On February 3rd and 4th, we took a road trip through Northland (basically the very north of the North Island) and it was spectacular. I'm guessing you probably know what north means, but let's look at a few maps, just so you can see exactly where we went.
First of all, here's the North Island of New Zealand:
We started in Auckland and went all the way up to the tip top.
Here's a closer look at Auckland:
The black line is our route (umm duh). Here's further north (where that map ends at the top):
We did all this on the 3rd (it was a LONG day). On the 4th, we drove back down on the west coast:
At the bottom of this map is where it connects to the top of the Auckland map. See?
Aaron made this superior monster map:
That's our entire trip in a nutshell.
Okay, now that we know the route, let's start from the beginning and see Northland. Follow me!
Feburary 3rd
We woke up at 5am, packed Tui up and got her all ready to go. Bright and early road trip selfie:
The three of us (Me, Aaron and Tui) are all revved up and ready to go (after we got some coffee, that is). The sun was just starting to come up and it was a beautiful morning.
Check out the fog:
Ooohhhh! Spooky!
Come on sun, join this party!
Just FYI, we did buy a navigation system. It was Aaron's idea and I didn't think much of it at first, but it proved to be invaluable. We took the scenic route most of the time, which meant unpaved roads and not many street signs (well, not without cows or sheep on them), so having a GPS system was great. We wouldn't have been able to see as much as we did without it.
Anyway, let's get back on the road! Check this guy out:
Yes, I'm a child. Tee hee.
Our first stop was the town of Orewa, just to see this beautiful beach. We started up at this lookout point:
but decided to go back down the hill and see the beach from down below:
Kept on driving:
until we got to Whangarei, the largest town in Northland (which isn't saying much, it's still pretty small). We walked along the marina, in what's known as the Town Basin:
We checked out a clock museum (man, we're so badass):
This was only the gift shop, we didn't actually pay to go into the clock museum. I guess we're not THAT badass.
We also walked over to apparently historic Reyburn House:
There was an art gallery inside, so I literally just walked up to the threshold and snapped this picture before turning and walking back out:
Saw these cool plants in the front yard:
The spikes weren't sharp when I touched them, but my hand has been itchy ever since (just kidding. Hardy har har).
Clock museum from the other side (there really isn't a whole lot to this town):
More Town Basin:
Aaaannd we're off!
Stopped at Matapouri Beach for a looksie:
Where's Aaron??
Oh, that wasn't a very good one, sorry.
We drove a little bit further to Whale Bay:
where we took a walk through the forest to get to the lookout:
Daredevil Aaron decided to climb down to the bottom of the hill to get to the bay. Can you see him??
There he is!
That nagging voice inside me said, "If he's climbing down a mountain then I am too!" So I did, in sandals and not in the most graceful way ever, but I did it. Here's the hill:
Woo hoo! Let's check out the rocks:
They're littered with mussel shells and barnacles that are completely embedded into the rock:
with tiny tide pools all over:
There were hermit crabs and snails hidden everywhere, but I guess you can't tell at all in this picture. Ah well, that's life.
We walked along the rocks to the other side of the hill, where we ran into a perfect little cove-beach-thing:
From back up top:
You can completely see the sand through the water! I wish we swam here, but it was still pretty early in the day and we were eager to keep going. Whale Bay was a total paradise!
On the road again:
Man, oh man, I've yet to find a corner of Northland that I don't want to photograph. Keep in mind that none of these photos are retouched or enhanced. This is just New Zealand! The whole damn country is naturally enhanced!
We made it to Russell, where we took in the historic Christ Church (built in 1836, it's the oldest church in New Zealand). The Northland War was fought here and if you search closely enough, you can see musket and cannonball holes in the side of the church (we didn't look that closely).
Tamati Waka Nene was a Ngapuhi chief from the Hokianga, who sided with the British in the war:
British soldiers from H.M.S. Hazard who died in the war:
I wrote a little prayer and put it in the box.
