Suggestions for NZ Northland toorist?

[J P]

What are some must-see/must-do things in the NZ Northland area? We’ll have about a week. I’d like to do some sea kayaking on the North coast somewhere, maybe three days on the water, two nights camping, non-guided - “freedom rental” (love that term :D) What’s the deal with camping, are there areas with public coastal land that you can land on and camp, or designated DOC camps, or private? Just doing some separate day trips is an option too. We enjoy sailing, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, playing in surf, seafood. We don’t get too tight with our plans but it’s nice to know some available options. Will do the Kauri museum for sure.

[John B]

back again eh:D
what time of year are you coming JP?
1.Bay of islands obviously although it may be a bit touristy for you. The thing is , outside weekends and the really busy time at christmas its still really good value. I've seen guys kayaking out to cape Brett and Piercy island on good days.theres a camp ground on urapukapuka island and I'm sure there's more

2. a dive or boat trip to the Poor Knights out of Tutukaka. Its a reserve so diving is a really exciting experience there ( apparently)
3. Mongonui for some fish and chips.Lots of potential to launch and look around the beaches of doubtless bay.
4 inland a visit to tane mahuta( giant Kauri tree) and the kauri museum as you say.
5 maybe a road trip right north to cape Reinga.

Pahia is a tourist centre in the Bay :rolleyes:but it has a lot of information available on camp grounds etc.
No camping on the cavalli islands but you could day trip out there I'm sure.

[J P]

John B: Yes, back again. And soon. ;) Too short of a trip, and I'm not sure exactly when we'll go up to Northland, but most likely it will be the last week of February. Couple years ago we went out to Gr. Barrier and had a really good time. Thought about going back there again this time but decided to visit some areas that we haven't been to yet. Read recently about the locals out there being none too happy about the ariel spraying :eek:. Thanks for the good info.

[dreyer]

Matai Bay at the end of the KariKari Peninsula is possibly my favourite beach in the far north.
Its a department of conservation campsite & very basic facilities (cold running water & public toilets). Both the beaches are absolutely stunning.

Load up a picnic from Kaitaia or another nearby town and head out for the day if camping is a bit rough.

Ahipara if anyone in your party surfs.

A drive down 90 mile beach is a good one too.

John B's suggestions are all excellent.

[dreyer]

oops, didnt read your post properly.

Camping is a goer by the sounds!

Matai bay is a must in that case I think. Snorkelling is great there too.

Russell in the Bay of islands is well worth a trip but the other side (Paihia) is a bit touristy & commercial. Russell is a quaint little whaling town & was the capitial back in the colonial days. Good restaurants & seafood. A good bet for kayaking too.

[John B]

yeah Paihia is get in , get the data and get out.:D
I'd be tempted to do one of the tourist boat trips out to Piercy perhaps. There's 2 fast units and some large cats etc.

I nearly said matai bay, its beautiful there. Thats the northern end that forms Doubtless bay with monganui at the 'southern' end'.

[J P]

Thanks, this is just the kind of info I was hoping to get here.

[John B]

I was just thinking JP, that Whangaroa harbour might be a good stop. Not much to see from the road but we were talking to a guy who appeared out of the bush up the Northern arm by the Dukes nose. He'd walked in with his 9 yr old daughter and I gather it was only a couple of hours .There's some DOC walks from Totara North.
We'd just been for an uphill tramp to the nose where you get the most astonishing views . Quite exciting for us boaties, the last bit is a steep climb up a chain to get to the plateau.
photos on this christmas cruise thread..
http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=73635
nice place for cup of tea .

[J P]

Whangaroa - check.
The list grows ...

That christmas cruise thread was most enjoyable, especially in the middle of winter in the snowy north. Great pics. Good one to revisit.

Cape Bret - check (note to self, he said "... cape Brett and Piercy island on good days.")

[Thorne]

We also liked Whangaroa, as well as Russel and Waitangi. Oakura and Whanguru Harbour are also very nice.

