Whrom Whangarei to Whananaki

The "wh" is pronounced like an "f" in maori.

Which means the town of Whakapapa is funny to slip into conversation. ha.ha.ha.

Sooooooooooooo....

Today I had an amazing day.

I drove from Whangarei to Whananaki. With several jaw dropping side trips.

My first stop on the way was just 10 minutes out of town at the Whangarei Falls. You can park at the top of the falls and then walk a short trail to the bottom.

Whangarei Falls

Whangarei Falls

The river trail

Guess who?

From the bottom of the falls, you can take another trail that meanders along the river and comes to yet more trails. I followed these trails to a canopy walkway through a Kauri forest and up to another waterfall.

It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. I only saw 2 other people for the first hour up the Kauri forest trail. There was no one at the second waterfall.

Kauri Forest Trail

Falls at the top of the trail

From there I drove along the coast with a few beachside stops that I had planned from reading my lonely planet guide book. The roads here are very narrow and winding and people seem to drive them way too fast. Luckily there's not a lot of cars on them and I rarely have to pull onto the shoulder (like a good grandma) to let people pass me. While driving from the falls to my next destination, I saw a sign for a lighthouse walk. The turn flew by me at 40kph, haha, and I almost kept on going.
But I decided to turn around and take a look and here's what I found at the end of a gravel one lane road.

Top of the first hill

A vista point on a side trail

I walked up a small, bright green, grassy hill. Once at the top I looked down and found twin coves back to back. One cove was black rock, the other was golden sand, both with turqoise water.

Where these two coves meet theres a small land bridge to another island that is only accesible at low tide. The lighthouse sits on top of Tutukaka island.

On a beach between the coves

View from the lighthouse

Now, if I were a lighthouse enthusiast, a lover of lighthouses if you will, I would have been REALLY disappointed in this one. The lighthouse was a tiny white shack about 6 feet tall with a tall light on the top.
The hike up was pretty steep and the whole thing took about an hour and a half, not including photo stops and water breaks. I was so glad I didn't keep driving. I'm starting to think there are no wrong turns in NZ. Everything here is stunning. Just getting lost and driving around like a fool, which I've done, makes for awesome sightseeing.


Back on the beach between the coves

From the lighthouse reserve park I drove north along the coast to a beach I read about in lonely planet. This one was called Whale and was a short 10 minute hike from the pullout. It was a very pretty, secluded beach, but the day was getting cold and I only spent 45 minutes enjoying the view here.


Whale Beach

Whale Beach

The ocean here looks like bright and warm tropical water. It begs you to swim in it. It wants you to drink fruity cocktails on its sand. It lies.
It's as cold as ice. It's like northern California ocean in the winter. I stick my toes in and I need hot chocolate and my mommy.


View from my campsite in Whanaki

I took the looooong way, or as I like to call it, the scenic way, to my camp that night. I camped at another DOC (department of conservation). This one was at Otamure beach in north Whanaki. It was a great site. I parked on a big grassy meadow and walked 50 feet to the beach just in time to watch the sunset.

All these amazing places were within 2.5 hours drive from eachother. It was a completely fantasticly mind blowing day. Then I slept like a baby on my new air mattress that I had to blow up manually because I forgot to buy a pump. Old school baby.