast and the vast sand dunes at the entrance to the harbour. Continuing on we drove into the Waipoua forest known for its huge Kauri trees, which grow to be shaped almost like broccoli with a very thick trunk and branches and leaves spreading out right at the top of the tree. Our first stop was to view the extremely impressive Tane Mahuta tree (translated as God of ... read more

Ross: After picking up the van on 1st October, we decided to take it for a three-day, 1200km test drive north of Auckland, an area of the North Island surprisingly known as Northland. After a quick stop at a mall in Milford to replace the aforementioned stolen sunglasses and a second stop in Whangarei for groceries (from Woolworths!), we arrived in Paihia in the Bay of Islands about 5 hours later. After cruising around the town, neighbouring bays, past Haruru falls, the local golf course and Waitangi Treaty Grounds in search of an illegal camping spot we ended up coughing up $8 to park in the local pay & display for 24 hours, along with another five or six vans. A tasty beef madras cooked over the van's stove helped keep us warm during the night... ... read more