Here's a QT movie of our slides in this area in 2002 -
http://www.luckhardt.com/nz_mov1.html

[John B]

Whangaruru is a good destination for us when we're going up the coast.. A big shallow harbour with low lying land all around it and a couple of more sheltered spots . Very safe in all wind directions. Just south is Mimiwhangata and the Rimariki ( wide berth )islands, and both of those are favourite anchorages/ day trips for us with a bolt hole to whangaruru only 5 miles away. That whole bay and harbour can keep us busy for 3 or 4 days to a week when we're trying to stay away from the crowds at christmas.
The sea side of 'ruru is Bland bay and a very close friend of mine has family land there.
When we were about 15 we tramped through the bush out to the point and on a hill we came across a large stone which I recall as 20 ft or so long x say 8ft x about 4 ft.. something like that.
Resting under the shelter of the stone and laid out in a line were 7 human skulls.
That was a tapu burial site which we very quickly backed off from.
The beaches all around that area particularly were the sites of some fierce battles and it was common to find large human bones on the beach up until the 1950's or so and small remanents right through to the 70's maybe 80's. I've told the story here before of the photo with three young men on the beach at Bland bay in 1939.
one , my friend who survived the war, one other on the right ( who also survived)and in the middle a man Sutherland, holding a human skull they'd picked up off the sand. Sutherland was killed late in the war when his mosquito aircraft delaminated due to glue failure . He was returning to malaysia(or Burma?) from R and R in Darwin .

Big battles.

[Stiletto]

http://www.nztourmaps.com/images/Full-list-of-North-Island-Campsites2.gif
Rarawa is nice, Spirits bay is powerful, It has major significance for the Maori people as the leaving point for the spirit on its journey home.

[J P]

Thorne, I don't have QT on this machine but will check your link on another.

Fascinating stories John.

Grant, thanks for the map and info. Nice to see the scale and scope of park land.

We'll tread lightly there.

[J P]

Follow up.
Back home now. Had a great trip.

Someone will recognize this bit of island.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/01-island.jpg

[The Bigfella]

That'd be Rangitoto

[J P]

Aye, good eye Mr Big.

[John Bertenshaw]

at about 10 tomorrow, we'll be sailing past that lump of volcanic rock.

C'mon JP.. the rest of the story... we're waiting.:D

[J P]

You really want to suffer thru it? :D Got a few pics up on photobucket ...

[J P]

Allrighty then ...

We had two days sailing near the end of our trip, 27 & 28th. On the way up to explore Northland we stopped in to see an old family friend, and her boat, on Whangaparaoa (not easy keeping all those “whang’s” straight; soooo many syllables in the language). Friend was living aboard and getting ready to head back to the States to join hubby who had left a month or so ago. She wanted to delay her trip and suggested we call in a few days to see if she had, and maybe we could get together for a sail before we all left.

That Nor’easter was just coming in so we headed up the west side. Man, it can really rain and blow in NZ. I’ve seen 12in rain in 24 hours in Fiordland, and this last storm was impressive as well. We had Trounson Kauri park to ourselves. Cool to walk through there in a rainstorm. Primeval. We had to dodge downed trees to get through the road in the Waipoua forest.

Got out to stretch our legs near the mouth of Hokianga harbour and it was blowing a gale. Had to really lean into the wind to stay standing and I thought SWIMPAL was going to fly away. That would have made a good video.:D Impressive spindrift out there and I was glad to be on land and not on a boat. Hard to capture in a still shot. That was probably about 6ft surf.


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Opononigale.jpg

Had a belt separation developing in one of the tires so we headed to and hung around Russell, Paihia, and Kerikeri for a couple days until I could get it replaced the next Monday. Still storming. The bridge by the Stone Store in Kerikeri was starting to look sketchy. Rainbow falls was going off.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Rainbowfalls.jpg


We needed to get away from the tourists like ourselves so we explored around Whangaruru, Oakura, Bland Bay. Did some sponge surfing. Got the tire fixed next day and headed north to Doubtless Bay and Karikari penninsula. Camped at Matai Bay. Beautiful spot. (Thanks for that tip dreyer.) Good snorkeling, surf, walking, very pleasant.

