Whangarei

The very friendly couple had also told us of a three hour walk to to from the beach which we did and it was brilliant. The first half was along the coastal cliffs and gave superb views of the coastline and of some bespoke holiday homes of the wealthy Aucklanders. We had timed it slightly wrong because the second half brings you back along the beach which is only possible at mid to low tide. However we thought we'd give it ago anyway and it was fun climbing over and down rocks, scrambling and finally stripping off to our undies to jump down onto the beach in knee deep water. The rest of the return trip was much easier once we were on the sand.
We drove a little further north to Whangarei and had a quick refreshing swim in the campsite pool as it didn't feel like the 22 degrees we were promised!Read more