The Road North

As we continued our NZ Road Trip, we made our way north around the coastal road that winds along the East Cape of the North Island. It's an isolated, very rural and undeveloped part of NZ where most of the Maori live in small villages. The road is so tortuously winding that it will probably stay isolated for some time to come.  We saw many examples of the elaborately carved gateways that mark the entrance to a traditional marae, or, meeting house. This one isn't a gateway in the true sense, but, it stands in front of the largest pohutukawa tree in NZ, Te-Waha-O-Rerekohu, which stands in the schoolyard at Te Araroa. It is allegedly 350 years old, 20m high and 40m wide.

We'd never heard of pohutukawa trees before, but, they're a national cultural icon, known here as the Christmas tree because they bloom, spectacularly, in December. We seemed to be just a couple of weeks early to see the full display, but, there were a few examples on show of what it would look like and it must be amazing to see whole hillsides ablaze with them.

We continued north towards Opua, a yachting centre, where we planned to attend the annual potluck dinner of the OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) of which we are members. It was a very enjoyable evening high in the hills, overlooking the Bay of Islands, at the private home of the club's Port Officer.

The next morning at, Paihia, we went out on a sailing day charter aboard Carino, www.sailingdolphins.co.nz, a 50 ft. catamaran to explore the fabled Bay of Islands.

The morning mist soon burned off and we had a really nice day exploring this legendary cruising area.

A bonus was seeing a large pod of dolphins which surrounded us, including two babies.

Next, back on the road, we travelled all the way to the furthest point of the North Island, Cape Reinga, known by the Maori as the Meeting Point.

It was a spectacular place, with Cape Maria Van Diemen arcing off to the west.

Although it maybe hard to tell in the photo, the waves in front of us were clashing in a decided v-shape, one side from the Tasman Sea, the other from the Pacific.

The west coast of the northernmost cape is known as Ninety Mile Beach, which is just what it says. Cars and even buses are able to drive along the beach when the tide is right. We were forbidden by the van rental company to travel on the beach, but, no worries because we wouldn't want to have risked it anyway. Apparently, there are lots of vehicles that get caught out and stuck forever there.

The sand dunes in the area introduced us to the sport of sandboarding. It looked like a lot of work to clamber up to the top, but, the speeds coming down were incredible! No, we didn't try it.

On our way back south, we headed east again, over towards the Coromandel Peninsula, a particularly scenic coastal area. We enjoyed views like these over the Hauraki Gulf, a popular sailing area near Auckland.

Also in the Coromandel area, we visited the Hot Sand Beach where, two hours either side of low tide, hot springs under the sand are exposed and you can dig your own hot tub in the sand. It was mobbed with people so we didn't stay long. We did get to experience almost burning our toes just wiggling them into the sand.

Popular Cathedral Cove and beach was another pretty destination nearby with too many tourists and it's not even high season yet.

The Waitomo glowworm cave was also a highlight. It's one of those places that you think will probably be a tourist trap, a $50 per person entry fee, punters arriving by the busload, large groups being herded about, the exit through the flash gift shop etc. The tourist brochure promotional photo looked too spectacular to be real, but, you know what, it was spectacular! After a walking tour through the limestone, cathedral-like entry cave, we entered boats and floated off into the darkness. The guides did a good job of making people stay quiet and the boats glided through the calm, black water silently. Overhead, thousands of hanging worms lit up the cave's roof with bright, tiny, pinpoints of light looking like stars in the night sky. It was magical.