Around Kaitaia

We stopped at Kaitaia when we dropped back down from Cape Reinga past Ninety Mile Beach. Kaitaia in Far North, New Zealand has more than just a motorsports track where little kids throw dirt clods at cars to help their favorite driver. We’ll be taking Hwy 1 through Omahuta Kauri Sanctuary, but first, let’s check out the area around Kaitaia.

Entrance to Walkway at Cape Reinga

Photo By: beejayge

Much of New Zealand’s early history around Kaitaia centered around kauri logging and later gum digging. In the early 1800's, most of the kauri trees were stripped from the land by timber-cutters. When a kauri tree is injured, sap dribbles down the tree then hardens into gum. Through the years, it collects at the base of the tree then petrifies under the forest debris. Kauri gum color varies from clear to almost black or dark red. Young gum is easily melted and can’t be polished. It’s called kauri gum. As it ages, it’s called kauri copal. A sub-fossilized resin hundreds to thousands of years old, kauri copal can be polished. New Zealand amber is rare. Fully fossilized, it’s considered a gemstone. For a look at New Zealand’s kauri logging and gum digging days, visit Far North Regional Museum. At Gumdigger Park, 20 minutes north of Kaitaia, you’ll find a gumdigger village display. In this old gum digging site, two ancient kauri forests are buried. You can touch logs over 100,000 years old. Kauri and kauri gum crafts are for sale in their gift shop.

Gumdigger's Huts

Photo By: beejayge

I’ve been suggesting ways to see New Zealand by RV or auto. There’s another way to see New Zealand from Cape Reinga in the north to Bluff on the bottom of South Island– if you’re in good shape and have the time. The 3000 kilometer New Zealand Walkway will be open in 2010. The walkway runs down the coast, through forests and farmland, over volcanoes and mountains, beside rivers and on green paths through seven cities. If you don’t have enough vacation time to walk 3000 kms, at least spend a little time on nearby Kaitaia Walkway. You can brag back home you walked The New Zealand Walkway.

Gumboot Fence

Photo By: beejayge

Just a little south of Kaitaia, you’ll find the entrance to the walkway. Called an easy bush walk through shade trees in the summer, it’s a 30 minute walk to the path junction. From there, it’s a 20-minute return climb to a kauri grove or a 15-minute return to the lookout over the forest. You won’t get your feet wet on either route. Stream and river crossings are bridged. If you plan to continue on the rest of the Kaitaia Walkway, don’t expect an easy bush walk with dry feet. The track is marked, but you’ll wade through rivers. DOC calls it, “suitable for people with above average fitness. High level back country skills and experience, including navigation and survival skills.” There are three camp sites. Maita Bay and Rarawa Beach are near Kaitaia. Raetea North Side is in Raetea Forest, a lowland coastal forest.

If you’re looking for a little night life, pack a picnic and spend an evening with the Glow worms. Eighteen kms south of Kaitaia off SH 1, Glow Worms Nocturnal Park is not as popular as the Waitomo Caves, but a fun place to get up close to a glow worm. At the Waitomo Caves, you step in a small boat with other tourists, float through the caves, then step out at the other end and get out of the way or get run over by the next boat load of tourists. In the Glow Worms Nocturnal Park, eat your picnic or wander around and wait for the glow worms to wake up. The paths are lit with fairy lights so you don’t trip and smash a worm.

Ahipara

Photo By: beejayge

Ahipara is on the Tasman Sea, a little south of Kaitaia. On the windy side of the island, you’ll find more sand dunes, a buried kauri forest, fishing, and surfing– around the reef at Tauroa Point. The information center in Kaitaia will give you exact directions to these and more places to spend time in the area. They can also help you find a place to stay. Kaitaia Hotel is down town if you’re looking for something historical. Ahipara Motor Camp is on the Tasman Sea. Kaitaia Motor Camp is where you’d expect it to be-- in Kaitaia. There are many motels and even a BBH backpacker lodge if you’re saving a few dollars for a kauri gum souvenir. The weather’s warm in this part of New Zealand. You’re surrounded by history and outdoor activities. Stay a while and enjoy yourself around Kaitaia.

