North Island, New Zealand
11/29/2004 - 12/08/2004
The south end of the Cavalli Islands off the coast of the Northland -- just a couple hours north of Opua.
The Road to Mangonui
"Road Trip!" We drove north from Opua toward the Whangaroa area. The tentative plan took us on a counter-clockwise back road loop north, then west toward the coast, then south to the Kauri forest near Dargaville, then back east to Opua. First, we'll check out Matauiri Bay and Te Ngaire near the Cavalli Islands.
The Cavalli Islands are the home (now watery grave) of the infamous Rainbow Warrior. In 1985, the Greenpeace ship was bombed in Auckland Harbor by French saboteurs (isn't that French for terrorist?) in the employ of the French government. The French were ticked off that Greenpeace was trying to derail French nuclear testing in Pacific. The bombing sunk the ship and killed one Greenpeace worker. The ship was re-floated and towed to the Cavalli islands and is now a diving destination in the Northland. Two of the French agents were caught and served a brief sentence in French Polynesia, then returned home to a hero's welcome. Go figure.
On the way to Whangaroa, we looped over to the coast to encounter a cool, rainy day with very little sunshine. We stopped in Te Ngaire bay and Robin had a recreational swing. On a less gloomy day, this remote area would be quite beautiful. Given the gloom, we decided to move on...the day is still young.
Whangaroa is rumored to be an awesome cruising ground with beautiful bays tucked deep into steep sided fiords (yes, they spell fiords with an "i" here). We look forward to exploring the area and hoped for an improvement in the weather. The weather guys said it should be clearing soon.
In Whangaroa, we drove around the road accessible bays, but the weather was so dismal, it didn't look like a place we wanted to stay. The few pictures looked pretty dreary, so forgive us for not sharing them. The bays and anchorages must be spectacular -- even in the rain, so someday we'll return by boat. Since our arrival in early November, we've experienced only a handful of glorious days. Hopefully, this trend will end soon and Summer will arrive.
Around this time, we learned that New Zealand had just had its wettest November on record (in 60 years of recording). December has to get better! Right?
The beach at Mautauri Bay with the Cavalli islands in the distance. The remains of the Rainbow Warrior are out there near these islands.
Robin takes a recreational swing on a test ride. Not too bad. She got up to about three G's.
We arrived in Mangonui and the rain moved in. Our beautiful B&B -- the Mill Bay Haven provided a great refuge on the gloomy two days. The nice Bavaria yacht on the mooring in front is available for charter by the owners of Mill Bay Haven. The place is beautiful.
The dinghy on shore in front of our room at Mill Bay Haven.
Who cares if it is raining if we are tucked into our nice room with Sky (satellite) TV? I can picture this scene on a beautiful day around sunset...
The Mangonui Hotel and the local radio station above. Unfortunately, our rental car (this Mazda Familia) radio does not get any New Zealand stations. Many rental cars are Japanese imports that come in without the radio modified to receive NZ radio stations.
The Mangonui harbor is starting to clear. The rain has stopped and the clouds are thinning. This is a good sign! Let's go explore!
Doubtless Bay
Captain Cook, after passing this large Northland bay wrote, "doubtless a bay" in his log. He is also rumored to have written about Doubtful Sound in the South Island's Fiordland -- "it is doubtful that we would ever sail out of there if we sailed in". Or something to this effect. These guys were not very creative in the naming department.
Doubtless Bay has some beautiful beaches, several small resort communities, and very little to do but relax, fish, or sea kayak. The weather cleared and it looked like we might get a few days of nice skies and sunshine.
Since it was still early in the day, we moved north along Doubtless Bay and up to the Karikari peninsula. In addition to the beautiful beaches, dunes and bays, we discovered the northernmost winery and vineyard in New Zealand, the Karikari Estate.
Doubtless Bay at Whatuwhiwhi. Small boats can be launched here by just driving down on the beach. This area was beautiful, but felt very remote. There were homes here, but very few amenities.
Karikari Peninsula
We drove up the peninsula and out the southern edge to Whatuwhiwhi. We will not even guess as to what this name means. Visits to the marae and a couple of small bays gave us a feel for the area. Small homes and many Kiwi "baches" are the only signs of life. A "bach" is slang for a "bachelor", or small holiday getaway home (originally for bachelors?). Of course, a Kiwi is either an endangered endemic flightless nocturnal bird, or an endearing slang for a New Zealander -- but you may have already figured that out after the last America's Cup or Lord of the Rings.
