After our mid-day tour of the Lord of the Rings Hobbiton set we have a 1½ hour drive, including a pleasant but short stretch through Karangahake Gorge, to Waihi Beach. There doesn't seem to be much at our destination so we restock food and drink en route.
The view from our apartment as the sun rises over the Bay of Plenty and Mayor Island...
When we arrive we are very pleased with our nice seaview apartment. More importantly we're in a small adults-only wing which is just outside the park entrance, as this is the start of the weekend of a holiday week, and we expect many young families and kids.
...and later in the day, on to our verandah...
...and across the road to another section of the park, with a few motels and some caravan sites, and access to the beach.
The next day, Saturday April 16, 2016, is cloudy initially with however a wonderful sunrise, clearing by noon to sunny and 20 Celsius. We walk about 6 kilometers return along a great beach into Waihi Beach town, stopping for flat whites and sweets at Waihi Beach Bakery, and in the small but very pleasant town check out a few restaurants for breakfast tomorrow. Back at the park we use the pool for a couple of hours, lots of young kids and even a large birthday party with about a dozen girls from outside the park celebrating someone’s birthday, but everyone having fun and well-behaved so the only old folks - us - are able to chill.
Waihi Beach when we arrived - walking into town the next day was more pleasant.
Around 4 we decide on another walk, exploring the rest of the immediate area, and find a Freedom Camping site just around the corner right on the beach, with no-one there on a holiday weekend! There are signs with the site rules, for example at this time of year a 3 night maximum stay. So if we had a caravan we could stay here, with the same view as our apartment, and the same access to the beach and town, for no charge. Interesting...
A bit roughish in the bay.
The next morning after packing up we head into town to the Flat White Café right on the beach. It's raining with a strong wind off the bay, and even though it's too wet to sit in the closed-in verandah we still have a great view from the main room of the heavy surf breaking on the beach. And again, even though it's raining, we have another pleasant short drive, particularly along the Firth of Thames, where we see another Freedom Camping site on a nice stretch of beach, nothing nearby not even a shop, and half-full with 5 caravans. We are starting to figure out this mode of vacationing, and are more and more convinced that it might be the way to travel if/when we come back to New Zealand.
The evil Mazda on the ferry at English Bay - check out the shoes (still space in brightonbonnie's one rolling duffle for the essentials!).
Our next stop at Orere Point is in an older park, the unit isn’t that great, and there are noisy kids in the attached unit, so thankfully this is just an overnight on the way north! Again, it's a holiday weekend, and even though the caravan park chain we are using has a few sites in the Coromandel Peninsula when I tried to book 7 to 10 days previously there were no vacancies due to the holiday and the proximity to Auckland. Of the alternates I choose for overnight stops Waihi Beach worked out very well, but Orere Point didn't - luck of the draw, but if we'd been Freedom Camping we would have had more options. Note to self: add Coromandel to to-do list if/when we return.
Passing the sister ferry. These are almost identical to the ferries near our home in Ontario, Canada, which are part of the highway system and free - unlike this private ferry, which cost about 12 NZ$ for a short crossing.
The next day it's sunny and we have a better-than-expected drive north through Auckland, heavy traffic at times but moving well, with a few great views of the city. Highway 1, mostly one-lane throughout, takes us further into Northland, with absolutely amazing views near Waipu of Bream Bay and the Hen and Chickens group of islands. We pass through Whangarei, which seems like a nice area, and as we approach Russell, our destination, board a small ferry to cross English Bay...
...and dock at Opiato.
PS - if you've enjoyed this post please check out my first 17 New Zealand posts, the previous 19 posts in my Australia series, and the 3 before that as we started our 90 day roadtrip in Tahiti!
And please join us in my next post as we spend a few days in Russell and celebrate brightonbonnie's birthday!
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More beautiful photos! What an incredible journey!
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Beautiful sunrise... I've never seen one like this before...
I get this sad feeling we are coming to the end of the trip somehow... sighhh...
awesome journey.. I am gonna read all your newzeland posts because I would be heading there on march next year.. steem on!
March you should get better weather than us, not so much rain hopefully. If you have any questions when you go through my posts give me a shout!
Love NZ. Travelled around North Island a few years ago. I'd love to go back and do the South Island.
We enjoyed South Island a lot more - if you're not familiar with it check out my posts - easiest way to find them is on #steemitworldmap. Safe journeys. Following.
Wonderful sunset!
Thanks, but actually the sun is rising in the east! Quite a sight to wake up to.
Oops...but it is wonderful in any way)