All photos are by Bryan Goddard who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Brian has more than 1,000 photos uploaded on flickr. Click back on his links and you’ll find a slideshow of 94 photos around Kaitaia and up the peninsula to Cape Reinga. On BeeJayGe, his website, you can find more photos of his New Zealand travels and a link to his blog.

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters in New Zealand

New Zealand Motorsports

If you’re a Kiwi or a motorsports fan, you know that New Zealander Scott Dixon won the 2008 IndyCar Series Championship and also the Indianapolis 500 this May. Three races remain in the 2009 IndyCar Series. Helio Castroneves has his nose up Scott’s exhaust, but chances are Scott will capture the trophy again for the Kiwis. IndyCars for you non-motorsports fans are those open-wheel, low slung cars that whine around the track like angry hornets. Scott’s championships aren’t an accident. New Zealanders take their motorsports– all their motorsports– very seriously.

Photo By: geognerd

Training for young drivers starts early. Scott raced carts as a seven-year-old. At 13, Scott raced saloon cars– similar to American stock cars. While competing at Pukekohe Park Raceway, he rolled the car on its roof, then struggled from the car with the cushion strapped to his back– the cushion he needed so he could reach the pedals.

Just off Hwy1 about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton, Hampton Downs opened this month. Near Meremere drag strip and oval track in north Waikato, Hampton Downs is a training and testing facility as well as a fancy modern-day motorsport complex.

Photo By: jbimages

Each Boxing Day (December 26) during the Cemetery Circuit, motorbikes (NZ motorcycles) race around the cemetery in downtown Wanganui. In this street race, sometimes called the Southern Hemisphere’s Isle of Man, motorcycles tear around town, zipping around corners– usually. Sidecars bang by, driver in front, feet dragging passenger in back, trying to maneuver around the turns. They’re noisy, so bring ear plugs. Paeroa hosts the race finals in February. There are six low-cost parking spots in the middle of town. When the races are in town, RVs move to the town reserve. Motorcycles often miss the turns and you wouldn’t want a cycle in your bed. If you’re staying home for Christmas, you can watch the Cemetery Circuit race live on the internet. Just make sure to check ahead for the correct times– New Zealand is a day ahead.

Still farther south, near Feilding, you’ll find Manfeild Autocourse. No. I didn’t spell it wrong. The town is named for Lord Feilding. Built in 1973, the track was brought up to international standards in 1990 with its 2.8 mile road course. Manfeild park which contains the course is a busy place. On any day, you might find a horse show, a wedding, a shearing contest or an international race.

Photo By: bishie_01

The South Island is a little shy of large towns north of Christchurch, but south of there each February, you’ll find the Southern Festival of Speed. With three permanent circuits and one temporary circuit in Dunedin, this series for classic and historic vehicles (including motorcycles) has four venues and seven racing days. The courses are in Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill– almost all the way to the end of the South Island. If you plan to visit the Southern Festival of Speed, these towns are all on the eastside of the South Island along Hwy 1. Use a Mileage Calculator to figure your travel time. The Southern Festival of Speed is just one of many events. If you won’t be in the South Island in February, you’ll still find some type of motorsport if you hang around for a while.

Photo By: Warwick Robinson

If you like cars, boats and airplanes, or anything else that goes varoom, varoom, New Zealand is the place for you. While RVing in New Zealand, we spent a good part of our time looking for anything that went fast and made noise-- or did at one time. We found motorcycle races at Mata Mata where sidecars with feet dragging crew maneuvered around corners-- most of the time. We found midget race cars– that spent a good part of the race upside down– at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland. And, we found Destruction Derby races in Kaitai where little kids yelled, "Go Uncle Joe!" and threw dirt clods at the drivers trying to bang Uncle Joe.