This area -- though beautiful, was almost too remote. We would have to enjoy the solitude and the need to drive 40 minutes to the nearest decent restaurant or cafe. Oh my. We probably won't buy a Kiwi bach in this area. Let's move on to Matai Bay -- one of the beautiful twin bays on the tip of the Karikari peninsula..
On the south end of the Karikari peninsula, lies the north end of Doubtless Bay at Whatuwhiwhi.
Karikari Estate Vineyards. The vineyard is owned by American investors and is blazing a trail as the northernmost vineyard and winery in New Zealand (which in theory, should be warmer when you are down under).
Traditional oak barrels at the Karikari Estate winery.
Robin relaxes after a wine tasting and an antipasto lunch at Karikari Estate Vineyards. The wine and the lunch were delicious.
Less traditional stainless steel tanks at the Karikari Estate winery.
We enjoyed our brief winery tour and tasting in addition to an excellent antipasto lunch. For a minute, we considered what it would be like to live and work in this area and learn the wine business. While not eliminated as a possibility, the isolation of the area is a concern. What would we do when we weren't working?
The beautiful Carrington golf course and resort is right across the street, but we don't golf! The Carrington is owned by the same investor that owns the vineyard. The resort is named after his daughter. The slogan for the resort is "One night is never enough". Rumor has it that daughter Carrington is not too excited about this tag line being associated with her name.
We're just not sure what we would do up here other than live in our quaint little oceanfront bach, learn to golf, hike, sea kayak, and drink excellent wine.
Hey, wait a minute...
Matai Bay
Just a few minutes farther out the peninsula are the twin Matai bays. The charter yacht skipper from Mill Bay Haven in Mangonui told us about these bays and what a great, quick day sail they are from Mangonui bay. Perfect bays surrounded by park and camping area with pristine beach. Excellent hiking and beach-walking with great views. Yep, this is a fine place.
We met an American family down on Matai beach. They lived a few minutes away in their seasonal home. They return to their home in San Diego in the off-season. Hmmm... Undiscovered. Beautiful. A long flight from the USA today, but what about in 10 years when ultra-fast planes fly LA to New Zealand in 3 hours? Hmmm... Maybe the Karikari Estate investors have their timing just right!
The western arm of Matai Bay and the gorgeous beach. Two people stroll the beach over on the left. Other than that, it's deserted.
The shallow waters of Matai Bay "west" are warm enough to swim in -- and crystal clear.
The same goes for the beautiful beach at Matai Bay "east". There may be one person on this beach.
Ahipara
By mid-afternoon, we started to look for a place to stay. We thought about staying in the Carrington Villas, but didn't want to spend that much money. Back-tracking to Doubtless Bay was an option, but we were anxious to get across the island over to the west coast and the "90-mile" beach. We drove directly for the west coast and looked for a place to stay. After checking out a couple of so-so accommodations, we moved on to the tiny beach town of Ahipara. It was a spectacular day in Ahipara. The sky and water were beautiful, cars cruised up and down 90-mile beach, and Blokarts (small, sail driven beach cruisers on wheels) tacked up and down the hard-packed sand.
90-mile beach is really only about 66 miles (or about 115 kilometers long), but that is more than enough sand for beach fun. Picture a much longer Daytona beach, without one condo, beach bar, or college student. This is desolate sand. You may drive the beach, but it must be near low tide. You must plan your departure route and timing carefully to ensure you don't get stuck/swamped nearing high tide. Exits from the beach are few and far between. The roofs of several cars are visible in the surf. Even giant tour buses roar up and down the beach. They return to Opua each night for their complete wash-down so they don't rust away. Of course, rental cars are not supposed to go on the beach, so we wouldn't think of it.
The view north from our nice little ocean view hotel in Ahipara. 90-mile beach disappears into the distance.
The view west from our hotel balcony toward Tauroa (Reef) Point. This beautiful day left an impression on us. We loved Ahipara. Think Monterey Bay with very few homes and people.
The hills and dunes to the south are pristine and undeveloped. Where are the condos? The zillion dollar homes? Why doesn't the whole country live here?
Oh... Maybe this is why. How often it is like this? The next morning, the gloom had settled in. The same picture framed above is a stark contrast to this one 12 hours later. No sense sitting here in the rain! Let's go to the northern-most tip of New Zealand's North Island -- Cape Reinga.
Cape Reinga and North Cape
We should have guessed that if it was raining, gloomy and cold in Ahipara, it might not get any better 60+ miles to the north. It took us a couple of hours to drive out the gravel road to Cape Reinga. We went early and missed the tour buses, but it was foggy and hard to see the beauty of the region.
