Northland by camper van

Our recent Christmas vacation in New Zealand bought back memories of Garry’s first McGregor family Christmas in 2003. We broke up our family time with several excursions in a rented camper van. This included an overnight trip to Rotorua, followed by a quick three-night circuit through Northland before returning the van to Auckland Airport. The trip up north allowed me to finally complete my childhood dream of visiting Cape Reinga.

We hired the camper van in part to provide us with accommodation at my parent’s holiday home in Mount Maunganui. Beds were in short supply as our trip included a rare family reunion. My brother Hamish and his family had flown in from Austria. My youngest brother Matt and his family had driven down from Auckland, and Garry and I were coming from Sydney.

We spent almost a week with the family.  Along with the classic Christmas Day festivities with my family, we also enjoyed a day trip to White Island, the Bay of Plenty's active volcanic island. Perhaps the most enjoyable family moment was on Christmas Eve.  After the children had gone to bed Garry, Hamish and I spent an hour making sandy reindeer footprints in the yard with a cardboard stencil.

Our first Kiwi adventure together had a slightly rocky start. When we went to collect our camper van, I discovered we'd been allocated a manual stick shift vehicle. It had never occurred to me to explicitly request an automatic. 

Garry confessed he’d never learned to drive a manual car. As a result, any plans we had to share the driving were abandoned and I was duly appointed our designated driver. This wasn’t an issue for most of our vacation. Although, I still have terrifying memories of the traffic jam we encountered on our penultimate day in New Zealand. I spent at least half an hour riding the van’s clutch, fearing the worst, as we crawled for kilometres up Johnston’s Hill near Warkworth.

Fortunately, this was a rare moment of distress during what ultimately proved a wonderful experience. We drove to Northland on 31 December, taking a scenic route via the rugged Waihi gorge, and the equally memorable coastal road along the shores of Kiapara Harbour. It took us almost eight hours to reach our final destination for the night at Paihia, near Waitangi.

 

As we made our way north, we stopped to experience the majesty of Tāne Mahuta in the Waipoua Forest. Tāne Mahuta is New Zealand’s largest kauri tree, which is approximately 2,000 years old and still growing. Nearly 18 metres to the first branch and 4.4 metres in diameter, Tāne Mahuta is rightly called 'The Lord of the Forest'.

 

Our first three days of the new year were spent exploring Northland’s iconic tourist destinations. The year started with a blast. We booked ourselves onto a full-day, 4-Wheel Drive, tour to Cape Reinga. Its itinerary included a drive along 90 Mile Beach, spraying our way through the trickling low-tide waves, followed by an excursion on The Giant Sand Dunes at Te Paki Creek. At the base of the dunes, our tour guide handed us sandboards and left us to hurtle down their sandy slopes. We had a ball.

It was then on to the highlight of our day. We spent several hours exploring the rambling ridges of Cape Reinga and its iconic white lighthouse. The cape is every bit as picturesque as those childhood postcards and calendars I can still vividly recall. Here the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean in a spectacular swirl of currents that leaves a white water line snaking out to sea. 

At the northernmost tip of the Cape is a gnarled pohutukawa tree, believed to be over 800 years old. According to Maori oral history, the spirits of deceased Maori leap from this tree into the ocean to return to their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki.

We enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch under cloudless blue skies at the cape before returning to Paihia. Our journey home included a stop at Northland’s famous Mangōnui Fish & Chip shop. Naturally, we did the proper tourist thing and ordered an early dinner of its finest battered fish.

The following day we took time out to explore the Stone Store at Kerikeri and the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi. I’d briefly experienced the area on a road trip during a Summer break from University in 1987. It was nice to return and relive some of these memories and share them with Garry.  This included the impressive Ngātokimatawhaorua. At 30 metres in length, it's said to be the world's largest ceremonial canoe. It was built to mark the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi’s signing in 1940.

Our final evening in Northland was spent at Waiwera Beach, a sleepy beachside village south of Warkworth. Much to our delight we secured an unpowered site in the local campground that backed onto the beach. There’s honestly nothing more magical than waking in the morning, swinging open your van’s rear doors, and watching the waves break as you lie in bed.

I'll finish this trip down memory lane with a few images from our overnight stop in Rotorua. Garry would never forgive me if I don't include a photo of me flat on my back at the Champagne Hot Springs near Waiotapu. In a classic rookie tourist moment, I tripped on a shin-high, hazard fence while attempting to take the perfect photo.