[John Bertenshaw]

It sounds like you caught the downswing weather wise. I always say that when we get extended periods of settled weather like we've had, we have to pay for it with extended periods of bad. It's managed to blow like stink every weekend for the last 4 IIRC.

[J P]

JB, yeah, that's what I've heard too, but you know, I don't mind stinky weekends so much - when I'm in tourerist mode - less traffic and such. I kind of enjoy some 'weather' when I have the luxury of working around it a little. Some of our beach time looked like this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Pakiribeach.jpg

and some like this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Taurangabay.jpg
"Periods of fine"

[Robbie 2]

[quote=John B;1763906]I was just thinking JP, that Whangaroa harbour might be a good stop.
I agree with this suggestion Whangaroa is one of my favourite Harbours..safe calm with many arms and bays to explore.
It has a camping ground that is close to thelunching area.
Regards
Robbie:)

[Willin']

Ahhhhh! Pahkiri, great surfing there and a lovely spot. It can be a tad crowded when the weather's fine. Thanks for sharing.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Pakiribeach.jpg

[J P]

Pakiri beach is nice. Not many people about the day we were there - an exfoliating sandblast kind of a day.

We made plans to go sailing with my friend back on Whangaparaoa and had to pass on going up Cape Reinga. Had fish and chips in Mangonui then headed for a day sea kayaking along the coast between the mouth of Whangaroa Harbour and east about half way to Cavalli Is.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Northcoastpan1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Northcoastrocks.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Kayakrocks.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Kayakcove.jpg

Fun coast to paddle. Cool places to duck into for a cuppa.

[J P]

Then back to Whangaparaoa where we met my friend and the three of us got the boat ready and headed out. We thought we were just going out for a three hour cruise … but we were all so glad to be out on the water, and the weather was good, plenty of eats and drink on board, we ended up staying out overnight and sailing again the next day.

Boat is 60’ LOA steel pilothouse ketch, 31 ton, Pelin design, NZ built in the 80’s. First time for me sailing a ketch. I like it.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Stellabowsailing.jpg

We sailed between Rakino Is. and The Noises to Waiheke, then to Islington Bay on Rangitoto where we anchored for the night.

A little glitch getting the anchor out, which was my job. The boat hadn’t been out for some time and apparently the clutch for the capstan was seized and wouldn’t let the chain out, AND the deck switch for retracting was seized as well. This was a lot more tackle and gear than I’m used to on my little 22 footer. Mine fits in a bucket, this stuff looked like it could hurt you if things got out of hand. Working carefully I got enough chain out of the locker and eventually enough weight on the clutch to loosen it up. We set the anchor and I got to work on the seized switch. I wasn’t looking forward to pulling up all that chain by hand the next morning and I had read something about the particularily muddy bottom of this bay. Luckily, fixing the switch was just a matter of getting the cover off, squirting some lube, and carefully applying a little leverage to free it up. Impressed the ladies anyway, and earned me a stout beverage and command of the barbie for the night.

The next morning, not having any shoes or tough enough feet, we decided not to go ashore for a walk and we left the bay and sailed back toward Whangaparaoa through the channel between Rangitoto and Auckland. I took the helm while the owner went below to work on some craft stuff she likes to do. This is a pretty active piece of water with fast ferries, big ships, and little boats everywhere. I was running right-of-way stuff through my head weaving through all that. “We’re not in Montana anymore!” Big fun though.

Coming out of the channel the wind picked up a little, maybe up to 15, and there were fewer boats around. SWIMPAL and I trimmed the sails and after a while I realized the boat would sail itself nicely balanced, and right on course beating back to the home harbor. The owner took the helm while we dowsed the sails. She did a good job getting us back into the slip and tying up went pretty smoothly. We were a little nervous about that. Not a particularly nimble vessel. I guess backing the thing is a real bear. I'm sure Mr. Boat Owner back home on the other side of the world was glad to hear his boat (and the neighbors') were safe. ;)

Both days out we saw this boat. The Spirit of New Zealand.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/SpiritNZ-2.jpg

Later I read that the second day we saw her she was on her way to scatter Sir Edmund Hillary’s ashes.

