Hello possums, it’s been a while since we last updated you all with our goings-ons. We’ve been busy little urchins, travelling and holidaying and eating and partying and occasionally renovating.
We came back to the mainland ahead of Christmas and decided to fill the time waiting for Santa’s arrival by touring the coastline north of Whangarei Heads in our motorhome. I’ve never visited this part of the country before, so was quite looking forward to it. It was certainly the best time of year to do this – great weather and empty beaches. Everyone else, it seems, was still caught up in the frenetic week that precedes Christmas, so all the popular Christmas holiday places were deserted. It was time for us to check things out ahead of the arrival of the masses.

Taiharuru Bay
First we went to Taiharuru. Peter’s parents built a house on the beachfront there about forty years ago, and it was still there. He spent his early years travelling to Taiharuru with the family most weekends, and this visit was a trip down memory lane for him. The house was much larger now, and surrounded by a lot more large and expensive looking baches, some bordering on being beachfront mansions. It is certainly a reflection on how coastal property has developed over the past few decades. The beachfront bach is now more expensive than the family home. And with that, a slice of kiwiana slides into the history books – the traditional kiwi bach made of recycled materials and being a store shed of nothing that matches and everything kitch, now being replaced by vast creations of silver and glass. The trusty red tractor on the front lawn has been replaced by the merc or beemer when the owners occasionally visit, that’s when they’re not trying to work themselves out of the recession given that their net worth has just taken a hammering. It’s a great time to be buying coastal property if anyone has cash at the moment. A year ago, the timing was even better of course.

Home is out there somewhere
We spent the night camped on a little beach next to Taiharuru. From here we could see home in the distance – a faint glimpse of the island out past the Hen and Chicken Islands and the Mokohinau’s. We pulled out the trusty mini gas BBQ and cooked up some yummy steaks, chargrilled capsicum and onion, garlic bread and other delights, and slowly watched the sun set and Great Barrier fade from our view, replaced only by the flicker of the various navigation lights that were dotted like twinkling stars around the islands ahead of us. I felt strangely homesick – a sign of how much I am enjoying our island life I guess.

Barbie's BBQ
The next day we went to Pataua South. The map showed that this linked to Pataua North, but failed to indicate that this link was only a footbridge. This meant that I lost the argument with Peter who had insisted from his memory as a 10-year-old that no road bridge linked the north and the south. Time for a better map I think! So we walked across the bridge to Pataua North, as the trip by road was a 100km round trip. As it turns out, we drove there the very next day anyway after we took a wrong turn heading for Ngunguru!

Pataua footbridge - I think I could squeeze the Motorhome across this
We also popped down to the Whangarei Heads and walked part of the track to Bream Head. I actually only wanted to walk up to the WW2 gun emplacements perched on the hill. It was a pleasant track that crossed DOC farmland, with the track staunchly guarded by a herd of very tame bulls. Twice we had to leave the track and go ‘cross-country’ when the bulls stood their ground across the track. Perhaps they were wanting us to pay a toll? No bull!

Thou shall not pass!

Gun emplacements at Whangarei Heads
The gun emplacements on the Whangarei Heads are surprisingly well preserved. The concrete control bunker still has the original painted mural above the viewing window that shows the landscape and bearings for aiming the guns. And it didn’t stink of urine, and still had a working door and intact glass windows. The bulls clearly did a good job of guarding the site from vandals.

Cave paintings from WW2
After touring the heads, we headed off for Tutukaka, only to be distracted by the aforementioned wrong turn and long, windy drive along gravel roads to Pataua North. At the beach we had only just visited on foot a day earlier, we were almost adopted by a black Labrador that took a fancy to our motorhome and wanted to leap into the cab with me.
Next it was off to Tutukaka. Another wrong turn had us back in Whangarei and sightseeing at the Whangarei Falls. Then it was back on track for the merry jaunt up the coast past Tutukaka, Matapouri and Up to Whananaki.

