In our “new” (actually quite old but therefore fairly cheap) home, the rebuilt Nissan van we rented for our stay in New Zealand, we headed north out of Auckland. The first day we did not drive far but checked in at a campground in Orewa to settle in and find a place for everything. The campground was situated at a very pretty beach perfect for an evening stroll.
Driving along the coast we made our way up to Russell and then on to Cape Reinga. There is an abundance of nice beaches, pretty islands and green, sheep filled hills in this part of the country.
Nice farmer’s market in Matakana.
Cape Reinga
Cape Reinga
At Cape Reinga we did a day hike along the coast. The trail was on grassy ridges with a view of the rugged coast line. The goal was to hike up to a lookout on one of the hills, supposedly the highest point in the area. We found the turn off but after climbing a hill we found ourselves at a locked gate. It did not say private property or anything so we decided to climb over the gate and continue. After a few hundred meters we found an old broken sign and continued along the trail only to find that it ended at a fence with no view what so ever. 🙁 The bush was so thick that is was impossible to try to find a spot with some sort of view. Disappointed we hiked back to an open area on the ridge where we cooked lunch and had a break. The rest of the hike though was lovely and definitely worth the effort.
Hiking along the coast
The day we did the hike there was a partial solar eclipse.
Looks lovely! And I´m a bit jealous you have summer coming up!