The Bay of islands is on the East coast directly north of Auckland and I drove for about 3 hours to about 15km away and parked up for the night.  I had a good sleep and woke to a perfect sunrise and a good mood of adventure. I drove to the outskirts of Paihia and stopped next to a little beach and had breakfast.  It was one of the most picturesque setting possible.  I decided to meditate here as well and was truly set up for the day.

I drove into Waikato and noticed how crowded it was.  I had heard on the radio that the weekend was a 3 day public holiday called Waikato weekend.  Now, Waikato is the northern part of Paihia and when the British settlers landed in NZ, they did so near here.  After a few skirmishes with the local Maoris they signed a peace deal called the Waikato Treaty that started modern day New Zealand.  It was the 175th anniversary on the day I was there.  Present in the town that day was the Prime Minister and dignitaries, hundreds of Maoris demonstrating that they got a raw deal in the treaty, thousands of white New Zealanders to commemorate the day and for some reason, loads and loads of hells angels on Harley’s looking menacing, as well as lots and lots of Police.  Anyway, the place I wanted to see was a waterfall on a walk, but the only way to get to it was down a road which also led to the treaty ground.  Needless to say, the road was absolutely chocker block with cars, so I turned around and decided to drive up to the northern tip of the North Island.

My friend Jo had told me several times about Cape Reina on the northern tip of the North Island.  This is where the Pacific Ocean and the Tazmin sea meet and you can actually see the 2 oceans collide.  It was a 6 hour drive, but the scenery was great.  The north of the North Island is called Northland and it is sub tropical, so I saw the landscape change as I drove.  It is pretty tropical in Waikato and with lush green vegetation.  I then drove through parched farm pastureland and small towns that looked like they were in mid west america. Lots of pick up trucks and 4 x 4’s and surprisingly loads of fast food drive throughs which was disappointing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I neared the northern tip the road ran alongside 90 mile beach which is exactly what the name suggests.  I stopped to have a stroll and look at the beach and sea and immediately noticed the hot temp and the loud sound of crickets and other noisy insects of the tropics.

I carried on driving and about 5 km from the northern point of Cape Raina I took a turn down a track to a government camp site.  These are dotted all over the country and have basic facilities i.e. toilets and maybe cold showers and bbq areas. The cost £5 per night and are in beautiful sites.  This one was in a beautiful bay with an empty beach and estuary, surrounded by a hillside of and trees.

I went for a run up the hill and along to Cape Raina and the view was incredible.  As Jo had told me, you can actually see the 2 oceans colliding.  The air was warm and fresh and it was a fantastic feeling of freedom to be in this place.  This was my first exercise for quite a while and although it was a hard run of over an hour, taking in some big hills, it past off fine with only a small ache from my ribs.  I cooked a great pasta meal and had a couple of beers and went to bed very happy and feeling great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day I drove up to Cape Reina and then headed South again, minded of the fact that I had said i would give back the van in 7 days and not the original 30 days.