[J P]

The rest of the too short trip we spent on the Coromandel.

This is an extraordinary beach there that has no visible houses or roads nearby and takes 20-30 minutes to walk to from car parking. (The pan picture is distorted a little)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/Beachpan1.jpg

The Pahutakawa trees are amazing.

[Zane Lewis]

Best enlighten us as to the name and location of this beach. I've spent a fair bit of time around there over the last 28 years and can't recognise that one. Too sandy to be west side, not hilly enough to be north of Whitianga without a house in it so I think possibly between Whitianga and Tiura (sp)
Zane

[Willin']

I'm going to guess it's Opoutere, just north a bit from Whangamata iirc. Another nice little surfing beach. I fell in love with the motorcamp hostess there. Wife was not impressed.

[J P]

Yer both a little south.

trolling ... tossing out fresh bait ... :D


Willin, those Kiwi women just want our bodies. Survey says.

[John Bertenshaw]

Islington bay eh:D
Drunks bay, is the other name for it, as it was a favourite first night anchorage for the coasters to dry out their crew. The mud in that place sticks ,and goes everywhere as if it was black paint.

Willin, how much time have you spent here?

[Willin']

Not to steal the thread, JB, but we spent 6 months in 1999-2000. Bought a van and gypsied around for 3 months (saw in the New Millenium in Akaroa, near ChCh), then settled down in Auckland for 3 months. Wifey and brother got to go to TNZ's victory party!!! I had to work down at the Mangere Treatment plant that night.

Too many wonderful memories. A trip like that can really alter your worldview.

Carry on JP, I can't get enough of this. Great pix.

[John Bertenshaw]

Well, it all adds to the background of JPs trip eh Willin... I'm sure he won't mind a little side trip.:D.
Mangere has changed( all the ponds are gone)and that whole harbour is much cleaner as a rule now. Still shallow though.


Frank Pelin is a designer builder prolific through the '70's but he's mostly known now for his power boat designs. When you say you're sailing on a Pelin yacht ( sailboat)its usually met with some mild surprise. I've sailed many miles on one myself, a 32ftr owned by one good pal and who has sold it just last year after 20 years to another good mate.

No idea where that beach is. It looks good. If it faces west it'd make a really good foursies beach.:D
If its on the Coro though... Its facing east .( or NE) Thats my bet anyway.

[J P]

Hey, it’s the side trips and background that make a journey interesting.

I’ll have to razz my friend about taking us to DrunksBay. :D She thought we’d enjoy a walk on Rangi before we realized we didn’t have shoes. Yeah, the anchor came up coated in the infamous mud. Being anchor boy, I asked if I should do something about it and she said “no, D’ONT touch it”. Beautiful clear night there. Slept on deck looking up at all the strange constellations, and Orion, about the only familiar one, moving across the northern sky. Altered world view indeed.

JB, that might explain why I didn’t find much googling Pelin’s sailboats. I thought the layout of this boat was really comfortable.

Didn’t mean to be cryptic about the beach … well, yes I did. ;) Some of the locals I’ve met on the Coro didn’t know about it either. It’s called “New Chums”, just north of Whangapoua. Sweet-as place. Hope it never gets developed. Saw a guy kayak out of Whangapoua across the bay over to the north head. He had a dive flag so I’m guessing he was going for paua or crayfish. It can get some pretty good surf too if you ever get back there Willin’.

[John Bertenshaw]

Ohhhhhh. My sister has a place a whangapoua and they talk about it. LOL.

[John Bertenshaw]

Ohhhhhh. My sister has a place a whangapoua and they talk about it. LOL.

