"Northland" Northland by Vaughanie

Many people done realize but there is a huge area north or Auckland. Not so much don’t realize they just don’t go there as once you fly into Auckland, gravity, amongst other things, pulls you south.
But it is a lovely area and one we have visited on several occasions.
The first time we went away for a weekend we made it as far as Helensville, which is pretty pathetic as it is barely 40 minutes drive out of Auckland. But of course I wanted to stay somewhere named after me even if it was a dive. Nothing to write home about anyway. We visited some nice parts of the west coast the following day – Shelly Beach, Mosquito Bay plus had a great lunch at MacNuts – a Macadamia farm – yummy these nuts are tasty and actually very good for you. The weekend was generally a good introduction to NZ life. We had our first taste of the scenery – rolling green hills and blue skies that went on forever, the open road all to ourselves and best of all, NZ farm life. We had our taste of this at Sheepworld – I can’t recommend this place highly enough. It is a home to a cross section of NZ’s finest farmyard animals. All very tame so you get to experience them first hand. They do a great sheep show with various collies and bring in all the different types of sheep (yes there are many varieties!) plus goats. I got to feed a baby lamb, which was of course very cute. Phil got jiggy with the Alpacas and you could feed eels, not that I did – those guys have teeth you know. God this must sound so silly but honestly, it was a lot of fun! All in all not a bad part of the world.

A northland sunset

The Bay of Islands is said to be one of the best spots in NZ. Right up north and a popular spot with Aucklanders – especially those who own boats (10%). The whole area is dotted with little islands in peaceful waters and all the boats go bobbing around with fishing roads sticking out the back. Northland also has some of the best weather in NZ – well, the hottest anyway – they call it the Winterless North.
So we set off for the weekend with Mads and Berit – our chums from Denmark that we met in Africa who came to stay with us for a while.
We took a boat ride out to explore the waters and see what the fuss is about and weren’t disappointed. Why is it that everything looks different from the water? The mainland was gorgeous and the coves and inlets picture postcard perfect. They have a big rock with a hole in it, which was worth a butchers then they dropped us at one of the islands for a bit so we took the opportunity to have a swim and a beer and on such a hot sunny day, we couldn’t be happier.
We spent the afternoon in Russle, which is actually NZ’s original capital. The area was important in the days of whale hunting and has the oldest pub in NZ (about 50 years or something equally unimpressive). But it’s a quaint little town and nice enough for a spot of lunch. Not much else going on to be honest.
The drive back to Auckland provided some real highlights. Hokianga harbour was a great find – it has two heads protecting the harbour; one covered in forest, the other side with sand dunes and it’s a lovely little spot. The Kauri forests dominate this whole area, which are just fantastically huge trees and we took some time to have a wander round them. NZ’s native bush really is great – such a vast variety of plants, trees and shrubs. Really old looking trees sitting next to tropical palm trees and humongous ferns. You can’t blame them for being so protective of it – it’s a real asset to the country and lets hope the country’s population stays under control so bulldozers don’t take too much of it away

The tip of NZ - Cape Reinga

Our final visit to Northland was in the cold winter month of July. Deepest darkest winter. It was so cold in fact that we found ourselves paddling in the sea in shorts and a T-shirt on a warm sunny day and this is why Northland earns itself the title 'The Winterless North'.
The cape is quite a special place to NZ and Maori's in particular as it is where their spirits travel en route back to their homeland after death. It is also home to 90 mile beach - all 64 miles of it. It's the longest, straightest sandy beach I have ever had the pleasure of driving up - yes you can drive on it and it's pretty cool. We also took some time out to go sand boarding on it's fine dunes. I'm still trying to get the sand out now.
It's dead pretty up there and worth a look if you're passing. We stayed on Coopers Beach and our room opened up onto the beach and the views were beautiful. Glorious sunsets in the evening and the besh fish and chips I have ever had in the neighbouring town of Manganui.
On the way back home we stopped into a kiwi house to see the infamous nation bird. It's a cute little thing, the size of a chicken and nocternal so these kiwi houses are the best place to see them where they trick them into thinking it's night time. There were once 50 million of the little darlings before man came, now there are around 50,000 and you're unlikely to see them in the wild. Interesting kiwi facts include - they have whiskers, bone marrow and tiny useless wings (making them more like a mammel than a bird) and they are very territorial and fight with their feet. Why they dont use their very long, sharp looking beaks is beyond me. I was pleased I saw one in the end. Not sure why the kiwi's adopted it as their national icon but it's not a bad choice I guess.
The last treat for the weekend was a winery lunch - I'm sure gonna miss going to vineyards for lunch, it is such a pleasure having a lazy lunch with a cool crisp glass of fine NZ wine and good cuisine. I will miss this fair land dearly. Only 3 weeks to go : (