The Far North

By Jen.

We finally reached the northern tip of New Zealand! This means, from here on out we have less time left on the North Island than we have been there; the downhill stretch from here.

Cape Reinga is the northernmost tip that you can drive to on public roads. So we started off our day there.

This is an ancient Kahika tree (similar to the pohutukawa trees) is hanging off the edge of a small island there. It has never been known to flower.

This point is where the Tasman sea (left) on the west meets the Pacific Ocean from the east (right).

From there, we decided to check out the “Giant Sand Dunes” we saw advertised on the way up to Cape Reinga. It had been raining a lot recently and the river was overflowing. More rain was on the way, so we decided not to walk to the dunes.

From here, we tried to head up to the Surville Cliffs, the actual northernmost point in NZ, but found out that the road that leads to it is private property and doesn’t allow visitors. With the poor weather, we didn’t want to walk or kayak, so we decided to detour to Te Hapua, a town in a nearby harbor, from which we could see the white-sand dunes of Great Exhibition Bay.

A little Christian Church on the highway on our way back southwards.

From there, we traveled back down the peninsula, heading towards Shipwreck Bay before touring down the Kauri Coast.

The North East Coast

By Jen.

We continued our journey to the Far North of the North Island. We visited another flooded town in the Bay of Islands. This one’s claim to fame is a public toilet designed by the architect, Hundertwasser.

It was pretty cool, but the tiles are pretty slick when wet.

We made our way to Paihia, but with the recent rains, the bay water looked pretty muddy.

We made a stop at St Paul’s Church, which stands at the site of NZ’s first church. This newer church is a beautiful building with some fun stained glass.

Nearby was the Haruharu Falls, which normally you can kayak under. Not today!

Nearby was Kerikeri.

This the Stone Store. It is NZ’s oldest stone building (1836).

Leaving the Bay of Islands area, we continued further north.

First off was Matauri Bay.

Piapia Bay.

Tauranga Bay.

St Paul’s Rock.

We finally reached the northernmost peninsula on NZ, the Far North. Our first stop after fueling up was Gumdiggers Park. This is kinda an outdoor museum of the industry of kauri gum. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, this swampy land was dry enough to support kauri forests. At least twice in history, a cataclysmic event knocked over these trees and buried them. Now the swampy land preserves the wood and gum that was buried. And people used to dig the gum up for trade. In more recent times, they were used for making resins.

But first, an Auckland green gecko.

They are amazingly hard to find.

A rough way to live in this enviroment!

Sometimes it was a bit like panning for gold.

A gum-washing machine.

They would dig holes along the trunks of fallen trees to find the roots, where the most gum was located.

This massive root structure belongs to a tree that is approximately 14 meters in girth. The wood has been tested to be around 100,000-150,000 years old, possibly the oldest non-fossilized wood found on earth.

That vertical wood there is a more recent (45000 years ago) tree that grew up over the remnants of the earlier one.

In 2011, they unearthed this beauty, which is from 150,000 years ago.

At least all this rain provides plenty of rainbows.

Along the Coast

A nearby park had another large Kauri, so we dropped by to stand in its shadow.





With the seemingly ceaseless rain and clouds, we did our best to get out of the van whenever possible.  A stop at a garden in an abandoned quarry was next up.










We drove towards the coast in the Bay of Islands area, and found a nearly empty coastal campground for the night.  With all the shielded areas taken, we slept with the wind rocking the van, and torrential downpours throughout the night.

The next morning we went to fill up our water tank.  After a small trickle the water stopped!  In fact all the taps and faucets were dry.  Apparently the power was out, and would remain that way for some time…

On the way inland to the main highway, we encountered some flooding.  Rapidly receding, it would likely be gone by sunset.


Only a few half submerged cars…


With the speed of the water, I figured I should walk this section to make sure no submerged obstacles waited  in the murky depths.



Thankfully it was only knee deep, although it was waist deep an hour earlier.


Our next stop was a Ruapekapeka Pa.  Pa are fortified villages built by Maori tribes in strategic locations.  With centuries of inter-tribal warfare, they were pretty good at it by the time the Europeans arrived.



This pa was the site of a battle between British colonial soldiers and the Maori resistance.  The government abused its power to take land and concessions from the Maori.  Various tribes took positions with or against the Crown depending on their previous alliances.  The poorly equipped British traveled long distances across roadless forests to this Pa in order to defeat and capture the chief who was seen as a dissident leader.  Despite eventually overwhelming the Pa defenders during their morning prayers, most escaped into the forest to fight another day.  This is pretty amazing considering they were far outnumbered and outgunned.


The secret to their success was a excellent defense with tunnels to protect from bombardment, extensive earthworks (dug by hand over 6 months).  In addition palisades several layers thick and trenches prevented frontal attack.





The recent rain turned the centuries old trenches and tunnels into ponds.