Day 11
Today we woke up bright and early, ready to tackle Whangarei Heads! For those who don't know, in any inlet or bay there is usually a tip or point land mass that shelters the rest of the inlet, allowing for smooth, calm waters. Whangarei Heads protect the entire city of Whangarei from strong ocean winds and massive waves. The unique part about Whangarei Heads, however, is that they form some really cool natural rock sculptures, so we had to check it out! Despite having no clue what we were getting ourselves into, we decided to drive to the Heads and see what there was to see. Upon arrival we found a massive mountain, with signs directing us towards a trail up it.Our first warning sign should have come from the professional hikers all around us. There were a handful of people, all sporting the latest, high-tech hiking equipment, prepping themselves to go up. We paused to admire these dedicated athletes, ignoring the obvious hint that the trail ahead might be harder than we were prepared for. We chose to look past these people, and set out with nothing but a backpack and a few peanut butter sandwiches.
If I was asked to sum the hike up in only one word, I would say this: Stairs. Endless stairs. Thousands upon thousands of stairs. The trail was well laid out and packed down with man-made (and now flooded due to rain) wooden stairs, making the entire trek just one giant staircase. I paused several times along the trek to question why on earth we (humanity) felt the desire to summit this mountain so badly that we spent what must have been thousands of man hours building stairs in order to assist the climb. There were so many stairs it started to hurt every bone in my body, but it ended up being worth it for this:
The view from the peak was glorious. It started to rain right before we reached the top, so once there we were suddenly attacked by vicious winds and rain threatening to throw us off the peak. I don't think I have ever felt so physically small and frail as I did while at the top of that mountain, nor have I felt nature to be so strong. The rain pelted every patch of skin not sheltered by a coat, making it painful to simply open your eyes or look around. But you couldn't not look around at that view. It's the type of summit where you simply have to yell at the top of your lungs, not saying anything, just letting it out. It was awe-inspiring.
We assumed that the way down would end up being easier than the way up, right? Wrong. Turns out that when it comes to stairs, it actually takes just as much, if not more energy to control your descent as it does to complete the ascent. At this point in time, my weak city legs were physically shaking with every step, and I half expected to come crashing down. But we didn't, and instead we managed to make it down completely intact, just mildly soaked. Good job us! As we stumbled to the car, I'm pretty sure I saw one of the professional hikers laughing at us. I didn't care. We made it!
From there (after a much needed rest in the van) we drove to the tip of Whangarei, and experienced our very first beach! To clarify, we had seen beaches before. Most of New Zealand is technically beach, however until now we hadn't seen a sandy beach that was directly along the ocean. Most beaches we had been to previously were either in a sheltered inlet, or too rocky to be considered a beach. But this beach was covered with soft, white sand with large(ish) waves gently crashing on the shore. A real beach. I went nuts. I immediately jumped in, shorts and all, and started splashing in the waves and having fun. Caroline on the other hand, thought it was too cold to go in and opted out, deciding instead to "admire from afar". I (being the fun one who doesn't care about petty things like temperature) had an absolute blast jumping through the waves, making way too much noise, and simply generally having a good time. Our first New Zealand beach!
From here we traveled to Paihia, a town near the Bay of Islands. Paihia is the place where I will retire. It is beautiful and majestic and amazing. We got there fairly late in the day, so most of the shops were closed. However, even simply walking around that town was amazing. It is essentially a tiny little tourist town full of beautiful buildings, beaches, and people. As well, it is the best access point to the Bay of Islands, a bay filled with tiny islands and tons of wildlife. Seriously, just Google the Bay of Islands. It's amazing. We decided that since the weather wasn't good enough for any snorkeling or water fun, that we would continue on to Cape Reinga and return to Paihia on our way back. We never returned. Guess we'll have to come back.
Day 12
Exhausted from the massive previous day, we had a slightly lazy morning, and then pushed through the final portion of our drive up to Cape Reinga. A short 3 hour drive later, we arrived at our destination. The top of the bottom of the world!
Cape Reinga is the very tip of the North Island, and is marked by a beautiful lighthouse. It is a really interesting spot, because it is the place where two oceans meet: the graceful Lady of the Pacific and the Wild Abel Tasman. The wave patterns, though I wasn't successful in photographing them adequately, were incredibly interesting to watch as the two masses of water collided. It truly did show the differences in the bodies of water, the Pacific ocean showing a calm strength while the Abel Tasman dashed upon the shore and collided with other waves energetically. It was interesting to see the obvious natural personification of the oceans. As well, there is a signpost marking the direction and distance to several major cities. I swear I could see Canada floating around up there!
We decided to camp somewhere near the tip, and were incredibly glad we did. The campsite we stayed at was an inlet very close to Cape Reinga accessed via a long, windy gravel road that went on and on and on. And on. However, once we arrived we were met with the most beautiful, isolated harbor I have ever seen. We fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves, howling winds, and ocean's greetings.
