The Northlands

We packed up our kit and headed to the hire car which was a 20 minute walk. 2 minutes out I realised we had left our water bottles in the freezer. Nightmare. So Alex picked up the car and I hurried back to the flat and the back to the car hire. We only paid a few dollars a day for the wagon and it certainly showed! Everything was in Japanese and there was no way to change it. So we decided to call her Kitty after Hello Kitty. Kitty has no oomph and pulls to the left but she was going to be ours for nearly 6 weeks so we needed to get along. Our first stop was to get duvet, pillows and a blow up bed. We couldn’t handle just roll mats for 6 weeks so we decided glamping was more our style.

After picking that and the food supplies up we were headed up towards the Bay of Islands. We had a little stop at the beach after I got us lost – again! I can’t be trusted with google maps. We then arrived at Tutukaka and checked in for our diving the following day. The diving was the most expensive I have done in my 90 dives so I was expecting great things! We then decided to try our luck at freedom camping which are little areas for a few tents to pitch – for free! We found a great spot right next to the beach which was amazing. Security guards also pop round which is reassuring. After a meal of cold pre-made risotto we turned in for the night. In the middle of the night the blow up bed was very low on air. The instructions said it would take a few tries before it settled down so we trusted that and hoped there was no hole, re-inflated the mattress and hoped for the best!

The next morning, after waking to an almost fully inflated mattress, we made our way to the dive boat which was very swish. The diving was going to take place at the Poor Knights Islands. On the boat on the way out there I thought I saw a turtle but it turned out to be a sunfish or Mola Mola. We had never seen one of these before so that was a great start. The 2 dives were great and the area felt like something out of Finding Nemo. We swam into a small cave and the amount of fish was crazy. In between and after the dives we did a little tour of the islands, and it was soon time to head back to shore. After deciding we deserved an ice cream we were then on our way to some friends in Kerikeri, which was about 90 minutes away. We were warmly greeted by Kim, one of our hosts, holding a bottle of wine saying he was “getting reinforcements” as they had other friends staying too. We were off to a good start! That evening we had the most delicious steak cooked on the bbq, looking out on the view from the house over a lake and then out to the sea. It was incredible. After dinner we heard a lot of noise in a tree and it turned out to be a possum. I thought they were about the size of a squirrel but they’re more like the size of a big cat. We also had 2 tiny owls above us in the tree so it was a real safari in the garden!

The following day we all boarded Kim and Sally’s yacht, Saskia. They had sailed her over from the UK and had lived on her for years during a previous big trip. It was the perfect sailing day with blue skies and a gentle breeze. We anchored at Roberton Bay and did the short walk up to a view point. We could see for miles and it was turquoise sea, islands and boats. Magical. After a bit of snorkelling it was time for a delicious lunch on board and then we spotted dolphins! You are not allowed to follow dolphins there but if they cross your path when you happen to be sailing then there is not much you can do. It just so happened that the dolphins very much did cross our path as they went under our boat! Amazing! We also encountered tiny penguins bobbing along which I was not expecting so it turned out to be another safari day for us. We sailed around some of the islands on our way home and it was such a great day. We all managed to avoid sunburn but got back to the hours exhausted. Another delicious bbq with lamp and feta cheese, washed down with lots of wine, was an amazing way to end what had been a great day.

The next morning we headed right to the top of the North Island to Cape Reinga, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, which is fun to see. We made the error of eating lunch before walking down to the lighthouse so we were surrounded by tour buses that had just pulled in. Still. They left quickly and quiet was restored. We headed back to Kerikeri to stay with friends of Alex’s parents. It was funny how both friends lived in the same town. We had dinner on the balcony overlooking an estuary which was very nice indeed. We also did some satellite spotting as about 60 came over in a line! SpaceX apparently. It meant nothing to me but Alex got very excited by it all.

The next morning, after a run, kayak and quick swim, we got the ferry from Paihia over to Russell and had a bite to eat at a place right on the waterfront. Quite a few boats were moored up and a Tall Ship also came in which was fun. We felt like we had gone back in time. We made our way back to the house and had another great meal on the balcony. The satellites did their fly past again. I was falling asleep on the sofa so missed them this time around. It was definitely bedtime for me!

The following morning we set off to Russell again as we were going to do one of the coastal walks. The sea was turquoise and we kept thinking we must be in the Caribbean as we just didn’t expect to see the sea like that here. At one point the track took us onto the beach and we realised that at low tide you walk on the beach. We hit the track at high tide and so had to take our trainers off and wade waist deep to the other side of the track. This added a bit of adventure to proceedings! We finished the walk around 5.30pm and headed back to the house where spag bol awaited us. It was delicious! We did some meal prep for the following few days as we didn’t know if the places would have kitchens or not. We had such a great few days in Kerikeri staying with wonderful hosts and the prospect of going back into the tent was not hugely appealing. But it was time for us to head further south and look for Hobbits…