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Published: January 26th 2009
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After Dargaville's hectic Saturday night we got up early on Sunday and headed north. Our first stop was the Kai Iwi Lakes. Linda desired that we see all three. Dennis, in his usual accommodating fashion, agreed. The next 18 km or so took us through the Waipoura rain forest. A fabulous drive. There are some of the biggest kauri trees that are in NZ here. The first, Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) is believed to be the oldest, round about 2000 years old. We took photos but they didn't convey the size of this monster. The trunk is 16.4 metrres in diameter (or in English 53' 6") 30 metres high (100') and contains 208 cubic metres of wood. The second, Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) is the largest in terms of height, 51.5 metres (160') and total amound of wood 244.5 cubic metres. How anybody managed to cut them down is beyond belief. We stayed at a small town called Omapere at the Globetrekkers backpacker. The sand dunes across on the other side of the bay are enormous. We caught a boat across and sand boarded down them. The younger ones there went straight down and into the
sea. We skidded to a halt before getting wet! Coming down was great. Climbing back up a 30 metre slope of loose sand was more than exhausting and after six arduous climbs we had had enough. Great fun though. The road north from Omapere either goes a long way around the bay, or there is a small car ferry which takes you across the bay. We chose the ferry. The drive to our next port of call, Ahipara, gives great views. We stayed at the Endless Summer backpacker, a lovely old colonial kauri-built house right on the beach at the bottom of 90 mile beach. We sat watching gannets plunge into the sea like missiles. Next day we walked right along the beach to some great rock pools, with oystercatchers and gannets everywhere. Day 58 was the day we were going to the most northerly point in NZ, Cape Reinga. The last 20 km or so is a gravel road. The journey was well worth it. The headland looks out to where the Tasman Sea on the west of NZ meets the Pacific Ocean on the east of NZ. The waves generated where these two opposing forces meet were incredible.
We stayed at the Pukenui Lodge backpacker in Pukenui that night. It t was on top of the cliff looking down on the harbour. They had a swimming pool there, so we felt obliged to try it! There were some kids fishing off the end of the jetty so Den went down to offer his expert advice. Next minute one of the kids got a bite and pulled in a huge octopus from the water. They screamed, it squirted water at them, they ran, it jumped back into the sea. Next morning we headed south round the Karikari Peninsula. There are some lovely bays and beaches, the best of which was Matai Bay. We were now experts in capital cities of the world, so we just had to visit Whangaroa, The Marlin Capital of the World!! Not far from here is Matauri Bay. The Rainbow Warrior was towed here and sunk to form a dive site. There is also a monument on a headland looking out to sea to commemorate the Rainbow Warrior. We arrived at Paihia, a proper seaside town and our next stop, and got ourselves settled in at Cap'n Bob's backpacker (a distinctly nautical theme here). There
are around 150 islands off the bay (strangely enough it's known as the Bay of Islands) so we booked on to a catamaran next day to sail round some of them. It was a fabulous day out. We passed the town of Russell, the first real town in NZ and its original capital city, then round the islands. Some blue penguins kindly swam by. They are so small and very cute. We pulled into a bay and anchored, then jumped in for some snorkelling before having lunch. We then headed back to Paihia. A cruise liner was anchored off-shore from Paihia, and we had a family on board the cat who had arrived on it. They said that the day's sail on the cat was the best day they'd had on the entire cruise. Lesson 1 - forget about the cruise liners! That night we met two couples from the UK who were doing a three-week whirlwind tour of all of NZ. Lesson 2 - forget the coaches! Next morning we left for Whangarei. The Lonely Planet guidebook gives 101 Must See Things for Kiwis in NZ. Number 95 is the public toilet in Kawakawa. We had to go! They
were designed by an Austrian born bloke, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and were certainly the most extraordinary toilets we have ever used. The effect of using these toilets obviously affected our satellite navigation system (known by the code name of Linda) as we headed ten miles back towards Cape Reinga before it told us to turn back! We eventually arrived at Whangarei.
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