Day 13
Having reached our destination for this mini journey, it was time to head back through Auckland, stopping along the way of course. Our first stop being sand boarding at the Giant Te Paki Dunes. The dunes were bigger than I could have ever imagined, massive mountains of sand. Sandboarding is basically as it sounds; you get a board of some sorts (we rented bodyboards), climb to the top of a sand dune, and ride all the way down. Very similar to snowboarding or sledding, except with a few drawbacks:- Climbing up a sand dune is nearly impossible. Seriously. Every step that you take, you slide two steps backwards. Unlike hard, packed snow, the sand doesn't support your weight, so you literally have to run uphill trying to counteract the downhill sliding.
- Sandboarding is done in the heat. When you have layers of warm winter clothing piled on, if you fall off or rub your arm against the snow, nothing happens. On sand, it's too hot to wear layers, so if you fall it tears you to little pieces and rubs you raw.
- Sand. Everywhere. If snow gets everywhere, it melts! If sand gets everywhere, it stays everywhere. And once it enters your car, it stays in your car.
Still, it was incredibly fun! We stayed for several runs before we got way too exhausted to go anymore, so we decided instead to follow a stream we found, hoping it would lead us to the 90 mile beach. After a long and cold walk, we found the beach. And there was the Abel Tasman in all it's glory, pummeling all that dared enter with ferocious waves. I, of course, decided to hop in despite the danger signs along the beach. It was wild, crazy, strong, violent, and absolutely exhilarating. While Caroline had a heart attack on the beach, I got into a fight with the craziest, baddest ocean around. I think I won.
90 Mile beach is precisely 55 miles long. I suppose it has something to do with the beach length in kilometers, however the beach is 88 km long, so it still doesn't really make sense. That being said, even at only 88 kms, its still a crazy long beach. Really cool!
90 Mile beach is precisely 55 miles long. I suppose it has something to do with the beach length in kilometers, however the beach is 88 km long, so it still doesn't really make sense. That being said, even at only 88 kms, its still a crazy long beach. Really cool!
Hopping back in the car and driving slightly further along, we stumbled into the Waipoua Forest, where we met Tane Mahuta, king of the forest. In NZ there is a species of tree called the Kauri trees, which are some of the most ancient trees in the world. Tane Mahuta is one such Kauri tree, and is considered to be the oldest living Kauri tree, dating back to roughly around the time of Christ. It is also the biggest of the Kauri trees, though not quite as formidable as our vivid imaginations would have thought. Still, it was quite impressive, and the history behind this tree is fascinating! Though currently struggling with a recently found disease, Kauri trees are magnificent, and Tane Mahuta was definitely the most majestic in the forest.
That night we found a pleasant campsite out in the middle of the woods, and we were surrounded by the most beautiful stars imaginable. New Zealand is so underpopulated in areas, with the vast majority of it's residents living in large, coastal cities, so the stars in most of the country are untouched. Indeed, it is considered to be one of the clearest skies in all of the world, as there is no pollution or alternative lights to dilute the beauty. The stars that night were by far the most beautiful I've ever seen!
Day 14
Today was mostly about making the arduous drive back to Auckland from Tane Mahuta. While only a 3-4 hour drive, it was a full day of driving once the various stops to look at views and food stops were taken into account. Our main activity of the day was stopping by the famous Whangarei Falls, which resulted in some pretty darn good pictures if I do say so myself!
From the falls we drove straight back to Auckland, all the way back to our previous Airbnb's house. Patrick was more than generous in allowing us to camp outside his house, and donating his hot water in the pursuit of our cleanliness. Warm showers and hot meals make for happy Braedens and Carolines. The happiness didn't last particularly long, because that evening Caroline smashed my tooth with a wine bottle, causing some stress, though there was nothing we could do about it in the morning.
Day 15
Caroline would like me to clarify what happened the night before. You see, as we enjoyed our first relaxing evening in some time, we poured ourselves some glasses of wine. Deciding to be funny, I started drinking straight from the bottle. Caroline turned at the wrong time, hitting the bottle with her elbow and chipping my tooth. So not entirely her fault (though not entirely NOT her fault).
Anyways, today we decided that the best course of action would be to head into the city, and figure out what to do about a broken tooth. After a couple phone calls had been made, we resolved that nothing could be done about the tooth, so we visited an Auckland art gallery instead, then proceeded on our way. Our new destination? Coromandel.
Coromandel is a little peninsula beside the main arm of Auckland, and one that we had heard amazing things about, but hadn't really researched fully. Based on some light Googling, we decided on 4 things we wanted to do there. First off, Hot Water Beach!
