Northland

We woke up in the dunes and had breakfast at the bench in front of the kitchen area. The wind had nicely decreased throughout the night. So our tent didn't need the car as a shield anymore. We packed and left to drive to the very north of New Zealand. We knew of two campings in that area. Of both we had heard that they were full so we were afraid that wouldn't work out. We decided to try anyways starting with the one at the end of a 15km gravel road gambling that less people would do the effort to get there. Also we went there already in the late morning hoping that would make the difference. 10km before the end we saw a sign saying 'Camping full'. We went on anyways because previously we were also already once allowed on a camp that had a 'full' sign. Our perseverance paid off. They actually had space and the camping usually gets full around 16:00.

We found a good spot for our tent and then enjoyed the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The bay looked amazing surrounded by forested hills and came along with a smaller bay at the edge. The water was very clear and, seeing one other couple in the water, we decided it was time for our second swim. The water was cold and after encountering a quite big sea spider and stepping on something big moving under our feet, we changed our minds. Instead we laid down on the beach and watched other people who seemed to have similar experiences changing there minds about if or if not to swim.

The camping is one of many managed by the Department Of Conservation. They usually have dry toilets and this one even had cold showers and everything seemed very new. We got rid of the sand-salt-sunscreen mix in the showers and enjoyed a tasty curry-lentils meal which would have been even quicker would we be more patient cooking it. But we are probably just missing our two chef cooks Daniel and Franzi.Read more

Today we wanted to see some boulders. They are visible in Koutu at low tide and a few hours around that. We hadn't really planned that but we were lucky to be there at a good time. It made a nice walk along the beach and there were lots of oysters attached to some of the boulders. Afterwards we drove to the west coast and had a nice yoghurt break at a viewpoint over the natural Hokianga Harbour. Further south the road we did the mandatory stop to visit Tane Mahuta, the tallest known Kauri tree. As expected it was very touristic and crowded. But there was a nice grass field as well which was a good lunch spot. Today's lunch was based on 'Dutch Wholemeal Grain' bread. It wasn't exactly what we know as Dutch bread but not too bad either.

The mission of finding a camp spot took us to the Kai Iwi lakes. It didn't look bad but it was so crowded that we didn't like it too much. We drove on to Dargaville, where we found a farmhouse that offered camping spots on their huge fields of grass. The owner was really kind and gave us and some other guests a free tour of their collection of regional items. It was a great exhibition with two rooms: one dedicated to the history of kumara (sweet potato) farming in New Zealand; and the other a large collection of basically everything you can find in the ocean, from whale vomit and shark bones, to shells in all sizes. They also had swords of swordfish, and a leopard seal skeleton. Also the dining room for their guests had some interesting collected items hanging all over the ceiling and walls including a small underwear collection, a nudists suitcase, and some other rarities. A really great place to stay.Read more