Waikato Bay

6 of the 8 fuel blocks on the dashboard had disappeared. With a gas prices app we found the cheapest gas station nearby and fueled up. The facilities were only going to decrease going north. On the way there we checked out Matauri Bay, where a hill at the coast hosts a memorial for Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior. It wasn't very clear how to get there, so when we saw some people going up somewhere from the beach we figured we'd try the same. After walking on a tricky and dangerous trail for awhile we realised it wasn't leading to the memorial, just to some rocks on the other side. We decided to turn around and found the right pass with the information board within a campsite at the beach. It was interesting to read but we decided to skip the correct path and move on. A little bit later we attempted the second climb of the day. This time we succeded and made it to the top of rock Ohakiri. It took only 20 minutes but the views were just great. Driving further the app campermate told us that we were gonna pass a cheap ice cream place. So we logically decided for having one sitting at Cable Bay watching some kites in the sky.

Our choice of campsite for the night was Matai Bay which Susanne remembered as nice (and empty in September 2009). Arriving to the camping we were quite surprised to see a 'Full' sign at the entrance. We decided to ask anyways and were told that all campsites in the north were full but that they could offer us to put up our tent at the day parking down at the beach if we leave early in the morning. We didn't say no to that and pitched out tent with a picnic table in front and within a 1 minute walk to the beach. The weather was great and there were even some cold showers available, so we took the opportunity for a first swim in the ocean. The water was a bit colder than expected but we still liked it a lot.Read more