After finally leaving Auckland (big cities are a drag sometimes) we headed north in our campervan that we bought off an Italian dude. It's got all the stuff we need to cook basic meals and sleep comfortably. The first stop was a campground just north of Waipu on the eastern coast.
The beach next to the campground was so wide with white sandy dunes and super clear water. We even saw people riding horses up and down it.
We made some pasta on our first night. The campgrounds are different here. There were no designated spaces, you could pick your favorite spot in the campground and park wherever.
Just out of Waipu, we drove down an unsealed road for about 7km to see some glow worm caves. Even though the photos in the cave turned out not so great, this was what it looked like right outside of them. It reminds us of Lord of the Rings.
After our night of camping, we kept driving north and arrived in Whangarei. We got a map at the local i-site that showed us a track to hike to a giant kauri tree and the Whangarei Falls.
We spent the night in Oakura a sleepy beach town with nothing in it but a gas station and a market. The beach was stunning though.
The last day before we started a new WWOOFing experience we drove to the Bay of Islands. Paihia was a quaint harbor town catered to tourists. We saw a huge waka (Maori warrior ship made of kauri) there which was cool. Other than that, we lounged on the beach and swam for the remainder of the day.
**Special alert** In a previous post we reported kitty from Great Barrier Island (the deaf little thing) missing. We have received email notification of her happy return to Ship's Bay. A neighbor found her with one front paw stuck in her collar. She's skinny after two weeks, but she'll make it! Yay!
