Road Trip : Far North

To date, Sydney aside, we have limited ourselves to short breaks; holiday allowance in New Zealand is pretty limited and we also wanted to spread out our time exploring.

Last month, however, we headed North for our first road trip, exploring the Far North; and clocked up over 1000km in the progress. That's 600 miles for those of you using imperial distances and a good effort by our little car. It's not going to win any prizes for looks, and certainly not performance, but it's proved a very reliable and economical find. We've decided to christen it, Lola (the Corolla).

Kerikeri - 250km

Left Auckland straight after work and drove uninterrupted to KeriKeri just north of the Bay of Islands. In itself this was 250km and over 3 hours driving. We were staying at the wonderful Pagoda Lodge. We had reserved a romantic gypsy caravan for our two nights here. Wow! The caravans were beautiful and set in a very picturesque location; from ours we could look right down the river that the campground was adjacent to. The caravans were full of little antique curios and we were greeted by the waft of incense; and some friendly ducks.

It was quiet when we were there, but can imagine it having a great atmosphere when busy, with lots of communal outdoor areas, all with great views. A great find and we will be back...

Another great find was the The Pear Tree restaurant a short ( 7 min walk ) from the campsite. We arrived here on our first night, famished from the drive and we just made last service. The food was amazing, great value and the service exceptional. We later found out that the chef, like most of the staff is English and holder of several Michelin stars. This made the price of the meals all the more unbelievable. It was so good we ended up going back for breakfast and dinner the next day and got to know the staff quite well (as they had the misfortune to be working two long shifts in a row). As "regulars" we even got free starters and an extra free dessert thrown in!

The highlight of the evening for Amanda (for me it will allways be the food - nom nom), was our dinner companion. Well, the guy sitting at the next table anyhow. Out dining with friends and apparently enjoying his anonymity in his adopted home of New Zealand, was none other than Michael Crawford, of musical fame to Amanda, but best known to me as Frank Spencer of Some Mothers Do Ave Em fame. Oooh Betty indeed! We did not attempt to grab his autograph as we did not want to be break his "anonymity" but we did have a brief conversation with him about a portable heater...!

Beautiful, unique accommodation, excellent food and "meeting" Michael Crawford, not a bad start to the holiday :0)

The weather however was not informed that we were on holiday and it was a pretty grey day in KeriKeri. So in between all this hob-nobbing and glad-ragging we paid a visit to a local hot pool. But not after first checking out the historic buildings (NZ's oldest brick building) conveniently located across the road from the Pear Tree.

When we arrived at the hot pools we thought we had the wrong place. Very run down and looked like someones home. (Which in hindsight I think it was). After driving back up the road and checking our directions we returned and brought two tickets - a steal at $5 each.

The pools themselves were very, er, rustic, but uniquely had no bottom, you stood on the mud itself. There were 8 pools, each with a different mineral content and temperature. The appropriately named "Lobster" was incredibly hot - I managed to leave one foot in there for a matter of seconds. Our favourite was the velvet. Perfect temperature - although even that seemed hot to start with. Very relaxing despite the run down look of it and met a young man from the UK hoping to see all of NZ in 17 days! In fact ended up staying a bit too long and got sun burnt. What with the cloud cover and the heat from the pools did not realise I was burning. Doh!

Houhora Heads via Mangonui - 390Km

After the comparative luxury of the Pagoda Lodge and The Pear Tree it was time to continue North towards our next stop, the Hourhora Heads Campsite and our first NZ camping experience.

Made a quick stop at a lookout with views of the Bay of Islands... You can see a video of it here.

A shorter drive, but broke it up all the same with a few stops along the way. Took lunch in the pretty town of Mangonui. Visited a little craft fair here and finally succumbed to the tourist bug - We brought a couple of Greenstone (Jade) necklaces. It may have been sales patter but our craftsmen informed us that his Greenstone was original NZ stuff, sourced on his yearly trip to the South Island. Apparently, most stuff is imported nowadays as it's getting increasingly hard to find.

After lunch we stopped for a quick swim and caught some sun at beautiful beach. The further we go North, the more sparsely populated the country is and the more rundown the houses become. Beautiful part of the country but you wonder how people earn enough to survive up here.

Our campsite was adjacent to the sea, Rangaunu Bay, and we pitched our tent with a great view of the peak opposite and within earshot of the waves crashing on the shore. Unfortunately not as nice as we had been led to believe and had a trailer park feel to it, but a great base nonetheless and included an old homestead on the grounds.

