Waipu Cove

While in Opua, we cancelled what was to be a quick trip to Sydney to see friends. While we were disappointed, we were both a bit exhausted and it was a sensible decision. (Though we now have a hefty credit with JetStar that will never get used.) So, some of our rainy day time was spent canceling flights and hotels, extending our car hire, and finding an Airbnb to fill in the gaps.

We had originally planned to leave Opua and be back at the Auckland airport before the main highway through Northland was closing down. The highway sustained damage during the cyclone in 2023 and would be closed for many weeks. But the detour along the coast seemed interesting, so we looked for airbnbs in that area, finding a perfect one in Waipu Cove. We set off from Opua and stopped at a local glowworm cave tour spot on a farm. Sadly, we had no cash and their next tour wasn’t for quite a while in any case.

On towards Whangārei, I remembered hearing about the Māori Hihiaua Cultural Centre, a small art gallery, gift shop, gathering space, and working space. A small-scale replica of a woven sail was hanging by the entry. It’s believed that is what the early Polynesian explorers would have used as sails for their waka. Seeing the finely woven fabric, you can easily imagine what great sails these would have been.

In the centre, one of the staff members took us into the work room and showed me muka, the fine fibers that are extracted from harakeke (flax) leaves. What a treat to see the fibers used to create beautiful woven objects.

From there we found our way to Waipu, where we made a quick stop for lunch and found that the water supply to the village was out. We ended up getting food to go. Found our airbnb down the road in Waipu Cove and found we’d picked another winner. The house was on a hillside with beautiful views up and down the coast. The beach stretches for about 18 miles north and east around Bream Bay.

We quickly found the WiFi wasn’t working and that the host had a call in to her IT person. But I managed to fix it. Maybe a discount on the rent? We took a walk down the steep path to the beach, jumped over a stream to get on a coastal walking trail. Good thing it was low tide, at high tide it’s a short wade through shallow water to get to the trail.

The next day was lovely, sunny and a light breeze, perfect for a hike on Mangawhai Cliffs and beach, another location from one of my iFit workouts. Turned out the road to Mangawhai was a bit (a lot!) frightening, winding its way up and over some hills. And we had a very aggressive tailgater for the most winding, scariest bits of the road where there was no place to pull over. We made it to Mangawhai and hiked up the short, but steep, Goldschmidt track to a cliff top, great views. Also walked along the beach for a ways. On our way back to the car, we saw a surf class for what looked like 4-6 year olds! Getting started young.

Returning on the scary road, an oversize truck driving too fast on a blind S curve came over the middle line as we came around the blind curve. Fortunately, Doug was able to slam on the brakes and swerve just enough to avoid the truck by inches. The only other option was going off a steep dropoff! Wine, beer, and takeaway pizza settled our nerves. Worst part was knowing we’d need to drive this road again, it was the detour from the closed main highway. There truly was no other way.

On our last full day, we didn’t drive any further than the 5 miles to Waipu for some wine and groceries. Sat in the sunshine and read, Doug watched cricket, and we had a long walk along the beach. And more Scrabble!Read more