Blonde on a Road Trip

This morning, I thought it was about time I dusted off my running trainers and made use of the 88 kilometres of beach at my disposal.

I was quite impressed that Strava the running app thought I had the ability to run on water. It certainly felt like sand to me!

In fact, the only water I had to contend with was the unavoidable little stream running from the land across the beach and into the sea.

Just like when driving, it was best to stick to the harder sand nearer the water, otherwise the jogging became very hard work in the softer sand and unlike the Hilux, I only had two-leg drive, at best.

I headed left as I entered the beach to explore the few kilometres we hadn’t driven yesterday. Running on the beach was fun, but it was getting hot, and at times it visually felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere, like in a nightmare.

However, this was far from a nightmare and I knew I’d eventually get back to where I’d started, even if I couldn’t actually distinguish the entrance along the 88 kilometres stretching ahead of me.

I phoned Mum and Dad on the way back to the campsite as I tried to cool down, but they were understandably enjoying an evening meal. It’s hard to get your head round being half a day ahead of people, and the time difference is limiting in terms of communication. Everyone at home is asleep, or at least attempting to sleep, while we’re out doing all these cool things and it’s a strange feeling!

I got back to the campsite and started to pack up the tent as we were due to check out by 10am and it was coming up for 9am at this point. Mixed in with a coffee and a chat with Mum and Dad, we managed to take down the tent and pack everything up, and I even had time for a shower, just in the nick of time.

We up and left at 10:01 (rebels!) and headed back to Kaitaia for food, fuel, car wash and coffee, in no particular order.

Having driven up an 88-kilometre beach, Anneke had the smarts to wash the outside and underside of her car. The problem was, a lot of our stuff was on the outside (tray) of the pick-up, so we had to pile everything up on a bit of grass by the car wash while Anneke scrubbed the Hilux clean.

I chatted to Ollie briefly and then he video called me as we left the car wash, but we couldn’t talk for long unfortunately as we were about to hit Pak ‘n Save (Costco meets ASDA). We got some snacks for the car and then drove through McDonald’s to get a coffee before setting off south towards Waipoua Forest and Kai Iwi Lakes.

I tried to capture some of the road trip using time lapse videos, but they only partly paint a picture. There is very little traffic, although you do sometimes get stuck behind a painfully slow camper or tractor and because the roads twist and turn through the hills, overtaking opportunities are slim.

As we drove south, we passed Omapere in the hope of finding some food.

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Omapere and Opononi

We found some rather disappointing public toilets and a cafe that was just shutting as we walked up to it at 2pm on a Tuesday… but it only led us back to the car park where the views were stunning. There are sand dunes on the other side of the estuary. New Zealand being random again!

Anneke had spotted some food options back up the road in Opononi, so we turned around and went on the hunt for some sustenance there.

The Opononi Hotel as it’s called is essentially a pub with a few snooker tables and sports on TV. We wolfed down some southern fried chicken tenders and chips and a cheeky lager as we sat at a table with a waterfront view. It was rather nice! I imagine it’s quite a cool place to be in the evening.

With our savoury option covered and the sun beating down, we both telepathically thought an ice cream would be a good idea. Maybe the idea had been planted by the ice cream signs over the road… but when Anneke said “I feel like an ice cream,” it was as if she’d crawled into my brain and pulled my own thought out.

Next door was a fish and chop shop that also sold Tip Top ice cream, which apparently is something of a New Zealand institution and was all part of my NZ initiation process.

I got the caramel fudge flavour and the ice cream was amazing, with healthy chunks of fudge in it. The dream! We ate them while exploring the jetty, on which a little Welcome Swallow was peacefully perched.

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Waipoua Forest

We drove another 45-50 minutes south to the Waipoua Forest, which is home to Tāne Mahuta, the biggest kauri tree alive, named after the Māori god Tāne, the god of the forest and birds.

Unfortunately, Tāne Mahuta itself was closed off to the public as the forest is affected by kauri dieback which is carried by things contaminating the ground and affecting the plant’s roots. The plant is estimated to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years old and is one of many ancient trees within the forest.

So, we drove a bit further down the road in the hopes of finding another trail through the forest and lucked out about 5 minutes later.

This trail was open but still had precautions in place to protect the kauri trees. After our double foot bath we joined the trail towards Te Matua Ngahere, the second largest kauri tree in the forest.

Strangely, even though we’d been to a place steeped in spirituality and stunning views the day before at Cape Reinga, even as we stepped out of the car in Waipoua it felt ever so peaceful. Maybe it was the height of the trees around us, knowing how old they were, or the birds singing in uninterrupted forest, but something about it felt very serene and spiritual.

While we couldn’t see Tāne Mahuta, we were still able to visit the second largest kauri tree in the world.

As we approached the tree, there were people sitting in silence on benches either side of the walkway, almost as if sitting in pews in a church worshipping a god of some sort. And to be fair, this tree may even predate Jesus, who, unlike this tree, may not have even been real.

So I get it.

But it didn’t stop us kind of breaking the silence and getting a closer look to admire the tree which was fenced off to protect it from kauri dieback and stupid humans in general.

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Kai Iwi Lakes Resort

Our accommodation this evening was not going to be the tent, as amazing as the tent had been…

Instead we’d decided to treat ourselves to four solid walls and booked the Moana Room at the Kai Iwi Lakes Resort. We would’ve been happy to book their glamping tent, but that hadn’t even been set up yet as we’re still only approaching peak holiday season.

The room only set us back £57 a night, and we also added on kayak hire for the following day, which worked out as more than the room itself – £66 for two single kayaks for two hours. Interestingly, if we’d booked this room in peak holiday season we would’ve had to share the kitchen and bathroom facilities with whoever was glamping in the tent behind us. There was even a bathroom booking rota on the wall that we were delighted not to have to use!

It got to about 7pm and for lack of food options in the immediate locale, once we’d dropped our bags and stuff, we got back in the car and headed to Dargaville to source some dinner from the supermarket.

We returned to our accommodation armed with the wherewithal for nachos and promptly got them in the oven.

With copious amounts of cheese and salsa on our baked tortilla chips, we sat down in front of a Netflix run of Friends, occupying a sofa each – what luxury! We’ve now gone from no sofas to two sofas!

We stayed up relatively late, and eventually hit the hay in our normal (but still slightly weird-looking beds).