"Beaucoup de Vent! Go Left!"

October 14th- October 19th

NORTHLAND AND BAY OF ISLANDS

Day 1: Hamilton to Kai Iwi Lakes

Claire and Nikki spent Friday morning packing up for the next 6 days while Scott wrote a final exam. At about 2:30pm, Scott got home and we squished into Bertie and started our biggest trip of the North Island.

We started off by driving from Hamilton with the goal of making it to the Kai Iwi Lakes, which is about 330km. If you go by googles timing, it should have only taken us 4 and a half hours. But what google does not anticipate is having to go through Auckland during rush hour. UGH!

With an extra 45 minutes crawling along through Auckland, we made it to Kai Iwi Lakes in about 5 and a half hours.

The drive was interesting and very scenic. First of all, we finally got to drive the Harbour Bridge in Auckland. The scenery north of Auckland was stunningly beautiful. The lush green landscape with the range of interesting mountains in the distance.

Such a beautiful drive

We made it to the campsite on the lake after dark. It wasn't too cold out, so we pulled out the table and chairs and chilled out by the lake playing cards. A little bit later, we watched the moon rise. The moon was really bright and we got our first glimpse of the lake in the moonlight.

Moonrise at Kai Iwi Lakes



Not really wanting to try to squish the 3 of us in Bertie to sleep, we had bought a small cheap tent just for this trip. The plan was for Scott to sleep in the tent and Nikki and Claire sleep in Bertie. We set up the tent, snuggled into our beds and went to sleep.

Day 2: Kai Iwi Lakes to Ahipara

We woke up the next morning to an overcast sky but looked like it may have some clearings. Since it was dark when we set up the tent, Claire and Nikki didn't really get to see how ridiculous the tent was until the morning.

Let's just say... it was a really cheap cute little tent. haha (Oops)

We made breakfast and planned our day. With the end goal of reaching Kaitaia by the end of the day (which is another 175km north), we packed everything up and were on our way.

We drove through the Waipoua Forest and stopped to see the largest living Kauri tree called Tane Mahuta (meaning God of the Forest). It is a massive tree with a trunk height of 17.68m and a trunk diameter of 13.77m.  Scott looks tiny up against that thing.

Then we continued driving North to Omapere where we stopped at a stunning lookout over the ocean. This was also our first sighting of the amazing sand dunes that are all over this area.

Claire and Nikki enjoyed the views while Scott played with the wild roosters. And by played with, I mean chased them.

We stopped at the i-site in Omapere to get a few things organized for our next days adventure. Then we made our way into a tiny hick town called Rawene for lunch before we caught the ferry across the inlet. It was a quick 15 minute ferry ride. Just enough time for a little stretch break and some fresh air.

Once across the ferry, we drove straight to Ahipara, a nice little surf town on the southern most tip of Ninety Mile Beach. We drove along and turned down one road and all the sudden... the road turned to beach.

Bertie soaking up the sun on the beach

The sun decided to make an appearance for the afternoon, so Scott decided he wanted to go for a quick swim in the ocean.

Claire and Nikki decided they'd just enjoy a nice relaxing afternoon on the beach.

It is so weird to be sitting on the beach and have cars driving by.

We continued making our way another 15mins to the city Kaitaia. We stopped in at the i-site to check out where we could camp and of course, where to watch the semi-final world cup game that night. The lady at the i-site was not very helpful and had to search through the phone book to try to find us a place that might be showing the game. She finally came up with a pub in town but wasn't sure if they'd have it on. Thinking that was really weird and we've yet to have a hard time finding somewhere to watch a rugby game, we thought we'd stop by the place just to make sure. The second we walked in the place, we regretted it. It was so grungy and gross. After a strange conversation with a creepy looking old couple, we booked it out of there, never to go back.

After some humming and hawing, we finally came up with a plan. There was a holiday park in Ahipara that had a nice lounge with a big screen TV. So, we drove back to Ahipara, checked into the holiday park, set up camp and re-grouped from the creepy town of Kaitaia.

It was a beautiful evening so we cooked dinner at our campsite and chilled out until the game started at 9pm. We walked down to the beach for the sunset. Then we watched the semi-final game (France vs Wales) and were very sad to see that France came out on top. It was a pretty boring game, and some of us (Claire and Scott) struggled to stay awake throughout the game. So once it was over, we went to bed.

Day 3: Cape Reinga Tour

The next morning we quickly made some breakfast, packed up and yet again, drove into Kaitaia. We had booked a tour up to Cape Reinga with Harrisons Cape Runners. We met at the office in Kaitaia at 8:45am and jumped on a big tour bus with about 15 other people and off we went.