Did you watch the southern cross do its flip;)

[J P]

JB, does your sister need a house-sitter ... or a slave? :D

Funny you ask about the Southern Cross. I woke up a number of times in Drunks Bay and would look up and see the Southern Cross in a different orientation. I'd forgot that it rotated and I kept thinking we'd swung on the anchor so I'd pop my head up for a look about. I still haven't convinced SWIMPAL that the moon waxes opposite directions in the different hemispheres. DOC - COD. Anyone know of any good animations on the web?

[John Bertenshaw]

When I'm really settled into a coastal cruise, which means I wake up a couple times a night to check stuff out, I get good at picking the time by where the southern cross is and how far round its wound itself .:D
They have a share in a nice place ( which they'll sell now),but they've bought land on the hill so they can look out across the beach or back across the estuary as well. My B.I.L has a good late model tin fizzboat and they do the bar in that for fishing and day trips out to the Mercurys.

[J P]

Nice little community of modest 'looking' batches there. All worth a small (or not so small) fortune now I imagine. One of the things I really liked there was the little harbour in the estuary. I thought "yes, this would do ... win lottery, buy boat ..."

[Willin']

Christmas eve 1999, Cheryl & I are drinking beer and playing cribbage in the bar at the hotel in Milford Sound when another Yank couple asks if they can join us. The guy is wearing a Harken hat and introduces himself as Peter Harken. They're traveling during the break between LVC rounds and yes, he is the Harken of the famed sailing hardware company.

After many shared road stories the subject of 'what's strangest for us in this country?' comes up. I mention that back home I'm pretty good with knowing which direction is which, but down here I have to look around and put some serious effort into figuring out where's North et al. They both broke out laughing and admitted that they were lost too.

I think it had to do with the fact that the warm lattitudes were to the North, the cold lats opposite and the sun rose and set on the opposite side of where it does relative to those lattitudes compared to home. That and those frickin' wierd constellations down there. Anyhow that's my excuse.

At least we were no more lost than the big kids were.

Next morning was eggs benedict and champagne for Christmas breakfast on the shores of Milford Sound outside our little camper! Wifey had somehow smuggled along the 2000 WB calender for my Christmas gift and gave it to me then.OMG I love that woman!

[J P]

OMG I love that woman!

Was this before or after the motorcamp hostess affair? :D

Feb. 2000 was our first trip there. Better exchange rate for us back then, eh.

Got just a few more pics and they are boat related, and actually have some bits of wood. I'll start a new thread in MBR so others that might be interested won't have to suffer through my beach pics and vacation drivel.

Here's one:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/picsonline/A-Onesterncarving.jpg

[Chip-skiff]

That's the stern carving of the big waka unua that's tied up at Gulf Harbour. It's a modern design based on traditional Polynesian voyaging canoes, with an eye to being legal (and practical) for sail training and charter. Beautiful job of boatbuilding. There's another waka unua, rather older and plainer, up at Mangonui.

I talked to Potaka Taite, a Mäori musician who also teaches traditional nautical arts and is one of the skippers of Aotearoa One. He said they were planning to take it to Raratonga, which would backtrace the original voyages that populated the two islands known as New Zealand. As a navigator, he described the ways of tacking and wearing the rig, and also observed that when sailing blue water, he always kept an eye on the wake, rather than looking ahead, because the wake would tell him how well the boat was being steered with respect to the wind.

Last time I was in NZ I got to drive an Americas Cup yacht, NZL 41, on a charter from the Viaduct Basin. Next time, I'd like to sail on this waka. What a beauty!

If you take the daytrip from Auckland to Tiritiri Matangi (stunning) the ferry stops in Gulf Harbour and you can get a look at this boat.

(I've got some nice photos, but this buggery interface won't accept anything bigger than a postage stamp.)

In any event, my Northland must-sees would include Hokianga Harbour, Ahipara, Te Reinga, Spirits Bay, Matai (or Maitai) Bay, and the Rawhiti - Cape Brett area in the Bay of Islands.

cheers, Chip

[Chip-skiff]

The photo shows the stern of one hull: it's a cat.

