Bay of Islands - Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Haruru Mangrove Walk

Another full on day today. Have to say I’m loving the Bay of Islands. Having been here before on his school camping trip, my eldest was desperate to take us around and show us the sights. So our day started with a trip to Haruru Falls, followed by a bush walk which led us to boardwalk cutting through mangroves, loved it! 

Shags

Silvereye

Mangrove Walk

Just before the one lane bridge on the way to Waitangi there is a large stationary restaurant boat where we stopped for our fish and chip lunch and ice cold beer.

Next stop was Waitangi Treaty Grounds, a brilliant historic place where the Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the British Crown, a fundamental agreement for the future peace for New Zealand.

Ngatokimatawhaorua, the world's larges ceremonial war canoe or 'waka'

Carved Meeting House - Te Whare Runanga

Bay of Islands - Cape Reinga, 90 Mile Beach & Sand Tobogganing

OK, I caught the sun today. This autumn weather is very deceptive and it was another scorcher of a day. The sun is so strong here and my skin on my face feels really tight, what I would imagine it would be like to have a session of Botox, although quite the opposite effect where the wrinkles are concerned!

Here I sit back at our apartment stretched over the sofa, glass of vino in one hand, slightly burnt tongue from downing a quick sample test of our spag bog on the go and totally knackered. 

Full on day today. A promising weather forecast so we woke up early, 6 am start watching the sun rise over a bowl of Weetabix and then we headed off to embark on our pilgrimage along the 90 Mile Beach to the top of Cape Reinga, the second most northern point in New Zealand.

I refer to our trip to Cape Reinga as a pilgrimage as the Maori believe that when their loved ones pass on, their spirit travels north up through New Zealand towards the cape where their spirit then floats across the ocean back to their Polynesian home. Eerily as we made our early morning drive to the coach long stretches of low lying mist draped across the landscape, quite surreal.

Our coach driver was quite a character who kept us entertained with his little jokes along the way. Honestly the first part of the drive was OK, nothing to really harp on about, lots of little photo and toilet pit stops.

But once we arrived at Cape Reinaga, well that was something else – picture postcard! 

A short 10 minute walk leads you down to a light house overlooking the meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean, and you could actually see a line where the two seas come crashing together.

Lunch was the next stop followed by the long awaited sand dune surfing. All I can say is if you want a full on work out... climbing up a sand dune is the way to go -  it’s blinking hard work scrambling up to the top ridge of sand, and a teeny bit scary looking back down at the drop to slide down. But oh so much fun!

Note to self  go down with mouth firmly shut, all the boys got mouthfuls of sand when they crashed and burned at the end.

One point to note however, I’ve been blowing sand out my nose ever since… the golden stuff get’s everywhere, and I mean everywhere!

Adrenalin rush over, we then started our journey back to the base whizzing 100km/ hour along the waters edge along 90 Mile Beach. Simply beautiful and we even caught a fleeting glimpse of wild horses along the edge of the dune. Probably should note however that 90 Mile Beach is only 55 miles long (someone got their measurements wrong) – although still pretty darn spectacular.

Now is has to be noted... here is a little snippet of our delightful coach trip trying to capture the scenery, unfortunately we were trapped with someone who thought it acceptable to hack and snort their way through the trip, delightful. So if you don't want to gag I suggest turning your volume to mute for this one! 

Bay of Islands - Hundertwasser Public Toilets in Kawakawa

24 hour sicky bug done and dusted, we spent the morning scrambling a suitcase together and started our long four hour drive north to the Bay of Islands. Being the well organized family that we are it was midday by the time we left our flat, accommodation googled and booked enroute and keys collected, oh the joys of smart phones - what would we do without them!

Despite the drive being riddled with roadworks adding to the journey, time it was really straight forward and a beautiful drive. A few months ago agapanthus lined the road, but now autumn has set it has transformed into pampas grass season, the stuff is everywhere!

Close to Piahia we stopped off in a little town to visit the 'world famous' Hundertwasser public toilets. First impressions when our sat nav directed us to a tiny portacabin toilet standing on its lonesome at the back of a car park was a “you’ve got to be kidding” moment – but on further investigation we soon found the real toilets along the main high street. Lots of curves, coloured tiles and walls embedded with glass bottles – very Gaudi-esk and I have to say it was refreshing and an uplifting take on the normal bland drab atmosphere you find in the standard public toilet.

Unfortunately some bright spark of a town planner decided to put in a pelican crossing right in front of the toilets so the façade was spoilt by and ugly pole with orange ball on top, but hey ho still got a snap.

Hundertwasser Public Toilets

We didn’t have long before sunset by the time we reached our apartment, so we did a quick bag unload and then headed off along the coast to catch the sunset.

More adventures tomorrow – we’ve booked a coach trip along the Ninety Mile Beach heading to the very north of New Zealand – can’t wait.