The tour started off driving up along the highway. We stopped in Awanui at a The Ancient Kauri Kingdom where they had displays of amazing furniture and crafts made with Kauri wood.

We also got to climb up the tree hut staircase!

Then we stopped at an ice cream shop in a small town along the way. The ice cream looked good, but we weren't really feeling like it at the time, so we passed on it while everyone else got back on the bus with heaping scoops of ice cream. We didn't want to ruin our lunch.

We stopped for a short break at a place we can't remember the name of. It was just a small fishing harbour on the east coast. Scott found a tree to play in for a few minutes.

Then we drove along through the kauri swamp fields. Geologists think that hundreds of years ago, the Northland peninsula was taken over by a tsunami, which is why the old Kauri tree ruins are splayed all over the fields and swamp land.

Our next stop was at Rawawa Beach on the east coast, just north of Houhora where we enjoyed the ocean views and a little fresh air. We even saw a pod of dolphins swimming a little ways off the beach. It's too bad it was cloudy and cool that day or we may have jumped in and gone for a swim with the dolphins. Everyone piled back onto the bus and made our way all the way to Cape Reinga.



 Dolphin watching on Rawawa Beach

By about noon, we made it up to Cape Reinga. This was one of the two main reasons for going on the tour. The other stops were just to keep people from getting bored on the 111km drive up to this point.

Cape Reinga is the northwestern most tip of New Zealand. It is often mistaken as the furthest north you can go, but there is actually another peninsula 30km east from here that is just a tiny bit more north. It is also the point at which the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific ocean to the east meet. From the lighthouse, you can see the two seas collide with what is called a tidal race.

Lighthouse at Cape Reinga

Even if technically this was not the furthest north tip of NZ, it is the closest to home we will be while we are here. Only 11222 km from Vancouver!

After about 45 minutes to explore this area, we got back onto the bus and went to a beautiful sandy bay tucked away in the hills on the eastern side of Cape Reinga, called Tapotupotu Bay. This is where was were given our picnic lunch. We'll just say that for a growing boy like Scott, it was not much of a lunch. We were given a plain scone each, and then got to pick out of a barrel of snacky type things like granola bars, cookies, rice crackers, etc. Very carby and sugary. Not much else to it.

"Maybe I can go out and catch some real lunch?"

We started to get rained on, and we were getting eaten alive by the sandflies, so once everyone choked down the dry scones, we got back on the bus and headed towards the other main reason we went on the tour. Ninety Mile Beach!

It is a 90km stretch of beach along the west coast of the Aupouri peninsula from Ahipara to Cape Reinga. The sand is smooth, compact, and clear of debris (mostly) so it is used as a highway at low tide. It is not really recommended to drive it yourself because it can be really tricky and dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and people get stuck and stranded all the time. We didn't want to risk loosing Bertie, so we chose to do it with the tour. 

We started out driving through the Te Paki Stream. It is a decent size stream about ankle deep that is used as the on-ramp onto the 90 mile beach highway. Pretty odd to be driving through a stream. The driver told us that you can't stop while in the stream or you will sink because it is actually quicksand. We didn't really believe him until we got out and walked through it and you actually start sinking if you stand still. I guess that's why is is also known as Quick Sand Stream.

Along the stream are massive sand dunes. The largest sand dune in the area is 469ft high and 4 miles long. Our driver found a safe place to stop, we all jumped out, grabbed a toboggan and started the strenuous climb to the summit. It was actually quite a bit steeper than it looks.

The guide holds your toboggan until you are ready to go. Tells you to keep your feet up, gives you a little shove and away you go.

As many of you may know, Nikki is a bit of a screamer. And as you can imagine, she starts screaming as she is going down. Scott yells from the top "Close your mouth!" Luckily Nikki heard that and closed her mouth just before getting showered with sand. That didn't stop the screaming though... it was just muted with the closed mouth.

Top of the sand dune. Goes on for miles. Notice the tinsy little tour bus on the right.

 No better place for a little yoga session

Handstand in the sand 

Once everyone had their fill of sand tobogganing, we got back onto the bus and headed for the beach. The bad weather that had been threatening us all day had finally caught up with us, and it started pouring rain and the wind was howling. The visibility wasn't great either, which was too bad because we've heard it is a beautiful drive on a clear day.

Driving alongside the ocean. Hole in the Rock barely visible.

The bus ahead of us was forced to

drive closer into the ocean to avoid debris. We did the same and watched a small wave come right under us. Now we can say we've driven through the ocean.

We drove all the way along Ninety Mile Beach and returned to Kaitaia by about 4:30pm. Other than the crappy lunch, it was a great tour.