We walked around the tiny beach town of Russell for a minute:
Tour of Russell. Our plan was to take the ferry from Russell to Paihia, but turns out this ferry is only a passenger ferry. We had to drive 7 miles down the road to Opua to take the vehicle ferry. Here it is:
We made it to Paihia and immediately drove to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which is New Zealand's most significant historic site. Here, on February 6, 1840, the first 43 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the British. This is significant because before this the British were major buttheads, just coming over and taking whatever they wanted and killing whoever got in their way (the Maori). This treaty put an end to the fighting. The treaty is on display, as well as many other Maori artifacts. Unfortunately, they closed early on the day we were there, so we couldn't see the grounds. Bummer, although not the hugest bummer because it was an expensive entrance fee ($25/person) for a relatively small site.
We got pictures of the entrance for FREE! Suck on that Waitangi!
Enlarged copy of the treaty:
Who needs to see a real, authentic copy of some treaty for $25, when I can see it enlarged and laminated for FREE! You dug your own grave on this one, Waitangi.
We drove back down to town (still in Paihia) and checked out the Bay of Islands from a beach near the road:
The Bay of Islands is a huge tourist draw because who the heck doesn't love boats and untouched islands and turquoise waters and sea life?? However, the view isn't the best from here. We didn't do a boat tour because #1: expensive. #2: we would've have to stay another day (it was already 5pm when we got there) #3: we snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef (sucka), so it's not gonna break my heart to miss snorkeling at Bay of Islands. Don't get me wrong, I hear it's beautiful and if we would've planned it out better maybe we could have done a boat trip, but I'm not crying over it.
Anyway, there are about 150 islands in the Bay of Islands and most of them are untouched. There are many boat tours that will take you to different islands for different water activities. Northland is supposed to have some of the top diving spots in the world, with crazy marine life and old sunken, decommissioned Navy ships. We will definitely have to come back someday.
Moving on! We drove along the coast until we got to Matauri Bay. First, we drove up into a residential neighborhood and got a look from above:
You can see the bay and a few of the islands from Bay of Islands.
Then we drove down to the bay:
There were shells embedded in the earth:
It's hard to tell, but many of the shells were a pink color:
It even tinted parts of the sand pink:
It was more vivid in person. For some reason, it didn't translate in the photos.
Matauri Bay was gorgeous, but it was getting late and we had been eating car sandwiches (that's what I call me slapping together sandwiches in the car) and bar mix all day, so we were ready for some real food and R&R. We were determined to make it to Tapotupotu Bay before stopping for the night and were still pretty far away, so we hit the road. We stopped at a supposedly well-known seafood restaurant called Mangonui Fish Shop in the tiny town of Mangonui:
I got calamari and Aaron got a chicken sandwich and prawns. I forgot to take pictures because we didn't eat right away. Like I said, we were determined to get to our destination, so we could relax. Stopped at a grocery store for some cold drinks and saw this:
Interesting.
Sunset:
We were about 50 miles from our destination, but the roads were unpaved and twisty and there are no street lights anywhere, so we had to drive pretty slow. Not to mention, there are signs saying to look out for cows and sheep crossing the road, so we had to drive extra slow. Needless to say, it took us hours to get there. It was about 10:30pm when we arrived at the campsite, where we pigged out (the food was even good cold) and watched movies on Aaron's phone. We got out at one point and looked up at the stars and couldn't even believe it. There were more stars than I had ever seen in my life. The sky was littered with them. We tried to get pictures and videos, but nothing came out at all:
It was bananas how beautiful it was. I'll never forget it. I have goosebumps just thinking about it. I felt like I was in space.
We passed out in the car soon after. Aaron flattened the seats in the back and made a tiny bed and I just stayed up front with my seat laid flat. It wasn't the most comfortable sleeping arrangement, but it totally worked and we were so tired that it didn't matter at all.
February 4th
I woke up around 6am and explored a bit as the sun was coming up.
Here's our sleeping situation:
Aaron spread out in the back and I slept up front.