Kaitais is where I dropped you in August before I wandered into skiing and motorsports. This is usually a good time of year to find a bargain on airline tickets and plan ahead for your New Zealand trip, so we’ll be dropping down the east coast of Northland, through Auckland and on to parts of the North Island you’ll want to visit.

Lyn Harris

RVinNZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Tsunami in American Samoa

Boat in Community Bingo Center

I’m jumping away from traveling in New Zealand today to American Samoa. My stepdaughter, Elizabeth worked as a midwife in American Samoa and recently returned to the states. She sent a link to a blog written by her friend Melanie Brown. Melanie tells about the “90 seconds of violent shaking followed by several aftershocks.” Then, the Samoan d.j. saying, " a huge 15-20 foot wave is coming towards the office building.”– the same office building where her husband Paul, a marine ecologist at the National Park of Americas Samoa was working.

Red Truck in Building

Both photos are by Melanie Brown. You’ll find more pictures of the tsunami devastation and Melanie’s account of what happened before, during and after the tsunami. She’ll be updating, so drop this blog in your favorites: Tropical Browns

Lyn Harris

RVinNZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Ski or Snowboard New Zealand

Snowboarding

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Freestyle Adventure

September is a good time to avoid New Zealand travel– unless you ski or snowboard. I leave my home near a ski resort in the Cascade Mountains and visit New Zealand in their summer season because I don’t want to shovel snow, fall on my butt in the ice, or crawl under my car to pry off a chain wrapped around the axle. But, if you’d like to take a holiday now and get your nose burned on a snow field instead of the beach, hop on a jet to New Zealand.

New Zealand ski season is June to November. New Zealand is a volcanic area constantly moving and belching and Kiwis take their skiing seriously. When Mt Ruapehu in the North Island burped out hot lava, skiers weren’t surprised, only determined they weren’t going to lose a ski season. Kiwis let the mountain go about its business throwing fiery boulders into the air. Then, they slipped down one side of the mountain on skis while lava slipped down the other. There are three main ski areas in the North Island and many in the colder South Island. If you’re a beginner or professional, you can find a New Zealand ski area and price that suits your experience level and your credit card balance. While all New Zealand ski areas cater to snowboarding, Wanaka in the South Island is the snowboarding capital. Ohau Lodge another snowboarding area in the Southern Alps is famous for its parties.

Mt Ruapehu

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Jay_Kilifi

If you still believe the world is flat, try some heli-sking in the Southern Alps. You better know a little more than how to carry a pair of skis and party with the crowd. Heli-ski companies will transport you up the mountain and you figure out how to get yourself down.

Most of the vans I’ve seen around Queenstown have ski racks– you might ask before you rent if you don’t want to sleep with wet skis. Kilometers on rental vehicles are usually unlimited although some roads are off limits, including one near Wanaca– which you probably couldn’t pass over even if you wanted to in their winter season. GST is very high, so if you're comparing rental RV rates, ask if the GST is included.

Pros & Kiwis

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Freestyle Adventure

Why not call in sick and disappear for a few days? Apollo Motorhomes is one of the New Zealand campervan companies offering relocation specials– $1 per day. Just dig around their site. The day I checked, I didn’t find anything available for New Zealand, but found $1 per day specials in Australia, United States, and Canada. Privately owned, Apollo Motorhomes recently bought into the US RV rental market. They have branches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. If you live near one of these cities, contact them for more information. In August, Apollo partnered with CanaDream. I’m not familiar with the Canadian market, but if you’re looking for a relocation special in Canada, check their site and follow the link.

If you’d like to spend the last days of summer slipping down a frozen mountain or sitting around a fire in a remote alpine lodge, consider a New Zealand vacation in snow country. If you can’t make it this year, at least dream a little. Turn on your air conditioning and watch a New
Zealand ski video.




Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Cape Reinga/Ninety Mile Beach (Part 2)

Te Paki Stream

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Vinicius Massuchetto

Gumdiggers played an important part of Te Paki history. That history more or less follows the history in other parts of Northland. The Aupori tribe came to Te Paki when other tribes wanted their land and a few more slaves to work that newly acquired land. Just when things weren’t stirred up enough, the whalers and missionaries arrived to complicate history. The first European landowners were Stannus Jones and Samuel Yates, a young English lawyer. Yates married a local Maori princess and became a husband, farmer, storekeeper and gum trader. Called “King of the North” he homesteaded at Paki– now called Te Paki. Dalmation gum diggers settled just south of Te Paki and hunted for kauri gum, fossilized resin from kauri trees used in varnish. They left their coins in that money tree for good luck.

Fur Seals

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petite lilas

In 1966, the Crown bought Te Paki Station and took over management. Te Paki Farm is now much smaller and most of its grassland is returning. Part of The Farm can be seen from the road. Working dogs keep the cattle and sheep from misbehaving. Six Santa Gertrudis bulls were brought in to meet the Angus-Hereford cross cattle in hopes of producing a higher quality lean meat. Horses are used to roundup the cattle. Dogs do most of the work keeping the sheep moving in the right direction. If you’d like to visit a working farm, there are two public access tracks. Just don’t turn your back on those Santa Gertrudis bulls.

Te Paki is not just wind swept sand dunes, rocky cliffs and grassland. At one time the hills and gullies were covered with totara, rimu, and kauri trees. Those trees disappeared for some unknown reason, but some survive in the deeper valleys. A short walk takes you to a grove of kauri trees just below Te Paki trig.

Te Paki Beach

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nzcalling

If you want to explore but don’t fancy hiking and packing your own supplies– ride a horse. You can book a short half day trip or pack in and spend two or three days camping and exploring.

On your way out of Te Paki, you’ll find Rarawa, the third DOC campground I mentioned. Near Sh1 on Great Exhibition Bay, A few kms north of Ngutaki, it’s a sheltered campsite in the pines behind the beach.

Take time to visit Te Paki even if it’s only a day trip up Ninety Mile Beach to Cape Reinga– or try a dune buggy trip along the sand. Once you see Te Paki, you’ll want to return and spend more time off that tourist track.

Mad Kiwis

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strange ones

We started in Kaitai and we’re ending in Kaitai, so I’ll suggest some low cost places to spend the night. There’s a small amount of parking at Ninety Mile Beach. Turn west at Houhora Heads into Settlers Rd then right into Hukatera Rd which runs through the pines to the beach. Houhora Heads also has an inexpensive motor camp if you need a shower. Back on the Tasman Sea side at Waipapa Kauri, The Park Top 10 Ninety Mile Beach is another inexpensive motorcamp.

If you’re looking for a motel in Kaitai, it’s easy enough to find one on your own. If you have a self-contained movan, several businesses in Kaitai allow overnight parking. Liquor King, The Warehouse, Farmers, Pak-N Save all allow overnight parking. They just don’t want you to hang around taking up space during the day– always ask first.

Ninety Mile Beach

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only an idiot

Save time on your next trip to New Zealand to explore Te Paki or another part of New Zealand off that tourist track.

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters in New Zealand

Cape Reinga/Ninety Mile Beach

Dune Surfers

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Destination Northland

The best part about traveling on the cheap in New Zealand by RV or auto, you can wander off the tourist track and really get to know an area before moving on. Remote and rugged, Te Paki, with its hiking tracks, sand dunes, white beaches and endangered wildlife, is off that tourist track. If you have limited time, stay in Kaitaia or another nearby town then take a day trip over the sand of Ninety Mile Beach– actually about 64 miles long. This trip takes you up a running stream to Cape Reinga, You can also drive your own vehicle on Ninety Mile Beach. If you do, use a vehicle wash in Kaiataia when you return– you don’t want that salty sand rusting your vehicle bottom. If you decide to drive the entire length, make sure you brought that AAA card we talk about every once in a while. You’ll need it if you get stuck in the quicksand crossing Te Paki stream at the very end. A cell phone would be handy, too. You can stand on the roof of your campervan or auto while calling AAA. If you end up with salty sand on your bottom waiting for AAA, don’t wash off with a cool dip in the Tasman. Swimming is not recommended. There are dangerous currents on the west coast of Te Paki.