Not feeling like driving anymore that day, we just went back to the Holiday Park we were at the night before. We had homemade burgers for dinner and were able to use the BBQ at the Holiday Park. We met a guy from Switzerland and a guy from Quebec and spent the evening chatting with them and then watched the All Blacks vs Australia semi-final rugby game in the comfy lounge.

Although we have really loved the quiet secluded camping spots we've found ourselves at so far, once in a while it is nice to have a warm cozy fireplace to sit by. 

Day 4: Ahipara to The Bay of Islands (Kerikeri)

The next morning we woke up, had some breakfast and got ready for the day. Our end goal for the day was to make it across the peninsula to the Bay of Islands, which was 115km east from Ahipara.

We decided to stop and go for a hike along the way in the Puketi Forest, which is one of the largest tracks of native forest left in New Zealand.

Happy Hikers

There were plenty of tracks to choose from when we got to the trail head, but many of them were too long for the time we had. So, we picked one that looked decent and gave it a go.

About 20 minutes in, we were stopped in our tracks by impassable ankle deep mud. It doesn't look like it in the picture, but this was a mud path that was straight down. Pretty much the only way down it would be to slide down on your bum. So we turned back and made our way to our second choice in tracks.

The next track was the Waihoanga Gorge Kauri walk. It starts out through a farmers field, dodging cow-plops and electric fences. Then you cross a bridge and enter into lush forest which we hiked through for about 2 hours.

We came across only a little bit of mud and some beautiful views.

We then made it the rest of the way to a town called Kerikeri, where we stopped in at the i-site to book our next days adventures and find a place to camp for the night. The lady at the i-site seemed a little nuts at first, but ended up being so sweet. When we asked her where we could camp for free, she said she'd take us to her orange orchard and 'keep us safe there'. Having heard that there can be some sketchy places up in the north, we took her up on it and got directions to her orchard. 

With it being only mid-afternoon, we decided we'd check out Kerikeri. We passed by a Chocolate shop on the way in, and of course that was a must-see for Nikki. Then we stopped in at a Cheese Factory, hoping to get to see some cheese being made, but they were just closing when we arrived. UGH! We have no luck when it comes to cheese here.

Then we found a spot along the river that had a little walking trail along it. So we decided to see where that would take us. The sign said there were two waterfalls along it, one only 15 minutes in, and another one an hour. We decided we'd just go to the 1st one and back. 

Apparently this was the first waterfall, but we walked right by it and 30 minutes later wondered how we missed it.

Scott doing some bouldering.

And yes Mom, Scott is still hospital visit free on this trip. (Knock on wood)

Then we checked out the Stone Store. This is apparently the oldest building in New Zealand. Its construction began in 1832 and was complete in 1836.

 Then we made our way to the lady's orchard to set up camp for the night. When we drove up, she was out mowing the lawn, and motioned for us to follow her. She took us back into the orange trees and showed us where we could park.

Driving through an orange orchard.

We set up camp and relaxed here for a bit before dinner. Some pretty nasty looking clouds were moving in and the i-site lady made her way back over to us and asked if we were going to be OK. She was concerned because "the weather is turning to custard". We said we'd probably be fine, but knowing Scott was sleeping in a tent, she told us to knock on their door if it got too bad and they'd put him up somewhere dry.

The weather sure did turn pretty custardy. haha. It started pouring rain and didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Not loving the idea of cooking dinner out in the rainstorm, Nikki remembered seeing a sheltered picnic area down by the Stone Store. So we drove down there and warmed up some chili for dinner out of the rain. When we returned to the orchard, Scott's tent (remember it was a cheap one), was not only soaked on the outside, but it had a puddle of water on the inside. After failing at trying to figure out how we could possibly fit the three of us in Bertie to sleep overnight, we knocked on the lady's door, and they were very happy to put Scott up in the garage for the night. They made him up a little bed and everything. It was a good thing because it poured rain all night long.

Day 5: Bay Of Islands (Paihia)

The next morning we woke up early and drove into Paihia, the main city in the Bay of Islands, where we cooked breakfast on the beach. The storm had passed and it was a beautiful day. We were very glad to see blue sky, because what we had planned for today was highly dependent on good weather.

 After breakfast we made our way to the marina where we met Mike (the Captain) and Gungha II (the 65ft yacht).

There were two other Canadians (from Saskatchewan) and a fellow from France on board as well. The 7 of us were off on a full day sailing trip in the Bay of Islands.

Goodbye Paihia

We had great wind for a day of sailing, and Mike put us straight to work. Scott and Nikki raised the sail and off we went cruising along the sea.

 Mike, the captain, was such an interesting guy. He is originally from Canada (Victoria) but left on his sail boat when he was 17 years old and has since sailed over 50,000 miles all over the world. He has now settled in New Zealand and loves taking travellers out on his boat.