View of the beach from the car:
Campsite:
Bathrooms:
They provided toilets (basically holes in the ground with toilet seats) and cold water showers. The water is not potable, so you have to bring your own for drinking/brushing your teeth. We also had to make sure we had enough gas because we were pretty far from everything. Our campsite is the closest one to Cape Reinga you can get and Cape Reinga is at the tip top of New Zealand, so we're essentially at the very top of the country. However, there isn't much besides Cape Reinga up here, so you definitely don't want to get stuck up here without provisions.
They charge $6/person/night at the campsite and it's the honor system, so you pull up to this and fill out a form, put your money in an envelope and stick it in here:
Technically, you can get away with not paying anything, but that's just bad karma, so homie don't play that!
Once Aaron woke up, around 8:30, we walked along the beach for a bit and I collected shells:
We have another long drive all the way back down to Auckland, so we got right to it. I took a couple snaps of the beach from up above as we were leaving:
We headed straight to Cape Reinga (only about 5 minutes away). On the way:
Cape Reinga area:
Here's the Cape Reinga Lighthouse (it was about a 1/2 mile walk down to it):
This point is where the Tasman Sea and The Pacific Ocean meet. It's also (very, VERY close to being) the northernmost point of New Zealand.
This place also has spiritual significance to The Maori. They believe this is where their souls depart this world for their spiritual homeland. It definitely feels very edge of the earth because you're on the end of this cliff and can see nothing ahead of you, but blue and mist. It's really eerie, but shockingly technicolor and picturesque at the same time. What a sight!
Then we made our way down the west coast (opposite of the side we went up yesterday because why see the same thing twice?). We stopped at 90 Mile Beach, which was equally eerie for me because it felt and looked like being in a desert, but with the sea right in front of you. It makes no sense, but I've never seen anything like it. A totally deserted beach, with nothing to see for miles in any direction.
You can drive on 90 Mile Beach, but rental car companies won't insure their cars driving on it because there's a chance of getting stuck in the sand or even sinking into a sort of sand trap.
There were even little tumbleweeds all over!
Then we kept on truckin! Aaron drove the entire time both days and he was a champ! He actually really likes driving, so it wasn't too much of an issue, but I was having problems as the passenger with all the super windy roads. I never get car sick, but I was starting to after hours of this:
They don't look that windy, but the speed limits are pretty high here, so you're turning back and forth and back and forth fast enough to make you feel a bit green around the gills.
Random stop:
We also stopped at the Arai-te-uru Reserve lookout:
Check out that huge sand dune:
These are all over Northland:
They look like spider egg sacs, but HUGE! Aaron got up close.
Our final stop before driving straight back home was to the largest Kauri forest still left in New Zealand (and the world). It houses the largest Kauri tree in the world, called Tane Mahuta:
It's really the largest tree I've ever seen!
The top even has its own ecosystem!
Crazy cool!
Then we drove pretty much all the way home, only stopping once for Aaron to get his McDonald's fix (of course). We did try something new:
It was a flaky pastry pie filled with egg and ham (they have other fillings as well). Really yummy, but I could feel my arteries clogging as I took a bite. Damn you, McDonald's!
We got home around 8:30pm, wiped out and ready for some home cooked food. However, when we got home our power was out because the property owner forgot to pay the electric bill (moron!). It was almost 24 hours of no lights, no AC (it gets so stuffy in here!!) and no power for our devices. Basically another night of camping (which would be great if we hadn't just got back from camping!). The property manager, Hannah, is the sweetest and took all the food in our fridge to her house to stay cold and even offered to put us up in her house for the night! We ended up managing in the apartment (barely) and got the power turned back on late last night, after a lot of coordinating with the electric company and the manager of the apartment building. Man, what a hassle. Don't worry folks, in the end I got us comped for a bunch of stuff, so it worked out just fine (I ain't no dummy).
We're enjoying relaxing at the apartment today, since it has been raining off and on the past couple days (perfect timing because it started right when we got home from our road trip!). Tonight Aaron is taking me on a romantic date to a haunted theme park right outside of Auckland. I can't wait...not.
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