Ninety Mile Beach

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Sandy Austin

Kaitaia, at the southern tip of Aupouri Peninsula, where Hwy1 jogs over from the east, is the normal jumping off spot for Te Paki. Kaitaia is also a good spot for fuel and supplies– don’t forget the bug spray. Hwy1 takes a straight shot up the Aupouri Peninsula through Te Paki. At the north western end of the peninsula, you’ll find Cape Reinga and that lighthouse you see on brochures. About the same latitude as Adelaide, Cape Reinga is not as far north as you can get. It’s as far north as you’ll probably get– North Cape to the east is part of Te Paki Scientific Reserve.

Managed by the Department of Lands and Survey, Te Paki Recreation Reserve includes The Farm, Mokaikai Scenic Reserve, North Cape Scientific Reserve, and Motuopao Island Nature Reserve– off the western side of the peninsula near Cape Maria Van Dieman. The Nature Reserve has breeding colonies of fairy prion, white-faced storm petrel and black-winged petrel– which roam Te Paki campgrounds.

Cape Reinga

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kiwihugger

Two of three DOC campgrounds are on the northern tip of Aupouri Peninsula, so we’ll start at the end of Hwy1 at Cape Reinga and work our way back. Cape Reinga lighthouse, originally on Motuopao Island was moved in 1941. Surrounded by ocean, New Zealand has a sad history of shipwrecks. Since 1800, over one hundred and forty ships have sunk off the New Zealand coast– many near Cape Reinga. In 1902, the Elingamite went aground on an island in the Three Kings– a group of islands north of Cape Reinga named by Abel Tasman. Forty-five sailors lost their lives. Originally installed in 1879, the lighthouse beam on Motuopao Island could not be seen in the waters off North Cape. A lighthouse using the original lens from Motuopao was built at Cape Reinga. From the cape, you can look over the Three Kings and also see the foaming swell where the currents of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific

Ocean break over the Columbia Bank just west of Cape Reinga. At times, wild westerly winds scream in from the Tasman Sea– piling up sand dunes along Ninety Mile Beach. Hopefully you’ll visit the cape on a calm clear day when you can also see the high rocky cliffs of North Cape 24 kms to the east. From the lighthouse, the first section of the New Zealand walkway heads south to the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach. You can also drop back to the east and into the nearby DOC camp– not as easy as it sounds. It’s more climbing than walking and would keep a mountain goat panting. Te Paki is full of walking tracks.

Tapotupotu Bay

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solipsist

Tapotupotu Bay, just easy of Cape Reinga has campsites, water, toilets, and cold showers. Occasionally tour buses stop so visitors can picnic, catch a little sun and enjoy the crescent shaped beach stretched between two high hills. A tidal stream large enough for canoes feeds in at the eastern end. The turn off is about 3 kms south of the cape. Kapowairua, a larger DOC camp, is located at Sprits Bay. If you want hot food at either camp, bring a portable stove. Fires are usually prohibited. Day visitors are always welcome. Camping is on a first come first served policy. To get to Spirits Bay, turn off at Waitiki Landing. There are two roads that fork off to the east on the way to Spirits Bay. Kerr Road goes to the edge of the Mokaikai Scenic Reserve with its historical sites. Access to the Scenic Reserve is possible, but you need permission to cross Hapua land. The money tree where gumdiggers left coins for good luck is in the Scenic Reserve.

(To be continued)

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand

Kerikeri to Karikari

Matauri Bay
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Photo By:
titine

Leaving Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands, we’ll swing west and travel along the north end of New Zealand to Karikari Peninsula. No, my spell checker didn’t hiccup. We’re on our way to Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga– on that peninsula that juts out between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea. If we were in a hurry, we could drop back to Pahia and follow Hwy 1 we passed on our way north. It’s more or less a straight shot to Kaitaia– the usual jump-off for Cape Reinga. So far, we’ve followed the scenic route north from Auckland, dropping off to small towns or campgrounds along the Pacific. You’ll find remote bays and beaches, quaint villages, and islands. You can dive, fish, sea kayak, or explore along this route north. You’ll find more quaint villages, but don’t expect to find bays and islands on the Tasman Sea. New Zealand is totally different on the wind-swept west coast of North Island.