We read about this beach that had two massive hot springs under it, and were excited to take a nice, warm, natural soak. Pulling up to the beach in the late afternoon, we immediately ran to get changed into our swimsuits, eager for the warmth. However, as we walked along the beach we got really confused; there was absolutely no hot water to be seen! A gentlemen walking nearby must have noticed our confused faces, because he approached us letting us know that the hot water was currently under the ocean water level, and that we had to return at low tide in order to dig ourselves a hole in the sand for a soak. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to jump in right then and there, but we walked back to the car to figure out when low tide was. This particular evening, it happened to be at 9:15 at night. So we went back into town and waited.
At 9:15 we drove back to the beach. Being early spring in New Zealand, the days were short and it was total darkness by the time we arrived. Having brought no torches or spades (flashlights and shovels in Kiwi), we would have been hopeless had it not been for three fellow travelers that were already there and prepared. Together we located the springs and started digging. Our endeavor was met with moderate success, as the low tide wasn't quite low enough, and would flood our little pool with cold every few minutes with a large wave. Even then, the searing heat of the water that came up shocked me, and we had tons of fun digging. As we went, more and more travelers came to join us in the dig, until eventually there were dozens of us attempting to build a pool with walls to defend ourselves against the cold waves. It was a losing battle, and eventually once it started raining we all gave up and went home. Even so, the party we had while digging that pool was so much fun, everyone was an amazing sport, and someone even brought biscuits (cookies in Kiwi)!
That evening we drove through the darkness to arrive at our next Coromandel destination, arriving at the base of the Pinnacles at around 12 AM. (We first attempted to go to a different campsite further away. It was haunted. And terrifying. We didn't stay.)
Day 16
Our second Coromandel must-do was the Pinnacles. To be totally honest, neither of us knew what they actually were. But everyone said we had to go there, so we woke up bright and early to find out what it was.
The Pinnacles are volcano corks. Literally. When a volcano erupts, its mostly just filling up with molten lava and spilling over the edge. Eventually, as it cools down, the lava turns into hard rock filling up the inside of the conical volcano. As the years go by, the volcano erodes away, however the hardened rock molded to the inside of the volcano doesn't erode away, leaving us with pillars, or Pinnacles, of rock sticking out of the ground in the places where volcanoes used to be.
This all sounds cool in theory, except to actually reach those pinnacles one must endure a tough, 4 hour hike up, and then walk another 4 hours to get down. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we eagerly started clambering up this mountain, loaded once again with nothing but peanut butter sandwiches. It was a long and painful hike, and to be totally honest, the Pinnacles weren't that spectacular. I think the highlight of the day was me rolling my ankle severely at the top, and then subsequently having to limp all the way back down the mountain. Fun times!
After painfully arriving back at the car, we jumped in and drove to the tip of the Coromandel peninsula on what was and is the windiest, narrowest, most awfulest road I have ever driven on. It was definitely worth it though! We stayed over night at a campsite called Port Jackson, which was absolutely stunning. We spent the evening enjoying a long, pleasant conversation with the gentleman running the campground, and peacefully gazing at the stars.
On our way down to the cove we saw a nice looking gentleman sticking his thumb out at us. Pulling over to the side of the road, we learned that he was heading to a town en-route to the Cove. It had been on our bucket list to help out a hitchhiker, so this worked out perfectly for both parties! He was an American fellow with an incredible passion for the outdoors. We exchanged many stories and shortened the trip with our merriment.
After dropping him off, we quickly arrived at and made the hike to the Cove (painfully I might add. My ankle was still swollen from the Pinnacles hike). It was definitely worth it, as the beach was beautiful, and it was cool to be in the film location. (It is worth a mention that while swimming here I managed to injure myself again by cutting my arm open on jagged rocks. More fun times!)
From there we quickly drove into Auckland, and just managed to return the van before the rental shop closed.
From there we went to our next Airbnb with Rhonda, who was an incredibly lovely host, and we had a restful evening and weekend!
Day 17
The van had to be back in Auckland today, but we had only achieved 3 out of our 4 Coromandel goals, the last being a visit the Cathedral Cove, site of a famous scene from Prince Caspian.On our way down to the cove we saw a nice looking gentleman sticking his thumb out at us. Pulling over to the side of the road, we learned that he was heading to a town en-route to the Cove. It had been on our bucket list to help out a hitchhiker, so this worked out perfectly for both parties! He was an American fellow with an incredible passion for the outdoors. We exchanged many stories and shortened the trip with our merriment.
After dropping him off, we quickly arrived at and made the hike to the Cove (painfully I might add. My ankle was still swollen from the Pinnacles hike). It was definitely worth it, as the beach was beautiful, and it was cool to be in the film location. (It is worth a mention that while swimming here I managed to injure myself again by cutting my arm open on jagged rocks. More fun times!)
From there we quickly drove into Auckland, and just managed to return the van before the rental shop closed.From there we went to our next Airbnb with Rhonda, who was an incredibly lovely host, and we had a restful evening and weekend!