Cape Reinga and Giant Sand dunes - 550Km

Up early next day to complete the stunning 75K drive to the (second) northernmost point of NZ and a place sacred to the Maori - Cape Reinga. Reinga means "underworld" and they believe this is where the spirits depart this world.

The focal point is the 80 year old lighthouse and this is where we headed, along with the rest of the tourists. We only saw one other car on the drive, but was quite busy here. From here you can see the "Meeting of seas" where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet and have it out. You can also see a lone Pohutakwa tree, reported to be 800 years old and whose roots the Maori spirits cling to before they depart.

Stopped for lunch in the only "town" up this far - Waitiki Landing. Basically two buildings, a bar/hotel/cafe and a petrol station. We were not expecting much, or value, due to the location. And we were right not to. Awful. Notable however for the service offered. Served by a dude doing a great impression of a slack jawed jokel and who seemed to take offence at our ordering anything. Definitely out in the sticks here. Some Kiwis's describe this area as being a bit feral. Yup, can see that.

Next stop was the Giant Te Paki sand dunes - some of them are up to 140m high. With myself still being injured and Amanda, being a big girl, we did not do any sandboarding. We did climb several of the dunes hoping to sit on the seaward side. We never made it and looking at map I can now see why - the dunes are over 3k wide. Still we managed to climb enough to glimpse the sea. Good enough.

Also paid a visit to the squeaky, super soft, white silica beach at Rawara. Here we got talking to a couple of guys using a kite to tow out a line for catching Snapper. A Brit and a German - where are all the Kiwis!?

Also took a drive out to 90 mile beach and Amanda had a quick dip. Man, that is one long beach.

Ahipara and Shipwreck Bay - 600Km

A short drive 50K South for another couple of nights camping in Ahipara. A nice contrast to the previous campsite. A much more friendly, relaxed feel, great cooking facilities and even a cool homemade table tennis table. A great location too - again it was possible to go to sleep listening to the surf. Ahipara is at the southernmost end of 90 Mile beach and amazingly, you can see it stretching away into the distance.

The main reason for being here was to surf. Flat as a pancake the first day, but enough waves for a giggle the following day. Should probably be thankful that it was not awesome surf as my ill-fitting shortie wetsuit and still healing feet meant my time in the surf was cut short. Still, another surf beach ticked off and Amanda even got to try her latest purchase - a boogie board.

Discovered a great (and only) cafe but overpriced (only) restaurant in Apihara.

Kohukohu - 700km

Time to continue the journey South. We had a night booked in the Lavendar Cottage in the small historic town of Kohukohu - famous for, amongst other things, having New Zealand's oldest bridge. Ooooh!

Our host was an English lady from Tooting who has lived in New Zealand, and this tiny town for over 30 years. She, like Amanda, has an obsession with the colour Purple. The entire house is Purple (Lavender if you will) - even the fridge is painted purple - I'm surprised the floorboards were not also. She is a photographer and her house is now famous due to a postcard she sells of her house's toilet.

Really, not much here, but a pleasant place to relax. Checked out all the historic sites and had a long chat with the owner of the local "Cafaway" about her time in the UK.

Tane Mahuta - 760km

Up early-doors to catch the vehicular ferry from Kohukohu to Rawene where we had breakfast in a cool cafe with a view over the harbour. Got directions to some famous boulders that sit on the beach, but when we got there found the tide was in.

Nothing left to do but continue South to the Waipoua forest - the largest remaining tract of native forest in Northland, full of the famous and relentlessly logged Kauri trees. It's also home to Mr Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest) the oldest and largest known surviving Kauri tree - said to be between 1250 and 2500 years old.

He is Tapu (sacred) so tree hugging was out and we had to make do with some reverential gazing. He and his friends did a fine job of sheltering us from the rain that had returned on our drive home.

Not much to report after that as aside for a couple of leg stretching breaks and a coffee stop we just kept going, eating up the 200 odd km back to Auckland. The drive itself, yet again, deserves a mention. And this goes for the majority of the kilometers we covered on this trip. Wow! We hardly saw another soul on the roads and often had them to ourselves.

And what a pleasure to drive. They rarely do straight boring roads here. The views, wow! Of course this does have it's drawbacks - some of the roads are so tight and twisty that average speed is close to 30km/h. In fact you will be amazed out how little a distance you can cover in a few hours compared to back home. One reason being that the main road, think the M1 for example, passes straight through towns and is nearly always single carriage, with speed limits often reduced to 50km/h and can include traffic lights, roundabouts and cattle grids...