[John Bertenshaw]

Is this it Chip skiff?

http://www.classicyacht.org.nz/infusions/vessel_register/vessel_register.php?detail_id=80

[J P]

Yes, it's Aotearoa One. Chip-Skiff knows his stern carvings. :D Not many of those in Wyoming.

I posted some pics in Misc. Boat Related
http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1787173#post1787173

[J P]

One thing that I confirmed on this trip was something I already knew – my favorite way to explore this part of the world is by boat. SWIMPAL’s heard it a hundred times. Every time we’d be checking out some nice little bay or coastline I’d say, “if we just had a little boat … see, we could launch over there … sail around over to so-and-so … maybe camp over here … spend a few days, see how the weather goes, then maybe drive up to … launch …” (repeat) SWIMPAL nods patiently, rolls eyes, “yep”. I’m thinking of a little Welsford Navigator or Pathfinder, SWIMPAL’s thinking the 60’ yacht was nice. :D Almost have her convinced to try the wee boat thing though. I torture myself by looking at boats on TradeMe.

[John Bertenshaw]

That very sentiment is what caused me to get a boat.
It was 1981 in the Abel Tasman park at the tip of the South Island of NZ, we were camping in French bay which has a very narrow estuary and a drying out tidal delta behind it.
I noticed that quite a few trailer sailors had gone in there but one day a Herreshoff leeboard ketch appeared and stood there on legs.
That boat was freshly built it turns out. Its name was Tern and it was the one featured in LFH's cruising book. At the time I don't believe one had been built( the book certainly laments the fact that it was an un built design).
Anyway,one epiphany later, in 1982 and in Auckland we bought a windsurfer and in 1983 , Waione.
I came across Tern probably 15 years later when she moved up here with a new owner and now I see her once or twice a year at the various events or sailing in the Bay of Islands where she lives.
She is one cool boat.

[John Bertenshaw]

Ha! Thought I had one uploaded...
Tern,as she is Jan 2008 off Urapukapuka island in the Bay of Islands.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd48/Waione_photos/cruise%2008/246_4699_1.jpg

[J P]

Very cool boat!

An experience in the Abel Tasman triggered our getting a boat as well. We were camping/kayaking there in 2000. I think we were in a little bay near the Pinnacle. In the evening a nice yacht came into the bay and anchored. Dude strips down, puts on a dive mask, grabs a Hawaiian sling and goes in to get dinner.
SWIMPAL says, "I want to do THAT!"
I say, "what, you want to get nekkid and kill fish?"
"No, SAIL. It looks so civilized, so sensible".
When we got back to the States she took a sailing course and we found a C22 to get us on the water. Not many Herreshoff's in Montana, and no Bailey's that I know of. :D
Winsurfer to Waione - love it!

[John Bertenshaw]

Yeah:D, carted the damn thing around for about 3 seasons too until we worked out that the places we anchored , sheltered/offshore breeze, were unsuitable for sailing a windsurfer most of the time.

Chris has taken Tern offshore to the Pacific Islands too. Thats a pretty serious piece of water out there.
Hey, you know the guy I told you about in the story up this thread ,of picking the skull off the beach in 1939.
He just had his 97th birthday on the weekend. 97! and sharp as.

[The Bigfella]

I was belting my windsurfer around Auckland in 84 and 85. Learnt how to handle it an offshore breeze off Page Point. If things had gone wrong, Waiheke Is would have stopped me. I seem to remember there was a nice stretch of water at Pakuranga too.

[Chip-skiff]

John Bertenshaw—

The link you posted is to a smaller, older double-hull waka, which I think I saw moored at Mangonui in August 2006.

Aotearoa One is quite new and rather larger, with considerably more sheer to the ends, and very ornate stern and bow carvings. I've tried to post a photo, but even a tiny one gets a reply that it exceeds my quota.

Not sure how all these big pickies get posted. Certainly not the way I'm trying to do it.

Chip

[Chip-skiff]

JP posted a whole series of Aotearoa One on another thread: <www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1787224>