New Zealand … Exploring the North Island

A more leisurely start to our day today had us heading out the door at 8.30 en route to Haruru Falls about 10 minutes north of Paihia. These were not on our original plan but we saw a sign to them when we drove in yesterday so thought we would go and check them out first thing this morning. Well worth the trip to see as the heavy rain from yesterday provided a spectacular display. We also took a quick drive towards Mt Bledisloe through the Waitangi Golf Course which provided some wonderful views. Then on to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This was not on our original itinerary, but when we had to reschedule our arrival flight after Air New Zealand cancelled the one we were booked on, we had to add an extra day and managed to include this. In hindsight, we cannot believe that we didn’t include it.  What an incredible place. So much history there. We had an amazing guide, Dan, who led our tour around the grounds, explaining the Treaty, the boats, the people involved and providing us wit...

So on our first day of full touring (let’s be honest yesterday was a travel day and doesn’t really count) we explored the western most part of the Northland region. We were up early, as New Zealand is two hours ahead of us but our brains are still working on Melbourne time, so we were out and on the road by 7.20 am. Upon leaving our hotel we realised that we were in for a wet, wet day and a quick check of the MET app told us to expect a fair whack of rain (up to 60 mm) which made for an interesting start to the day. Our trusty GPS had us heading off and escaping Auckland and along the way we encountered the Auckland Marathon (those poor runners were absolutely soaked). Leaving Auckland we headed along State Highway 1 only to encounter a massive traffic jam which we suspect was due to a fairly bad car accident. This led to an exciting, and at times a little nerve wracking, detour along a dirt road (did you all remember it was raining buckets) on our way to Tokatoka Peak.  We attempt...