Over the next two days we headed to the very northern tip, Cape Reinga. On the way we stopped to stretch our legs, have brews and enjoy the views at Matapouri, Bay of Islands and Waitangi.
Bay of Islands
Walk in Paihia to view point over Bay of Islands
Misty campsite near Kawakawa
Northland had stunning scenery and the best view we found was in Whangaroa. A short steep climb took us to the top of St Paul’s rock, from where we were treated to 360 degree views of Whangaroa harbour, rolling green hills, and the surrounding waterways stretching inland from the open sea. It was stunning, plus it felt like a summer’s day walking up there with the temperature in the 20’s, which we’d not had in a while.
Close to the cape are the Te Paki giant sand dunes where you can do one of the best activities ever invented – sandboarding! The dunes are enormous, we could see them from the van long before we arrived. We rented a couple of body boards from a woman in the car park and set off across the dunes, amazed by the scale of them.
There was a really steep slope in front of us which was a killer to climb, it must have been a 50 degree angle. It was much quicker to come down it though, lying on our front on the board and whizzing down! So much fun. Once we were at the bottom we’d have to climb up the slope again for another go, but it was always worth the effort. What an amazing place, like being in the desert!
Long way up
At the top of the dunes
We made it to Cape Reinga before it started getting dark, and walked out to the lighthouse on the headland. There was the obligatory signpost telling us we were about 18,000km from London. Cape Reinga is the point where the Tasman Sea to the west meets the Pacific Ocean to the east – the two were slightly different colours, and there was a visible turbulent line so you could actually see where they met.
We camped just around the corner at Tapotupotu Bay, a great little DOC site next to the beach. On our way back south the next morning we stopped off at ninety mile beach, which runs along the west coast of the northern tip. It’s actually only 55 miles long, but that’s still a pretty long beach! You’re allowed to drive down the beach which would have been cool, but we weren’t going to risk taking non 4wd Barry on the sand so left him in the carpark while we went for a stroll. Other people hadn’t been quite so cautious and there was a car left stranded after it had obviously dug itself a nice hole in the sand!
D’oh!
With only a few days left we needed to head back south towards Auckland. We took the western coastal path this time and followed the sat nav’s most direct route to our chosen campsite in Trounson Kauri park. We really should have checked the route first as it was more suited to a 4wd rally car than our 7m Barry-van.. We kept hoping the dirt and gravel track would improve, but it didn’t. Once we’d already covered a slow 10km we didn’t feel like turning back, only another 30km to go! By the end of it Barry looked like he had been in a rally race, completely covered in mud. We were breathing huge sighs of relief that he was still running, we’d grounded him out several times! The DOC campsite was right next to a forest full of ancient kauri trees.
The next couple of days were spent idly returning to Auckland, ie driving south and stopping when something took our interest. We climbed Tokatoka peak in Tokatoka, the old volcano’s magma solidified remaining in a conical shape whilst the surrounding volcano eroded leaving this behind – an interesting shape!
Tokatoka peak
View from Tokatoka peak
We saw some amazing black sand dunes at Bethells Beach. It was so windy when we were at the sand dunes and along the ground you could see lighter coloured sand blowing in waves over the black sand, it looked really eerie!
Windswept!
We needed to return Barry in Auckland the next morning so Russell and Louise let us stay with them again. We had to do what we had been dreading – packing our bags! We’d accumulated so much stuff that we had to leave a few non essential things behind, but were pleasantly surprised by how much we managed to fit in – but not by how heavy they were! We were sad to be giving Barry back as we loved traveling in a campervan and the freedom that came with it. We’d seen so many things that we would never have seen had we been on a bus or train, and New Zealand was so well set up for freedom camping with places to stay all over. Traveling in winter meant that we had no trouble getting a camping space, we were able to book onto things last minute and that the sand flies weren’t too bad (those things are savage!). The only downside was not being able to do the Tongariro crossing!
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