Hokianga Harbour, the biggest of the big and heading south - 25th Nov

After spending a few days in the Bay of Islands it was now time to head south. Instead of retracing our steps towards Auckland we decided to head out west and then down the coast. Since our last visit to NZ there seems to have been a big push on promoting visits to the west side of the Northland and so it made sense.

I got up early and went for a run along Paihia's two beachfronts, we then ate breakfast and departed the motel.

Scouse Humour

We left Paihia and headed towards Hokianga harbour, billed in the guidebook as the antidote to the touristy East. Whilst in and around the harbour we stopped a couple of times, went on a couple of walks and had lunch. We did however feel that the region, as beautiful as it is, still is not making the most of itself and in terms of things to do is still a little sparse.

From Hokianga we began our journey south, we were stopping in a place called Waipu (ironically back on the East coast) about an hour and a quarter north of Auckland. The route south took in the Waipoua Kauri Forest and a town called Dargaville.

The forest is home to the largest Kauri tree still standing, and so we made a beeline for it. Tane Mahuta - “God of the Forest” - is around 1200 years old, 6 metres wide and 18 metres tall. The pictures do not do it justice, it was huge.



Where's Andy?



A further kilometre on and we stopped for a 1 1/2 hour walk to see among others Matua Ngahere, ranked the second largest Kauri still standing but equally impressive and slightly wider at its base.

As an aside, Kauri trees were favourites of the European settlers for providing building materials as the wood was strong and durable (with no knots) and so unfortunately the forest was not full of Kauri but also of other types of trees.

Dargaville, described as sleepy in the guide book, was just that. The only mild excitement being Emma not wanting to close the space age public toilet doors for fear of it locking her in and me having to keep guard as she went about her business.

From Dargaville it was 80km or so to Waipu and so we put our heads down and just drove to get there.

Waipu, home of the best small museum in NZ, was itself sleepy but a little more charming.

We found our B&B, dumped our bags and headed out for dinner. We went to what seemed like the only open restaurant/ bar and in Scottish themed surroundings had a Pizza.