Claire's turn as Captain

Once out in the open, Mike let us each take a turn driving the boat, with JJ (the Frenchy who has previous experience sailing) giving us instructions, while Mike laid back and told us some crazy sailing stories.

               Scott trying to capsize us





We were in calm waters until Scott took the wheel. Then the winds picked up and we started getting pretty tippy over to the left. Mike and JJ didn't seem to be paying much attention, as Mike was just jabbering away with one of his stories. In the meantime, the rest of us are standing at the back of the yacht, white knuckled against the railings as we tipped further and further to the left. Maybe recognizing the worry in our faces, Mike turned around and hollered out "You're doing fine there Scotty!"

  Nikki driving in much calmer waters                                     Bringing down the sails

We helped bring down the sails once we got to the small little island where we were going to stop over at for a little hike and some lunch.

We kayaked in from the yacht to the island which is called Three Lagoon Island. There is a short little hike up to a lookout where we enjoyed some stunning views of the many islands in the area.

 

Seeing some nasty looking clouds coming our way, we decided we'd better try to make it down from the lookout before it rains and is even more muddy than it was on the way up (flip flops were not the shoes of choice here).

About half way down, we found ourselves finding cover in the trees from the hail.

Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and we only got moderately wet.

We then spent some time exploring the rest of the island before heading back to the boat for lunch.

Beautiful lagoon. Apparently full of stingrays because they like to hide out here when the Orcas that had recently been spotted are nearby.

The rocks where Scott was just exploring until he got surprised by a big wave. At least it wasn't a stingray!

The storm had passed and we had clear blue sky and sunshine so we were able to enjoy the delicious lunch made fresh by Mike. The other Canadians on the boat went for a snorkel, but it wasn't THAT nice out so we decided to go for some relaxation on the deck instead. We didn't regret our decision to stay dry when they return and reported they only saw 2 fish.

On the way back, we found ourselves in another little pocket of a storm. It was intensely windy and we were speeding along so fast. It took more of Mike's attention to sail through this, but he was still spilling out some pretty funny stories along the way.

At one point, Mike breaked from his story and looked at what was going on and yelled over to JJ who was driving the boat.

               Mike: "There is too much wind, turn more towards the port side".
               JJ: HUH?
               Mike: (yelling through the noisy wind) "Beaucoup de vent! Go Left!"

We made it back to Paihia around 4:30pm sad to have it come to an end and so glad we had the opportunity to do it.

 Scott and Claire all bundled up as we sail through another hail storm

 New Zealand flag blowing in the wind

That was one of our highlights of our trip so far. Such an amazing day!

Once back into Paihia, we found a place to stay for the night. With a soaking wet tent and not really any campgrounds nearby, we found a hostel where we could reserve one dorm bed and they allowed us to park Bertie in their lot overnight and still use their facilities. (Man, we were spoiled this trip). We made fajitas for dinner and then met up with some of the people that Claire had met during her tour on the South Island and hung out with them until heading back to bed.

Day 6: Paihia to Auckland

The next morning we kind of just lazed around, had some breakfast and then went for a nice walk on the beach. There was a cruise ship of 5000 people docked in town for the day, so it was a bustling place. They had set up a little market in town so we decided to check that out. Not going to lie... we started doing some Christmas shopping!

Paihia Market

At about noon, we had to leave Paihia and hit the road back to Auckland, another 228km back south and get Claire to the airport to catch her flight back home. 

The drive went pretty fast and we found ourselves in Auckland a little bit early, so Claire and I thought we'd show Scott around the Queen's Wharf Fan Zone where we had spent so much of our time a couple weekends ago. There wasn't much else to see but this interesting concept car on display.

Then we said goodbye to Claire as she jumped on the shuttle to the airport. She was not very happy to be leaving New Zealand, but we are very glad she had a great trip.

Scott and Nikki had tickets to the Taste of New Zealand in Victoria Park. So we slowly made our way through Auckland's downtown rush-hour traffic to get there. The Taste of New Zealand was a showcase of some of the best restaurants in New Zealand. You get your tickets and go around to the different food tents and pick out a bunch of different dishes to try. It has rained a lot in the last few days, so the grass was a big pile of mud. But, we toughed it out, wishing we had gumboots on, and tried a bunch of tasty dishes.

Once we were full, we got back on the road and drove from Auckland to Hamilton, getting home at about 10pm. We were super tired, so we had a shower and went to bed.

This was by far our longest trip of the North Island. In total, we drove about 1300km over the 6 days. It was so worth all the driving though. We saw some great places, met some great people, and had some unforgettable experiences.