Coromandel and Northland

Orokawa Falls

looking through Cathedral Cove

The Coromandel certainly lived up to its reputation.  All the drives were scenic, with frequent waterfalls and loads of punga trees.  The beaches were pristine with white sand and turquoise water.  We stopped for a scenic walk out to Cathedral Cove.  The walk was a bit of a mission, but the end result was well worth it; there is a beautiful walkway carved out of the headland  by the sea that connects two beaches.  Nearby, we went snorkeling in Gemstone Bay.  It’s in the middle of a marine reserve, so the fish and other critters were abundant.  If you swam slowly they would come and swim around you, almost as if they knew they were protected by law. 

Snapper

We spent an afternoon in Auckland.  After not really having been in a proper big city for months, we were a bit wary of the urban unknown.  It turned out to be a really lovely city.  It is busy and there is plenty to do and see, but it is also quite chilled out, especially for a capital city.  

From Auckland we headed north along the east coast.  We got some swell that was generated by a tropical cyclone, so we had a few good surf sessions over a couple of days, and went for yet another scenic hike at the Mangawhai Cliffs (be sure to check out all the photos by clicking on the link in the top right corner of the blog!)

We camped at a place called Sandy Bay for a night, and in the morning woke up to a second day of rain and wind.  We didn’t want to drive through what we knew was very scenic coastland on a day that the mist was so thick we couldn’t see past the next bend in the road.   I made the ironic mistake of asking, “What are we going to do today?”  just before we got in the van.  I got my answer a couple minutes later when Mitzy (that’s the nickname we’ve given our lovely Mitsubishi) wouldn’t start.

Thankfully, we had paid a bit extra along with our insurance for roadside assistance.  Of course, that would only be of any help if we could actually call the company to let them know we couldn’t start our van, and our mobile phone didn’t have any reception.  Luckily, there was a nice guy named Billy on his “lunch break” (which seemed to be a few hours long) who had stopped to check the surf.  He drove me up a series of hills until his phone had a bit of reception, and we called for assistance. There are much worse places than Sandy Bay to be broken down, so we really couldn’t complain, but it took about 4 hours for the tow truck to arrive.

We were nervous waiting for the mechanics to let us know what was wrong with the van.  We were afraid it would take a couple of days to get her fixed.  Mitzy’s not just our automobile, she’s also our home, so leaving her in the shop for a couple of days would have cost us a pretty penny in hotel fees.  Fortunately, it was just a buildup of carbon in the carburetor (Tom calls it a carboretta) and she was back on the road in about 2 hours. 

That evening we headed north and camped at the southern end of the Bay of Islands.  The next morning, we got up early and, based on the advice of the New Zealand Surf Guide (Tom’s bible for the year) we headed to a place called Elliott’s Bay.  It was already a pretty remote location, but in the interest of finding even better waves, we walked over a couple of headlands until we got to a secluded bay with nice waves.  It had started out as a cold morning, so I had set out with my jeans and a hoodie.  The treck was long and somewhat difficult, so by the time we were half way to our destination I was already sweating and regretting not having brought my bikini.  Luckily, we were in the middle of nowhere, with hardly anyone around for miles, so I spent the morning naked on the beach.  I went swimming and got a couple of good photos of Tom surfing.  Even by Tom’s high standards, it was an exceptional morning’s surf.  There was good swell, no wind, and it seemed as though he had the entire ocean to himself.  

Tom's wave of the day

We stopped that afternoon to use the public toilets in Kawakawa.  As funny as this may sound, they’re a bit of a tourist attraction because they were designed by a famous artist called Friedrich Hundertwasser.  

I know it's nothing epic, but that's me!

That night we camped near Taupo Bay and Tom got another good session of surfing in.  I also managed to stand up on a few waves.  Surfing is much harder than it looks.  I will say that what it lacks in ease it more than makes up for in quality of workout; if I don’t lose my bingo wings this year, I doubt I ever will.  

The following day we went a bit further north for more snorkeling in Maitai Bay, part of the Karikari peninsula.  Unlike Gemstone Bay in the Coromandel, we were not in a marine reserve, so there weren’t quite as many fish, but still plenty to look at, and crystal clear water made for great visibility.  We saw squid, a large sting ray, a few shoals of small fish, and in the deeper water some big and interesting fish.

From there we headed up into the region known as the “far north”.  The drive wasn’t as scenic as some of the others we’ve been on, but the northernmost part of the country was worth it.  It is home to New Zealand’s largest sand dunes, as well as the world’s purest silica sand deposits.  We rented a couple of body boards and slid down “Psycho Slope” a few times.  It wasn’t quite as big or steep as Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes in Michigan, but certainly the biggest and steepest dune I’ve even been down on a body board.  We would have loved to have spent hours going down the dune, but unfortunately we had to climb it each time and were exhausted after just an hour.  

Tom, 3/4 of the way to the top of "Psycho Slope"

Afterwards, we drove to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga.  It used to be a 10,000 watt bulb, powered by diesel and manned by a lighthouse keeper.  Now it's 50 watts, solar powered, and monitored by a computer in Wellington.  Tom’s favourite part of the scenery there was being able to see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.  There were waves breaking far out at sea, and closer to the shore we could see them washing up on the beach in two different directions. 

That night we went for an evening surf and then waged a full on war with the mosquitoes.  We made sure the windows and doors were shut tight, but the little buggers kept finding their way in somehow.

We’ve been making our way down the west coast of the north island since then.  We preferred the eastern side of the island because here on the western side it’s a bit more difficult to access the sea.  When we did access the sea, it was on places like 90 Mile Beach (which is actually something like 80 km).  It’s golden sand for as far as the eye can see. There are plenty of places to rent quad bikes, go horseback riding, take 4x4 tours, etc., but there wasn’t a whole lot to do without spending money.  It doesn’t help that the weather has been pretty horrendous; it’s been raining and windy for 4 days straight.  It’s taken a bit of the romance out of living in a van.  There isn’t much to do inside the van besides read our books, it’s difficult to cook in the wind and rain, and the seal on the window above Tom’s clothes has a leak, so he’s quickly running out of clean dry t-shirts.

Our exhaust pipe broke off on a Saturday evening.  Nothing was open Sunday, so we’ve been driving around in an embarrassingly loud van for the last couple of days.  Fortunately we found a place that should have it repaired for us soon, and we’ll be able to get back to exploring the country without announcing our presence a kilometer before we actually arrive.