Day Two … exploring Northlands west coast

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 attempted to climb to top of the peak but the wet conditions (even though we had a break in the rain) meant the extremely steep track was very slippery. We made it to a clearing about half way up before deciding to cut our loses and head back down. Going down took twice as long as you needed to be very careful where you placed your feet in case they slipped out from under you.

Then on to Waipoua Kauri Forest and two lovely walks to see Te Matua Ngahere - Father of the Forest and Tane Mahuta - Lord of the Forest … two of the largest Kauri trees in New Zealand. Te Matua is estimated to be between 1250-2500 years and is the largest, and oldest living Kauri tree known to live today. Te Matua Ngahere is the tallest. The sheer size of these two trees was incredible and the forest that surrounded them was beautiful.

We then headed on to Manea Footprints of Kupe a recently opened cultural and heritage experience that traces the arrival of Kupe to New Zealand. This has to have been one of the most memorable experiences we have had and given that we did it early in our trip it set us up for an incredible understanding of the history of the nation. We were led through the gardens, filled with intricately carved wooden sculptures which depicted various gods, by a wonderful Māori woman who told us the stories of her culture. We then entered a cinema for a presentation and dramatic performance. The cinema was a sensory experience … and at one point I (Jacqui) let out a very loud scream!

Leaving Manea we stopped for an ice cream (wait for the picture!) before heading on to Paihia, our stop for the next three nights. After checking in to our lovely hotel with views of the Bay of Islands we headed off to complete a quick Adventure Lab before dinner on the foreshore.

A total of 376 km today … with  all but three done by Ian because I lasted 3 km before he swapped with me because otherwise our drive back to Paihia would have taken several hours as I pulled the car over for more photos!!

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