Heading north on Hwy 10, the next main loop drops off to Matauri Bay and the Cavalli Islands. Just 30 km north of Kerikeri, Matauri Bay with its white sand and clear water is popular with divers, surfers, and fishermen. Matauri Bay Holiday Park is an inexpensive campervan (RV) park close to the Cavalli Islands and the Rainbow Warrior– now a living reef. You can see from the photo on their site, the Holiday Park straddles the beach. A short climb up the headlands, you’ll find a memorial to the Rainbow Warrior. If you’re a diver, make arrangements at the park.

Rainbow Warrior
Memorial
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Photo By:
williwieberg

Holiday Motorcamps are Top 10 & HAPNZ. Top 10 parks are usually a little larger. They spend more on advertising and seem to pull in more tourist trade– rental vans. HAPNZ parks– some are council owned– are uncrowded and usually Mom and Pop run. Local residents often live on site in permanent caravans with their flowers, pets and kids. All motorparks are clean and friendly. We’ve had few problems other than the time Dave was showering in a rural area of Northland and a caretaker in a hurry to get out fishing, hosed him down with a fire hose. We’ve stayed at Mantauri Bay Holiday Park and always enjoyed the helpful people and relaxed atmosphere– and we’ve never been given a cold shower with a fire hose.

Lining Up for
the Slot
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Photo By:
titine

Just off Matauri Bay, Motukawanui Island is the largest of the Cavalli Islands. DOC has a basic hut that sleeps eight on Motukawanui. Basic means basic. You’ll need your own stove and bedding. At Pekapeka Bay a little farther north in the direction we’re headed, Lane Cove Cottage, another DOC hut, sleeps 16. Access is by boat from Totara North or Whangaroa. You can also hike in– about two hours from Totara North. Lane Cove Cottage has tap water and a solar shower.

And back to Hwy 10 and on to our next stop– Doubtless Bay. Named in 1769, when Capt. James Cook sailed past. Evidently unimpressed, he wrote in his journal “doubtless a bay”. Much more impressive than its name, Doubtless Bay sweeps from Taupo Bay in the east to Karikari Peninsula in the west. Mangonui is the largest town, but there are resorts, holiday parks and motels all around the bay. In sub-tropical New Zealand with its many beaches, game fishing, and scuba diving, Doubtless Bay also has gourmet to take-a-way quality restaurants and golf courses. Kiwis like their sports. You’ll find golf courses almost anywhere in New Zealand from the world-class 18 hole course at nearby Carrington Resort to courses in the farmer’s paddock with electric wire around the green to keep the sheep from trimming the grass. We played one of those courses. Range markers showed which direction to aim over the rolling hills. When sharing a golf course with sheep, watch where you step. White shoes are not recommended.

Doubtless Bay
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Photo By:
newzealand09

If you’re staying around Doubtless Bay, use their Visitor’s Site to find pictures of the area and any other information you need. They even offer a free DVD to encourage you to visit. Depending on your budget and type of transportation, stay a day or two. Carrington Resort has a helicopter pad. If chartering a helicopter breaks your budget, stay at DOC’s Matai Bay campground. You’ll have the same spectacular scenery. Sorry, no world-class golf course, winery, Black Angus stud farm, or maid service. DOC offers cold water showers and you clean up after yourself, but the price is right. If you’re RVing or traveling on the cheap, try Hihi Beach Holiday Park in Mangonui– or click on that Visitor’s site and fine a motel or hotel.

Oysters
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Photo By:
hookmeupbro

Next, we’re dropping west to Hwy 1 then up that “tail of the fish” as the Maoris call the peninsula to Cape Reinga.

Lyn Harris

RV in NZ: How to Spend Your Winters South in New Zealand