On the walk out to the lighthouse, the fog was thick. There were a few fur seals way down below on the rocks and beach, but they were relaxing and could not put up much of a show. The sea lions were a bit more active but still a mile away.
Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific meet -- just below the cliffs in the "Columbia bank maelstrom", where 30 ft waves are common in bad weather. Today they are only about 8 ft waves. This is also the Maori sacred ground where, under the roots of an 800 year old tree, the entrance to the Maori underworld can be found. According to Maori legend, this is also the place that dead spirits can depart the earth. Sacred. Maelstrom. Death. Underworld. Okay, lets get out of here.
Perhaps an afternoon on the Blokarts or quad-riding on the dunes back in Ahipara will be fun. Unfortunately, we arrived back to mist, gloom and less than 10 knots of wind. Over 10 knots of wind is needed to have any fun in the Blokarts. The quad tours were done for the day. Maybe next trip? Lets move south toward Hokianga Harbor exploring the three large river mouths that spill into the Tasman Sea.
Cape Reinga is cool, windy, and foggy. We can hardly see the trail just 100 yards ahead.
We are just a couple of blocks away and we can hardly see the Cape Reinga lighthouse through the gloom. Another miss on a hit-or-miss weather day.
The lighthouse emerges from the fog! Quick! Snap the Photo!
On the way back from Cape Reinga, we went of the beaten track (more primitive dirt roads) in Te Hapua, toward North Cape. This is some awesome forest land, with remote camping, and hiking. We found small Maori villages with very few austere homes and derelict cars. Except for logging and maybe some fishing, there was very little here. A beautiful white sandbar out to sea looked like a long white cloud. Hey, the Maori name for NZ is Aotearoa, it means "land of the long white cloud".
We pulled the rental car off the road in the middle of nowhere, on the road to Whangape harbor.
Ahipara to Hokianga Harbor
Our objective was to get off the beaten track and explore the back roads that would give us a good feel for the rural area of the north western coastline. Three large harbors reach inland to the mountains. Two of the smaller harbors are too shallow for large vessels, but Hokianga harbor was once an active harbor on the west coast.
Much of this land is Maori tribal land and has either been returned to its natural "bush" state, grazed by sheep and cattle, or converted to forest stands for logging. There as small villages, impressive marae, and a few churches. It is sparsely populated, fairly poor (with "high unemployment"), and it feels very remote.
A cute rural church. Not sure how busy this is on Sunday. It feels like we are 500 miles from anywhere, but Opua is only a couple of hours away.
The view into the middle of nowhere. On the road to Whangape harbor, there is nothing but grazing land for cattle and sheep.
The view down onto Hokianga harbor from the north side. The harbor reaches way inland, requiring a ferry trip to cross it in about the middle.
The Panguru range rises from the clouds. A forest of pines is across the valley on the far ridge. This is wet, rugged coastal country, much of it is Maori tribal land.
One of dozens of logging trucks near Hokianga Harbor and heading north to the mills. Many highway fatalities occur when drivers going too fast tangle with these trucks on the narrow winding country roads.
The wild flowers are thick this time of year -- the rainy springtime in November...
The Hokianga ferry arrives to take us across the huge Hokianga Harbor on the way to Rawene. The ferry only takes about 10 cars per trip and it is the only way to get across the harbor without going about 100 kilometers out of the way up and around the harbor. We are on the way toward Omapere, described as a nice little tourist town on the Hokianga Harbor near the harbor mouth. The treacherous waters of the harbor mouth have claimed many ships and many lives. Kauri logging and spar making was the primary commerce for the harbor in the early days. The use of the steam engine in ships may have saved the Kauri.
Aboard the car ferry, Robin -- the tour guide -- shows us where we've been and where we are going on this map of the Northland. Auckland is in the lower right corner, Cape Reinga is jutting out of Robin's head. Ouch! Hokianga is at Robin's left elbow near the west coast. That is her elbow isn't it?
Approaching the south side of Hokianga harbor on the ferry we see (through the drizzle) the town of Rawene.
Downtown Rawene and the Masonic Hotel. Time for lunch at the Boat House Cafe, then off to Omapare.
One of the many beautiful waterfront homes in Omapere. This big, beautiful "bach" (Kiwi slang for a "bachelor", or weekend getaway home) is probably lived in only during the pleasant months of the year. The rugged west coast of the North Island can be grueling in the wintertime. The clearing sky on this afternoon looks promising. The weather forecast indicates a couple of nice days are on the way!