Tutukaka Harbour
Tutukaka is a lovely spot. A flash marina now lies at the end of harbour, serviced by several delightful restaurants and cafes. Driving up and down the steep hills of the harbour reveals quaint little bays and cliffs peppered by more expensive beach houses and cliff-top mansions. We drove into an exclusive subdivision and camped the night on a vacant cliff-top section – our classic way of freedom camping in style. We’d like to thank all you Property Developers out there for providing us with a stunning array of so many quality free campsites for our travels around the country. Yes, of course we’re potential buyers. And yes, we’re just trying before we buy.
Next day we went to Matapouri. What a gem of a place this is. A spectacular horseshoe shaped bay that looks out towards the Poor Knights Islands. I could live there, if there weren’t any neighbours. But majestic beachfront property generally means neighbours, so nothing beats the Barrier as yet.

Beautiful Matapouri
Then it was a long trip to Whananaki South. Again, like Pataua, a footbridge joins the north with the south. This footbridge however, is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, so it was a nice little stroll across the water to see how the other side lived. We made sure to read the map correctly this time so that we wouldn’t end up returning to the north accidentally by road.

Longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere
And you meet the strangest things when you travel along the back roads.

One lane bridge - Give way to Cows
After Whananaki, we headed inland and came to Hikurangi. I’ve never visited the place before – just driven past it lots as you head north on SH1 from Whangarei. Sadly Hikurangi is a shadow of it’s former self. Many of the shops have closed and boarded up, with a handful of second-hand goods shops remaining to fill the void. Fortunately we love trolling through second-hand shops, so Hikurangi was almost heaven-like to us travelling hoarders. But in Hikurangi we’d met out match – a second-hand shop owner that was the worst hoarder we’d ever met. He had three of everything, sprawled out across a vast collection of rooms, and he wouldn’t part with anything. If he sensed something was about to sell, he’d put the price up. And nothing was marked with prices, clearly so that he could invent a price just above what you would be prepared to pay when you enquired. He obviously didn’t want to make money, instead choosing to sit among his things and have passing travelers admire them. One of the locals came in to buy something. She seemed to have left her hearing aids at home that day, and had a loud lengthy discussion with the owner about wanting to buy a mahogany box he had on display so that she could use it house her CD collection in her car. But she only had $5 in her purse. Clearly there was going to be no sale. He offered her a plastic tub that he had at home for $5, but no, she wanted the mahogany box. He couldn’t part with such a fine article for $5, he said (he actually couldn’t part with anything!). A passer-by asked if they were married, and she said she hated men. We left before the mahogany box ended up being used as a weapon, as it seemed that the discussion was getting louder and louder (and funnier). Hikurangi is obviously a fun place to go if you need some entertainment while shopping.
Next stop was the Whangarei Town Basin where they have a quaint little chocolate and icecream shop that sells Lemon Cheesecake Icecream. What a delicious concoction! It even had crushed biscuit base through it. Yummy.
We exited Whangarei pretty promptly as Christmas was now very close, and the traffic was horrendous any time you came within a few kilometres of a shopping mall. It is amazing to watch how people go mad ahead of Christmas. I’m so glad I accidentally left my wallet on the island as it was the perfect excuse to buy the family nothing this year and thus avoid the Christmas crush. Just call me Scrooge…
Our tour continued, this time south of Whangarei. We stopped off at Marsden Point, looked at the new marina, had a hamburger in Ruakaka, and considered spending the night at Uretiti Beach. Unfortunately Christmas was now very close, and the campsite was packed, so given our aversion to people and camp fees, we drove on.

Bream Bay
We turned off at Waihi and drove down the coast through Waipu Cove, Langs Beach, and down to the Mangawhai Heads. Again, we’ve never been down this way before. Absolutely amazing views across Bream Bay from the plenty of high class sections for sale (i.e. free campsites).
Our tour concluded when we emerged back onto SH1 south of Wellsford. The weary travelers then headed back to Waiwera, confident that the beaches north of Auckland had plenty to offer the impending holidaymakers who would arrive exhausted from their Christmas shopping sprees. We just hope all those lovely sections don’t sell – otherwise we’ll have no free campsites to stay on next time we visit!