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!
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.