These beautiful orchids on the dinner table at the Hotel Omapere, provide an artsy photo-op.
A panorama of the rugged Hokianga harbor north head. The currents through the mouth of the harbor are significant and challenging. This is one of the few navigable harbors on the west coast of New Zealand, but the Coast Guard requests that you contact them before trying to enter (maybe to ready the rescue boat?). The sand dunes on the north head are a favorite daytime destination for locals and tourists. Boogie boarding down the dunes is one fun activity.
Robin gets snapped again -- this time with the north head of Hokianga behind her head. Two heads are...
This is the view of the rugged coastline along the south head and outer south head of Hokianga harbor. Not very inviting with the strong currents and waves.
McKenzie's B&B in Omapere. We enjoyed a great stay here and had a wonderful time chatting with the owners. The gardens are beautiful and the views are awesome.
This is the view from McKenzie's B&B. The rocky beach revealed some interesting finds...
This is a large sheet of bleached algae or sheet-kelp of some kind. A marine biologist could ID this. It was HUGE!
Witness. A rock is born.
Louis leans off the porch of the Labyrinth Woodworks. He has some beautiful carvings, hand-crafted puzzles, and a bunch of other cool stuff.
To the Kauri Forest
Off to the Kauri forest from Omapere. We learned of a back road with a nice waterfall hike and an interesting character running a puzzle shop out in the boonies. Sounds fun, so off to Gorge road south of Pakanae.
We arrived at the Labyrinth Woodworks & Maze, and explored all the cool puzzles and wood bowls Louis Toorenburg had for sale. We didn't solve any of his tricky puzzles without some help, hints, or an outright revealing demonstration, but we had fun trying. We are now owners of a full 56 tile version of the Tantrix (not tantric) puzzle and Robin has become the master -- solving up to around 28 tiles so far. Louis sells his stuff via the web at www.nzanity.co.nz. Tell him Whisper sent you.
A hike deep into the bush about two kilometers led us to a nice deep gorge and waterfall. Although cloudy, it was warm and the cool, shady bush-forest felt great.
A branch of one variety of tree fern. No wonder some Kiwi's want the country's flag to be changed to a silver fern.
Before hiking deep into the green-green bush, we enjoy some color.
And more color.
This impressive tree fern is silhouetted against the cloudy sky.
Looking up the cliff at the waterfall.
Looking down stream into the dense bush. The trail up here was excellent, providing boardwalks and stairs where the going would have been otherwise tough.
Waipoua Kauri Forest
Just an hour or so south of Omapere, we found the Waipoua Kauri Forest. This would be our last stop on our Northland backroad tour and involved a couple of short hikes off the road on beautiful trails.
The mighty Kauri. Just think of all the tall ships that could be rigged with spars from this baby. Kidding. In the Kauri forest south of Hokianga, we saw the largest (16 ft diameter), the oldest (4000 years), the tallest (155 ft), and the largest living grove of Kauri.
The awesome trails into the bush are environmentally friendly and wheelchair accessible.
The "Four Sisters" Kauri grove, with several large trees growing in one awesome cluster.
By the end of this whirlwind tour of the Kauri forest, we agreed we had seen enough Kauri trees for a while, so you probably won't hear mention of them again.
The giant 5-day loop of the Northland via back roads revealed a very quiet, serene, rural, undeveloped, and in some cases poor landscape. We have much more to learn about the economics of the Northland's Maori tribal lands and how the wealth gets distributed. The number of trees leaving the region on logging trucks, as well as the number of dairy cattle, beef cattle, and sheep -- would lead an uneducated observer to believe that this was rich land that paid its inhabitants well. The condition of the rural villages, homes, and vehicles near Herekino and Whangape harbors may indicate otherwise.
After the bustle of Auckland and Whangarei, this back roads escape was a welcome respite from the sampling of big city life in our previous log. Now it is time to think about sailing again. We'll head back to Opua to get the boat ready to go cruising New Zealand. With laundry, provisioning, oil changes, and boat clean-up -- it will take three days to get ready to go.
The plan is to see as much of the Bay of Islands as we can before Christmas. Then sail south to arrive near Whangarei for Christmas with friends. Great Barrier Island looks like a good place to spend New Years, and Waiheke Island just looks fun. We'd like to arrive at Waiheke the first week in January.
Once in Auckland, a little clean up of the boat and departure preparation will prepare us to hop on a plane headed to the South Island on January 15th, 2005 for a five week tour by rental car. It's almost overwhelming the amount of fun and travel Robin has squeezed into the plan! No worries, we can handle it.