Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     

Northland

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26th February 2010. Another long drive, this time from Ferry Landing, Coromandel to Cavalli Beach, Northland


Leaving Ferry Landing Lodge after breakfast, it took almost three hours before we saw the sights of Auckland

Freddie seemed very interested in the Sky Tower
 

 

Our route north took us across Auckland's Harbour Bridge  

 
Northward bound on State Highway 1
An impressive skyline, taken from the motorway. No time to stop, though, because we
still had a long journey ahead of us and we were due to return to the city in a few days time anyway.
An hour after passing Auckland (and four hours into our journey)
we made our first stop at the pleasant town of Warkworth (above)
 
Another two hours driving and we were in the mood for a late lunch, so we stopped at Whangarei. We visited here six years ago,
but the town has grown enormously since then and we got quite lost looking for the Waterside area that we remembered.
 
Roadworks, New Zealand style. Why have diversions when you can build and let people drive on your work in progress simultaneously?
 
Although we had been this way before in 2004, we couldn't resist
another opportunity to take a photo of the famous Hundertwasser Toilets in Kawakawa
 
After being on the road for eight hours, we caught our first sight of the Cavalli Islands and knew that we were almost there!
 

We stayed at the Cavalli beach-house retreat
where the setting and the views were stunning

 
 
 
 
 
  
Pre-dinner drinks and "treats" were served on the terrace. The sea-urchins were a special request from one of the other guests....

We declined.
  
 
27th February 2010


Freddie was up bright and early and wanted to go out and explore the area! We decided to drive to Pahia and get the ferry to Russell.
 
 
 


Note the helicopter taking off (right) as we sailed away from Pahia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A light snack (and something bubbly!) at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel
 
 
 
After returning to Pahia on the ferry, we strolled around the town, before driving back to our little piece of paradise at Cavalli Beach.
We took the slightly longer route back, approaching our destination from a different direction and getting some more spectacular views.
 
We could get used to this!
 
 

Freddie really enjoyed his Lion beer!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28th February 2010 - Day three in paradise
After a leisurely breakfast for two (we were the only guests staying last night), we decided to have a very lazy day.
We did, however, do a morning excursion to the Manginangina Kauri forest (which entailed quite a long drive along a dirt track)
 
 

 

 

 
 
   

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1st March 2010 - Our last full day in the far north, so we decided to drive even further north - to Doubtless Bay.
 

Our car (above, right)
Our first stop was in Mangonui, where we bought a set of flax table mats (more about these later... upon our arrival in Sydney!)
Reputedly the best fish shop in the region, we'd have loved to give it a try, but it was still mid-morning and we'd only just eaten breakfast!
 
 
Turning right off State Highway 10, we drove onto the Karikari Peninsula to the delightfully named settlement of Whatuwhiwhi
 
Driving on, we came to a gate with a black and red sign indicating, very definitely, that we could go no further on that road!


The views to the right of the gate looked enticing
and there was another road leading off in
that direction, so we took that one instead.

 
The road led to Matai Bay, a mini-peninsula, with beautiful crescent shapes coves on either side.
 
 
 
   
Following the path up and over (above, right), we saw the second cove, even more beautiful than the first.
 
The waves broke evenly and in almost perfectly symmetry with the crescent shape of the cove (see video below)
 
 
 
Leaving the twin coves of Matai Bay, we drove back towards State Highway 10.
We passed the distinctive shape of Rangiputa
and an even more characteristic feature of New Zealand - the long white cloud.
We resisted the temptation to pop into the Karikari wine estate
 
The images above and below were taken from a moving car, en-route back to Cavalli beach.
 
Here is a video we took en-route. Roadworks are quite common yet not hugely disruptive, because there is so little traffic compared with the UK. If you turn up the sound, you can listen to the lovely music playing on the radio as we drove through the beautiful countryside.
 
 
 
 
 
After another delicious meal, Bruce finished with this mouth-watering dessert!
It was our last night in the far north. Tomorrow we would drive back to Auckland.
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble