To the Coromandel

After spending the night in Dargaville, we set off in the wrong direction for 20km. Eventually, we realised the error and turned back, to have a look at the Kauri Museum, at Matakohe, which was strongly recommended by Lonely Planet, and was excellent. Lots of displays of the logging and saw mill industries of the past, as well as the life style of 100 years ago. The re-creations using mannequins and old salvaged equipment were truly stunning, and this, together with furniture, old photos, clothing etc., made for a very interesting morning at the museum.

It was a showery day with bursts of sunshine. Then, anxious to have a fine afternoon, we set sail on the "Auckland bypass" to the west of the city, through farmland and Helensville. Signposting out of Helensville was very poor, but eventually we found our way onto the Scenic Drive, through beautiful rain forest, to have a look at Piha and Karekare Beaches. Piha was very scenic, ruggedly beautiful with its pitch black sand and windblown appearance. We climbed the hill on the beach (called Lion Rock) to meet the Mauri Princess, who looks out over the ocean there, it was indeed a wonderful place.

We were keen to have a look at Karekare Beach which featured in the movie The Piano. Who could forget the scene where the long boat is launched thru the surf, with the piano balanced over it? Not to be! The road down to the beach was closed due to land slips, after the severe storms which had lashed the North Island the week before we arrived. We had to make do with glimpses of it. We went 10km down Lone Kauri Road which was signposted to be an alternate route into Karekare, certainly did not appear on our map, but it was so slow and twisty that it was dark by the time we made it to the beach, which was not Karekare but some particularly beautiful unnnamed lost world further down the coast.

It had begun to rain seriously by this, so we headed into Aukland to spend the night. The rest of the Scenic Drive shows fanstastic glimpses of the city as it comes in from the south west.

A Thai meal was enjoyed for dinner on the Parnell Road cafe strip, and then, the next day, we set off for the Coromandel Peninsula. It was drizzling, but that subsided as we cruised along the beautiful coastline. We traced the road around the edge of Tamaki Strait, finding a cute coffee shop in a delightful little town of Maraetai, with a very friendly waitress. Amazing scenery, lots of inlets, with driftwood piles to explore kept us entertained for most of the day. We had a bite of lunch in Thames, and overnighted in Coromandel Town, very quiet and cold. The population swells in the summer, it is obviously a good fishing spot! We warmed up with a drink in the Star and Garter Hotel (1873), very nicely restored (the warning icons say no smoking, no dogs and no stilleto heels). This pub has a pot belly stove, and internet cafe, good coffee and cookies, and gets the local cafes to deliver food to the patrons. What a good business model!

The Far North

As we left The Bay of Islands, the thick fog which had blanketed the bay lifted to a breautiful day. The drive up the coast to Mangonui was along a lovely coastline, which was very quiet. The town of Mangonui, fabled for its fish and chips and architecture from the whaling days, was a charming harbour village. We were too early for the fish and chips, but enjoyed great coffee there.

Mangonui Harbour is an arm of Doubtless Bay which was stunningly beautiful, and from there we drove up a long skinny peninsula to Cape Reinga, at the most northerly tip of NZ. We saw a lot of Azure Kingfishers on this road.

On the way we stopped at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom at Awanui, where there is a staircase carved from an ancient Kauri Tree, and a display of furniture and carvings. The Cape Reinga lighthouse is solar powered, only 50w according to the sign, the only solar powered lighthouse we have ever seen. How a light of that power can be effective is amazing, but the sign there said that it can be seen for 19 miles. It stands where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. We saw it on a gloriously calm day, but we imagine the weather can be frightful in this totally exposed location. It's also unusual in that you approach the lighthouse from above it! (See photo.)

Massive landscaping was being undertaken at the Cape. There must be a lot of visitors here in Summer!

The west side of the peninsula leading up to Cape Reinga is Ninety Mile Beach. Vehicles are allowed on this beach but we didn't see any, and we note that that the speed limit is posted at 100km/hr. Reports are that many vehicles come to grief on this beach, and we could see why. At high tide it would be impassable, and at low tides, just plain dangerous due to soft sand and extreme isolation. Franky, we are not supporters of vehicles being allowed to drive along pristine beaches.

Near the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach, we had a look at one of the few road accesses to this beach, at Waipapakauri. This access point was seriously degraded and impassable except for high clearance 4WDs. Most of the damage here was probably done by recent storms.

After this trip, we stayed the night at Kaitaia, then set out heading south though the Kauri forests. The highlight of the day's driving was the ferry trip across Hokianga Harbour from Kohukohu to Rawene (photo), both very picturesque towns, which although small, appear to be thriving. The town of Oponomi is also beautiful, being
set at the heads of Hokianga Harbour and characterised by spectacular sand dunes. It was very quiet there with only locals about.

The road was twisty and slow as we passed through the Waipoua Forest, where the oldest known living Kauri tree is to be found (photo).

Beyond the forests, we had a good walk along Bayley's Beach, which was wild and windy, as our last call for the day. The town here is cute and funky, but we noticed a massive development taking place on the headland which will not help this particular ambience.

The West Coast, down which we are travelling, is not on the tourist trail, so it's very quiet and enjoyable, especially at this time of year. The tiny towns along the beach are replete with shacks and huts with only the occasional well built house. Locals obviously make good use of this coastline, and are probably grateful that it
is not too popular with tourists. Serious erosion of the dunes is a problem everywhere, a problem which is seemingly made worse by beach shacks being built too close to the edge.

We pulled in for the night at Dargaville.