Northland, a fun 4 day trip!

Northland

This trip was a 4 day adventure driving north along both the east and west coasts of the Northland.  Laurel & I packed up Layla, & smiled to ourselves wondering if she would last the trip and how we would get back if not.  Let me mention, she not only did & returned to Auckland but showed us that she enjoys highway driving and all the tight turns offered along the New Zealand highways.  Road signs & speed postings, if you can find them, often would have 30km/hr and 100km/hr within a 100ft of each other.  Oh and slips, or mudslides as us Canadians would think of were found throughout as well!

So heading north along Motorway 1 our first stop was brief in Whangarei as it was a rainy gloomy day, but plan to come back to this area for all the water activities of snorkelling, sailing, swimming, etc. as it gets warmer.

The following are from a short walk at Memorial Kauri Park walk, ending at Paranui Falls. 

Slight detour along the Twin Coast Highway led to Matapouri beach,  if only you could hear the roar of the surf to go along with it

Continuing on our way, this is Opua where the car ferry takes cars over to Okiato

On from Opua is Te Haumi, where we enjoyed low tide picking up seashells at sunset

Our first night we stayed in Paihia at a cute little hostel, this is the morning view from the beach at Paihia

Close by is Waitangi, which is historic to the creation of New Zealand.  The treaty of Waitangi, between the British and many Maori chiefs took place here at the Hobson house, looking out over to Russell.  Amazingly kept grounds and Maori history....  This is one of the war canoes

Paua shell on Maori carvings

Hobson House

View from Waitangi grounds

Maori meeting house built in the 1930s

A spiritual experience in itself, spectacular maori carvings in kauri creating an unbelievable smell

View from Russell, after taking the passenger ferry over.  Paihia and Russell were having a jazz festival

The boat Laurel and I oared over on......  haha

Views from 'Dolphin Discovery, Explore NZ bright yellow powerboat'  exploring the Bay of Islands, consisting of 144 islands.  Both Laurel & I have decided we want to learn to sail and these sailboats made us want to even more.  It looked amazing!

Approaching 'Hole in the Rock',  but cannot see it yet!

Lighthouse across from Hole in the Rock

Here it comes, there is literally rock all around it with the waves only carving out a hole, that will continue to get bigger and bigger over time. 

Drove on to find a place for the night and stopped for this gorgeous sunset in Cable bay, & of course more seashells  :)

Stayed the night in Mangonui, & everyone we tell that we stayed in Mangonui asks 'Why?' haha but it was a hunting and fishing competition that weekend and well the whole town was at the bar/hotel/restaurant.  Still not sure what they were hunting?  Anyways, that is where we stayed at the Old Hotel built in 1910......  funny experience.  yeah  Mangonui.   This is the view from the seashore at Mangonui as we thought we had just gotten ourselves locked out of Layla, the battery on our handheld alarm/lock/unlocker had just died as we put all our stuff in the car and well wouldn't let us back in..........  one smart Laurel, a small screwdriver borrowed from Paddy O'Leary (not even joking, that is his name) the owner of the hotel/bar/restaurant & a 12V battery and we were fixed & on our way!!   Crisis averted

View from Taipa, driving north to Cape Reinga

After many kilometres of winding roads with rolling hills of sheep, cattle and forest this is the home stretch view before Cape Reinga.  This is looking west towards the sands of 90 mile beach. 

Made it up to Cape Reinga, this is the west side

This is the east side, looking down the coast towards Sandy Bay. 

Lighthouse of Cape Reinga

Where the Tasman Sea meets Pacific Ocean

Solar Panels of the Cape Reinga Lighthouse

Quite a ways to many places around the world!

Supposedly whales swim up to this jutting section of rock to rub barnacles off their backs

Laurel & I hiding in the long grasses

Laurel looks as though she might just fall off into the waters below

Drove on in the rain & took a logging road out to 90mile beach.  Unless you have a 4WD vehicle cars are prohibited from driving on the beach,  & like we would push Layla to do that.  These are views of the surf & sanddunes

Driving on and with more speed than maybe I would normally do on the twists and turns of the twin coast highway in order to make the 5pm car ferry in Rangiora, the narrows of Hokianga harbour to Rawene.  These are views from Opononi across to the sands of Waitapu across the Hokianga harbour

View from our hostel in Omapere, Globetrekkers which is a converted bach and met some nice travelers.  Hearing the waves from a hammock at night and again in the morning, mixed with the sheep on the hill behind us is an interesting soothing mix.

Evening shot at Opononi

Morning shots of the North Head of Hokianga Harbour as we start out on our last day's journey back to Auckland

 Due to the gloomy weather, our lack of sleep we only stopped briefly at in the Waipoua forest at Tane Mahuta, Giant Kauri tree, estimated to be nearly 2000 years old.  It was MASSIVE!   We carried on back down the west side of the country through more sheep and cow country.... discovered cow underpasses so they can go under the highway.  & when I say highway I simply mean a paved road vs gravel and with some tight corners that you climb up and speed down the sides of mountains, so cool.   

So another successful trip and now can say I have been to the northernmost tip of New Zealand and here is to discovering more outside of Auckland, eventually making my way to the southern most tip of New Zealand.  In the meantine, trusting Layla more to do more single day trip outings & having my AA car # handy for the day she doesn't want to go anymore and enjoying more adventures, big & small!!

Love & miss you all :)   & feel free to send any and everything you would like in the mail!!  hint hint  :)