First we headed north from Whangarei to Bruce's former home, known as the Bush Hut. It's located on a huge hill overlooking Helena Bay to the north. The views from where we stood were amazing, looking over a valley and into the ocean farther away. Claim has it that view from the property is even more scenic.
We continued north to Russell, a normally quiet town in the Bay of Islands. We had a short walk on the beach, but the town was a bit more busy that usual, courtesy of a cruise ship. We drove up to a lookout where we could see in every direction. There are some houses... they're just silly how impressive they are. We went to a local vineyard, Omata Estate, overlooking the entire bay. I shared a wine tasting with Margaret, including a chardonnay, summer merlot, merlot, syrah, a port, and a late harvest dessert wine. Meanwhile the three of us shared a cheese/bread/cracker/fruit plate. All in all I felt very sophisticated...
Our drive continued, crossing the bay by ferry to Opua, and then driving west. We continued with a stop or two along the way until we reached Opononi, which was very close to the pacific entrance of the Hokianga Harbor. As we crested the final hill leading into the town we were in full view of a MASSIVE sand dune. It was a self contained desert, the entire peninsula on the far side of the harbor. It still baffles me... We stayed in Opononi just long enough for a drink and to look into a dinner option, before continuing a few miles down the road on Omapere, where Bruce had a room at The Cop Thorne. We settled in, had a swim in the harbor, and a beer on the beech. We planned to go back to Opononi for dinner but it closed by the time we arrived, so we returned to the hotel for dinner...
Day Two (Sunday)...
The day opened with a 6:30 wake up (jetlag?) But it led to some terrific views of the harbor. A highlight of the day included Margaret approaching me and sheepishly asking for help opening a "childproof" pill bottle. ...good times... Anyway, breakfast downstairs was a wide selection of juices, fruits, cereals, eggs, hashbrowns and bacon. Delicious!
Our first stop was on plateau overlooking the harbor, right at it's entrance. We walked around with spectacular views and then scrambled down to the beech. The sand was soft, the waves were big and the sun was hot. We swam a bit, followed by hiking along south a bit. Climbing on some rocks as we explored the coast. We turned around and continued back the other way, making our way around and back inside the harbor. A personal favorite spot was a rock that seemed to have been naturally hollowed out into a perfect circle. The water was warm and a teal color, with soft smooth rocks layering its bottom. A mini hot tub!
For all that I could have stayed there forever, it was time to get back to the car where we left the sunscreen. We resumed our drive and in less than 30 mind found ourselves in the Waipoua Forest. It was hard to imagine we could go from such an open beech to a thick forest in so short a time. We stopped twice here to look at the Kauri trees. With fragile root networks, conservation groups have been making paths to protect these trees. They are the second largest tree species in the world, second only to Redwoods, and lived up to their size. We first saw Tane Mahuta, the largest of these trees and it was BIG. We enjoyed the walk so took one more to see the 4 Sisters, another of these trees a bit further along the road before continuing.
We continued south to Baylys Beach, the entrance to a beach highway. From here we drove ~15 miles south to Glinks Gully. All the while with wide open Pacific on our right and awesome rock faces on our left. Once there we continued back east to Whangarei.
We got back earlier than expected, so after a bit of a rest we headed out to the head of the Whangarei Harbor, and to Ocean Beech. We spent very little time on the beech but started to climb one of the many ridges we'd been seeing during the drives. This resulted in excellent views of ocean, beech, and inland. We climbed down and headed back for dinner, as we were all starving by now.
A few side notes... Bruce has got inland travel of NZ down to an art. With a small, high performance car for the exceedingly narrow and twisty roads, and to make quick cross country trips. Also, the landscapes were awesome. A friend of Bruce's referee to it as the land of many shades of green. Every time we passed through tree clumps I imagined Jurassic Park and every time we're on a coast I was stunned. My favorite perhaps though was the frequency that the land changed from rolling fields, to steep/sharp ridges, to dense forests to beech and ocean. And this was just Northland.
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